Mark Wahlberg plays Leo, a young New Yorker who has just been released on parole after being caught stealing cars. He is desperate to reform and look after his ailing mother and so goes to see his rich uncle, who owns a rail construction firm, to ask if he can get a job. When he�s told he would have to go to college to become a machinist, and have two years out of work, he wonders why he can�t just work with his cousin�s boyfriend, who has no qualifications but seems to be making good money.
Against his uncle�s wishes he begins to work with Willie (Phoenix) and discovers that despite the suits and daytime contract meetings, Willie�s main job is bribing city employees and sabotaging competitor�s work. Leo is cautious because he doesn�t want to be caught violating parole, but when a sabotage job goes wrong and a man ends up dead, events begin to spiral out of his control.
The Yards is an engrossing story of a family doing whatever it can to survive in a mean city. The characters are all wise enough to know that life can be cruel and you have to try and tip the odds in your favour, sometimes by bending the rules, and at other times breaking them. The talented ensemble cast (James Caan as the flawed patriarch, Ellen Burstyn and Faye Dunaway as the disenchanted mothers, Charlize Theron as the oblivious daughter) all do well and show again that Wahlberg is a capable actor if the role doesn�t ask him to carry too much of the dramatic weight. What holds it back from real success though is a lack of much originality and an overly bleak tone. This gritty mood was probably what I enjoyed most about the film, but it will turn many people off not to see any light at the end of The Yards� tunnel. |
