YARDIE – Review

Ami Ameen as D, in Idris Elba’s directorial debut, the Jamaican-British crime thriller YARDIE. Photo courtesy of Rialto Pictures

Actor Idris Elba makes his directing debut with YARDIE, a tale about a young Jamaican, haunted by his DJ brother’s murder, who makes his way to London in the employ of a Kingston-based gang boss.

“Yardie” is slang for Jamaican gang members, a term the pops up on the streets of the London’s Hackney neighborhood, home to large Jamaican immigrant community. It is where D (Ami Ameen) finds himself after his boss King Fox (Sheldon Shepherd) sends him to London to deliver a package of drugs to Rico (Stephen Graham), a fuzzy-haired, white Jamaican under-boss.

But the story really starts years earlier in Jamaica, where 10-year-old Dennis (Antwayne Eccleston), who goes by the nickname D., lives just outside Kingston with his older brother, a street DJ known as Jerry Dread (Everaldo Creary). When D witnesses the murder of his beloved brother, while Jerry is trying to bring peace between two warring Kingston gangs, the trauma of that loss haunts him. He grows up under the care of gang leader King Fox yet D remains obsessed with getting revenge on his brother’s killer, another young boy named Clancy.

In London, where the majority of the story takes place, things quickly go wrong between D and Rico, and the young Jamaican finds himself loose in London’s Hackney neighborhood. He decides to seek out his childhood sweetheart Yvonne (Shantol Jackson), who moved there to raise their young daughter and give her a better life.

Dividing the story between the two places reflects many immigrant experiences, of coming to a strange land for an new chance in life, something with which the London-raised Elba could identify. YARDIE follows a familiar plot about vengeance and immigrant dreams but its major strength lies in the distinctive flavor of Jamaican culture that fills it. Based on a 1980s bestseller by Victor Headley, the story is set in the overlapping worlds of Jamaican drug syndicates and its music industry. While D works for a drug lord, his heart is really with the music.

One of YARDIE’s delights is its score, filled with Jamaican music, none of which is by Bob Marley, although there is one by his grandson Skip Marley. The film immerses the audience in Jamaican culture, and director Elba makes the most of that, adding interesting locations and clever camera angles to charm the audience. The “good boy drawn to the dark side” story is a serviceable crowd-pleaser but it is built around a “mystery” we figure out long before the protagonist. A stronger script would have been nice but it gives Elba enough to get his directorial start on, and it’s positive message about Jamaican immigrants overcoming is pleasing enough, if only mildly entertaining.

The acting is good but not particularly remarkable. The only recognizable face is Graham, who appeared in supporting roles in several Guy Ritchie films, usually as a comic criminal. He’s a criminal in this one too but much less comic.

Idris Elba does some interesting things with his camera and the backdrop of life in Jamaican and on poor London streets are evocative and immersive. A stronger story could have made better use of the atmosphere of authenticity Elba creates, but it is only fitfully engaging as a thriller. Likewise, the cast, even the attractive leads, are not able to add enough emotional depth and subtext to make up for what is missing in the script.

However, the story is a crowd-pleaser, even if it is predictable, and will leave audiences with a nice little taste of Jamaican culture.

YARDIE opens Friday, March 15, at Landmark’s Tivoli Theater.

RATING: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars