YARDIE (15)
IDRIS ELBA’S feature directorial debut opens in 1973 Kingston, Jamaica, a capital stained with the blood of innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire of the rival Tapper and Spicer gangs.
Ten-year-old Dennis Campbell, aka D (Antwayne Eccleston), lives with his older brother and idol, Jerry Dread (Everaldo Creary), who is
determined to end the feud through the power of music.
Jerry organises a block party on neutral ground, which momentarily unites the warring factions. A gunshot rings out and D watches in horror as Jerry becomes the latest casualty of the turf war.
A decade later, D (now played by Aml Ameen) is a lieutenant for music impresario King Fox (Sheldon Shepherd), who dispatches his best man via plane to England with a consignment of drugs strapped to his body.
D senses something is awry at the handover and he flees the lair of hardman Rico (Stephen Graham), barely escaping with his life.
He seeks refuge with his estranged wife Yvonne (Shantol Jackson) and their child but Rico and his guntoting goons are determined to track down their man.
In a cruel twist, Jerry’s murderer Clancy (Riaze Foster) is also in London and D scents an opportunity to avenge his brother.
“This thing ain’t gonna stop until Clancy is dead!”
Sadly, for us, that’s true and the film grinds through the gears before an inevitable showdown.