I grew up in London in the 1970s and could relate to the movie. It may be cliche, but then that was the reality at that time. I loved the film. Loved the patois, the authenticity is so rare these days.

THIS WAS REAL, IF YOU HAD AN EXPOSURE TO THE CARRIBEAN COMMUNITY AND IF YOU HAD AN EXPOSURE TO DEALING WITH RUDE BWOYS, YOU WOULD KNOW THIS MOVIE WAS A SINCERE TRIBUTE. NOTHING WAS FALSE ABOUT THIS AT ALL... USUALLY A DEPICTION OF A COMMUNITY IN THE MEDIA ENDS UP BEING AN INSULT, BUT THE MOVIE YARDIE WAS A COMPLEMENT TO THE COMMUNITY.

A young boy known as 'D' is growing up in 1970's Kingston when he sees his older brother gunned down while trying to bring peace to two warring gangs that have brought terror to the streets. This leads him onto a path where he finds himself working for Kingston gangster King Fox who soon despatches him to London to broker a deal with a vicious London gangster known as Rico. However, when he encounters the man who shot his brother ten years earlier things soon spiral out of control and D finds himself on the run from everyone after the deal goes south and secrets are revealed about who was really behind the shooting. Yardie is a decent portrayal of a young innocent's decent into darkness who is very much a product of his surroundings and the people he calls family. The film is Idris Elba's directorial debut and I felt he did a very good job at briniging some unique characters to the screen. The only character that did feel a little out of place was Stephen Graham as vicious London gangster Rico. Stephen Graham is more than a decent choice of villain but why have him with a really dodgy Jamaican accent? It's not the worse accent I have ever heard but the scouse does slip through occasionally and it would have been much better to have him play a Londoner, seemed like a very odd choice. Apart from that, it was an enjoyable crime thriller.

I do love me some Idris. I did not care for this. I wanted to like it, but it didn’t really make any sense. I will admit I don’t know a lot about my Jamaican culture. Maybe there is some type of big connection between sounds and drug dealing but the movie failed to make it make any sense. It just failed to make any of the story really flow at all. While I also am no expert in the way Jamaicans speak, it seem the actors were over doing it a bit. Overacting quite a lot.

It's deeply flawed narratively.

This is flamboyant, colourful stuff. It's style over substance, with little social or political context. You need a major pinch of salt, as thugs roam the streets with guns and machetes. And there's not a strong female character to be seen. With the humour and violence sit uncomfortably together. So the film doesn't work, but for all that is an entertaining ride.

Great directorial debut from Idris Elba.

Pretty decent considering that it's Idre's directorial debute. Not as good as "Shottas", but it's worth checking out.

Classic. Yardie defines a regional mentality. Left me weeping for days. So beautiful.

Honestly, ignore all the arty farty middle class critic reviews. This is a really engaging film and Aml Ameen is so good in it. This film deserves a higher rating. It made me think and feel. One of the best films I've seen this year.

A well done film, but all in subtitles.

Yardie was :fire: it had a very realistic story for the time period and the plot was solid

Ignore the lukewarm reviews. Yardie is an authentic slice of JA life at home & in East London, with all its inherent drama, stylistic posturing, and keen humor. A worthy successor to The Harder They Come. And the music!

at times hard to understand but overall interesting movie

This movie was surprisingly pretty good and the music was on point. May not resonate as well if you are not from the Caribbean or familiar with the culture.

I just watched this film,I did love the storyline,the music was ok,but I did fight myself losing interest in the movie!

BEAUTIFUL LOVE IT AND I WAS IN LONDON AND MY MOTHER IS JAMAICAN AND THE MUSIC FROM THE 70’s AND THE 80’s and sad too about drugs and gangs in the community but it’s a very good movie

The Jamaican accents were terrible for most of the actors, I am confused as to why real Jamaicans wasnï¿ 1/2 1/2 1/2(TM)t used for a more authentic sound,it was cringe worthy, story line was touching but could have been executed better.

Thank you Idris and the cast...loved every min...must go see. Done excellently well xx

A reasonably good movie and a fascinating insight into Jamaican gang culture & also of life in London in those days with a kinda great acting and also funnily ridiculousness of actor Stephen Graham as RICO trying to pull off a Jamaican accent. Not the most amazing movie but still better than most reviewers have claimed it to be. And those people who state they can't understand a word of what is going on are either dumb or most probably racist. It's pretty easy to understand... Good acting... interesting. Would like to see more.