Yardie (film)

Young Dennis Campbell, alias D., lives with his peace loving brother Jerry Dread. He loves a local schoolgirl names Yvonne. The year was 1973, West Kingston was in the middle of a vicious gang war between the Tappa gang, led by Skeeter, and the Spicer gang, led by King Fox. Tired of the violence and destruction in the streets, Jerry Dread organizes a DJ session between the two gangs' territories, hoping to broker peace. As peace is about to be achieved, Jerry Dread is shot and killed as D. witnesses. He recognizes the assassin as Clancy Hibbert, a classmate.

10 years later, D. (Aml Ameen) had become a hardened enforcer for King Fox, who works as a record producer and drug lord. After bungling one of King Fox's drug deals due to his volatile behavior, D. is sent by Fox to Hackney, London to deliver a package of cocaine to White Jamaican gangster Rico Grimes (Stephen Graham).

D. arrives in London, but hesitates to make the delivery after hearing Rico flippantly insult his late brother. He flees from Rico's nightclub, taking the cocaine with him, taking refuge at his one time flame, Yvonne's, house. Yvonne had long fled to London with her and D.'s daughter Vanessa to escape the violence in Kingston and is unwelcome to D.'s presence, but agrees to let him stay. To further complicate the situation, D. suspects Clancy Hibbert, his brother's killer, is here in London.

Yvonne's house is then burgled by a group of DJs hard for cash, hoping to steal the cocaine D. stole. D. stops them, and is pointed to a potential buyer of the cocaine in the form of a Turkish crime lord after interrogating the youths. Using the money he earned from the sale, he tries to provide Yvonne and Vanessa with a good life. He also uses the money to help the DJ crew fix their sound system and eventually joins them for gigs. Not long after, he is recognized and ambushed by Rico's men and Yvonne kicks him out after her daughter was fake kidnapped. D. goes to Rico's nightclub to return the money and is only spared because of King Fox's influence.

Directionless, D. falls back to his last remaining obsession: finding his brother's killer, Clancy Hibbert. After being pointed by Sticks, one of the DJs, D. confronts Clancy at his home. He is then ambushed by Rico's lieutenants, resulting in Clancy's escape and Sticks' death.

Yvonne seeks out Clancy and learns that King Fox has something to do with Jerry's death. That night, as D. takes up Sticks' place in the DJ group for a concert at Rico's nightclub, she tells D. what Clancy told her and begs him not to go, but is rebuffed. At the same time, King Fox arrives in London to meet with Rico and pacify the situation. During the DJ session, Rico insults Fox and threatens to kill D. himself, causing Fox to strangle him to death.

Fox later meets D. in the hallway, who reassures D. about what Clancy told him. Clancy then ambushes them both, claiming that King Fox hired him that fateful night, forcing D. to kill him, but not before King Fox is injured. King Fox inadvertently reveals his role in Jerry's death, causing D. to question him. King Fox reveals the truth: Jerry was not supposed to die that night. Tappa gang leader Skeeter was supposed to be the target, but Clancy missed and hit Jerry. Angered by the revelation, D. kills King Fox. The ghost of Jerry, having followed D.'s guilty conscience since the beginning of the film, fades away.

A final scene shows D. and Yvonne happy together with their two children.

• Aml Ameen as Dennis "D" Campbell
• Shantol Jackson as Yvonne
• Sheldon Shepherd as King Fox
• Stephen Graham as Rico Grimes
• Fraser James as Piper
• Everaldo Creary as Jerry Dread
• Akin Gazi as Arif
• Mark Rhino Smith as Raggz
• Naomi Ackie as Mona

Several scenes, including high-paced car chases set in London, were filmed at the Chatham Historic Dockyard in Kent, doubling up for East London in the 1970s. The Dockyard also features as the wider area where Rico's (Stephen Graham) club is located and D. (Aml Ameen) is chased through the streets and over the roofs at night by Rico's men.[4]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 54%, based on 67 reviews with an average rating of 5.73/10. The site's critical consensus reads "Yardie proves debuting director Idris Elba has a distinctive eye that benefits from a strong personal connection to his material, even if the end results are somewhat uneven."[5] Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 52 out of 100, based on 18 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[6]

• List of black films of the 2010s
• List of hood films

• Official website
• Yardie at IMDb
• Yardie at Metacritic
• Yardie at Rotten Tomatoes