By
Oliver White
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Mark Wahlberg stars as a well-intentioned ex-con in latest flick
In a cinematic empire that creates multi-million dollar movies every other week, it would have been better to have kept Mark Wahlberg as Marky Mark.
"The Yards," Wahlberg's latest film, provides a fairly shallow glimpse into the mind of an ex-con trying to get right with the world, or at least the justice system, and Walhberg, as usual, brings no added depth to the film's superficial attempt.
Director James Gray, who also directed "Little Odessa," failed to realize that his plot was completely unoriginal when he created "The Yards." Apparently he forgot about the similar "Reindeer Games" and "The Mod Squad" - two other shoddily directed movies that should never have happened in the first place.
One might have thought that Gray could have his film redeem the failures of those previous ventures, but he could not.
The film suffers from several cloudy portions, including the unconvincingly portrayed sexual tension between Leo Handler (Wahlberg) and his cousin Erica (Charlize Theron).
Lackluster throughout, even the opening scene sparks minimal interest, as Handler suspiciously eyes a policeman after his release from prison following an 18-month sentence for grand theft auto. The audience learns about his incarceration when a parole officer, who is waiting for Handler at his mother's house where a party is being thrown for his release, recites the exact term of the sentence and the reason for Handler's imprisonment for no apparent reason. Empty, expository dialogue is rampant throughout the film.
What is worse is that the entire plot of "The Yards"- the tired story line of the ex-con who has to resist all temptation to get back into the criminal lifestyle - hinges on unnecessary lines like those.
This party scene serves only to set the stage for Handler to meet his new Uncle Frank (James Caan), who has recently married Handler's aunt and runs a large series of New York's subways. Uncle Frank is mustachioed and tough, and not afraid to do anything to keep his business floating on a cushion of illegal cash flow.
Here Handler is offered a job with Frank by his longtime friend Willie Guitierrez (Joaquin Phoenix) and girlfriend Erica.
Handler soon learns the reason for Uncle Frank's affluence - he is sabotaging his competitors by destroying property and using his influence to politically ruin other companies. Handler then gets himself into a sticky situation involving the police, and is forced to run, until the film reaches an ending anyone could see coming an entire subway car away.
The actors and actresses come to this film with fairly respectable reputations. Theron in "The Cider House Rules" played a lobsterman's sultry daughter, Candy, and Joaquin Phoenix shined as the very vexed Roman emperor Commodus in "Gladiator." However, they all seemed to have had their misguided agents, whose thumbs always point northward, read the script for "The Yards."
The only redeeming value in the entire film is the soft, classical score - however inappropriate for an action/drama film - that proved once again that, whether in film or reality, enough money can buy anything - even good music for a poor movie.
