Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
In the rail yards of Queens, contractors repair and rebuild the city's subway cars. These contracts are lucrative, so graft and corruption are rife. When Leo Handler gets out of prison, he finds his aunt married to Frank Olchin, one of the big contractors; he's battling with a minority-owned firm for contracts.
The Yards is a competent neo-noir crime drama anchored by strong ensemble performances from Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix, and Charlize Theron, alongside veterans James Caan and Ellen Burstyn. The acting is genuinely the film's standout quality — Phoenix in particular is magnetic and menacing. The plot is solidly constructed but traffics in familiar ex-con/corruption territory without offering much surprise; the narrative mechanics feel somewhat generic within the crime genre. Cinematography is workmanlike and appropriately moody but not particularly distinctive. The ending is underwhelming — it resolves the conflict in a deflating, somewhat abrupt manner that doesn't pay off the tension built earlier. Novelty is low; James Gray's Queens milieu is well-observed but the story beats feel well-worn, and the film doesn't carve out a singular identity despite its capable execution.