D for Dennis (played by Antwayne Eccleston as a boy and Aml Ameen as a man) grows up in Kingston, Jamaica during a gang war where he witnesses the death of his brother and eventually works for one of the gang leaders. When he is sent to London to deliver some cocaine plans go awry and he has to decide what path he should take.

Yardie is a tough film to review as it has some occasionally interesting ideas and is well made but it left me uninterested and feels like something that will quickly fade from memory.

Thematically it seems to take some cues from City of God, a seminal work about boys growing up in gang territories and choosing their path. Although in the case of Yardie the focus is in the main on one boy and his path. Ultimately though it doesn’t feel as deep and the outcome feels mostly out of D’s hands.

The stand out aspects of Idris Elba’s debut are the lead performance from Aml Ameen and the sense of period. Set in 1970’s Jamaica and 1980’s London the film looks fantastic in terms of sets and costume and Ameen’s performance is admirable. Unfortunately I didn’t find this enough to keep my fully engaged. And it pains me to say it, but this may in some way be because I really had to concentrate to understand the Jamaican accents in use in the film.