MovieChat Forums > The Yards (2000) Discussion > Had potential to be much better

Had potential to be much better

posted 14 years ago by stuert2343
2 replies | jump to latest

I stumbled across this movie while looking for any old thrillers of the 90's.

Quite honestly, I thought the first half of this movie was simply a mind blowing, heart pumping, nail biting, adrenaline rush ride. The Chemistry/relationship between Mark Wahlberg and his mother(played by Ellen Burstyn) was just magical and life-like. Joaquin Phoenix played his part excellent as always(he's really amazing in these kind of movies)

Plot, story, acting, direction and the "rivet" factor was all there for the first 75 min, then.. after that...for some reason, I felt it started to loose its touch. It got kinda sloppy, had so much unnecessary stuff that was being thrown in from the blue sky, felt unoriginal and easily became predictable... and started getting way too dialog centric from such an amazing start.

It's still a really solid movie and had me a bit weepy in a couple of scenes, acting was incredibly top notch, excellent cast, great realism feel, the director did treat its audience with pride and companionship; and i learned a-lot from this movie, but i really wish they had took their time on this one. 8/10 IMO.

[–] do-bye 14 years ago

I thought the drama was missing from it.

"Peace and love"

[–] TheNorwegianRocker 14 years ago

6/10.

As you said, the first half was promising, with a good and intriguing story and well done acting. I liked the vulnerability in Wahlberg's character and that Phoenix' character wasn't that classic bad guy, and there was that purpose for every one of the supporting characters. But the last half and the ending was way too simple and unoriginal. It became just another thriller, in my opinion.