The yards is a film about the shady on-goings of the contractors in New York City who work to rebuild the city's subway cars. Underneath the suits are ruthless mean trying to get ahead in the busines by whatever means necassary. Everything seems to be going fine until Leo Handler (Wahlberg) gets out of prison and enters into the dark business himself, his presence will trigger a series of events that will rock their dangerous world.

Leo finds that his aunt (Dunaway) has married one of the biggest contractors, Frank Olchin (Caan). With no money and a patrol officer breathing down his back, his mother (Burstyn) in bad shape, Leo turns to Frank to help him out by giving him a job in his successful business. Leo wants to follow in his best friend, Willie's (Phoenix) footsteps in the business, 'cause it seems Willie is doing ok for himself, with enough cash to spare for his girlfriend (Theron) and consequently Leo's cousin and one-time-love. But when a money-deal goes wrong, Willie kills a yard-master and Leo beats a cop into a coma - something that could see him revisiting prison and getting a life sentence. Now Leo is on the run, and blamed for the murder aswell. The business that welcomed him with open arms, is now looking to get rid of him, before he brings down all they worked for.

The Yards is slow at times. The story-telling appears to go at a snails pace, but thats ok, because the story-tellers (the actors) are more than enthralling enough to entertain for the whole 110 minutes. Wahlberg is deep and moody as always, and while the performance mirrors alot of his previous works, he still seems to have 'something' that keeps you hooked. Theron proves she is more than just a pretty face as she plays a soft-spoken character who has much to hide and slowly reveal as the plot thickens. But the out-standing performance is Joaquin Phoenix. This man can do no wrong and is seriously one of the best actors of our time. He is disturbingly dark at times, but can easily switch gears and play-out the most emotionally intense scene with just a single tear running down his cheek. this man is amazing, and one day justice should be carried out and he should be handed an Oscar.

Watch this film, if for nothing more than to check out the Wahlberg/Phoenix punch-up which the actors really participated in (and were apparently black and blue the next day). Great, great film.

Over the course of his career Mark Wahlberg has emerged as the working man's image on the big screen. He certainly comes by that naturally with his background being born and raised in the Dorchester section of Boston. His best performances on screen in my opinion have been of ordinary people and their situations. In The Yards he gives one of his best performances and his Boston accent barely shows.

The Yards refers to the place where the New York City subway cars are housed and maintained. There are several in the city and the action here takes place in the Sunnyside section of Queens. Mark Wahlberg is a young man who recently was released from jail having taken a rap for all of his friends involved in a crime.

He wants badly to turn over a new leaf and his uncle James Caan who has a business maintaining the subway cars offers him work. He can also go the trade school route. But Wahlberg's mother Ellen Burstyn is in a bad way and he's needing money now. Another tragedy of our inadequate health system.

Rather than repair subway cars, Wahlberg goes to work with his old running buddy Joaquin Phoenix who works for Caan on the side wrecking the work of other contractors, minority contractors who get a set quotient of work.

But one night Wahlberg is caught by a cop whom he turns the tables on, takes his nightstick and clubs him leaving him in a coma. At the same time Phoenix has a quarrel with yardmaster at night and knifes him to death. No one suspects him, but there's a bullseye on Wahlberg's back with every cop in the city hunting him.

The manure piles up big time in this one, even threatening the Queens Borough President Steve Lawrence. How it all works out is a typical New York City story.

Big Kudos for Mark Wahlberg in this one and some recognition for Joaquin Phoenix playing another one who gets in way over his head. The Yards should be seen back to back with the Al Pacino film City Hall for a real look at New York's political underbelly.

"The Yards" is really little more than a way to kill time. It portrays some shady dealings involving the New York City transit lines, but it seems that given the talent involved, they should have come out with more. I don't doubt that it was better than Mark Wahlberg's next movie (the very unnecessary "Planet of the Apes" remake),but he and co-stars Joaquin Phoenix, Charlize Theron, James Caan and Faye Dunaway have all done much better than this. And overall, I gotta wonder just how many movies there can be about corruption involving the transportation industry.

What would a sequel be called? "The Gardens"?