6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 2.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
After being imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, Leo Handler just wants to get his life back on track, so he heads home to take a job in the New York City subway yards, where his highly connected Uncle Frank now runs the show. He meets up with his old childhood friend, Willie Guitierrez, his cousin, and his girlfriend, Erica, and for once he feels settled and safe. He soon discovers, however,...
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix, Charlize Theron, James Caan, Ellen BurstynCrime | 100% |
Drama | 72% |
Thriller | 6% |
Romance | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 2.0 | |
Audio | 2.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
You got this under control?
The Yards is a fairly conventional, unimaginative Crime Drama centered around dirty business, shady characters, raw deals, and bad luck. It's
a dark, noir-inspired picture that's not a "whodunit" -- mystery isn't its middle name -- but instead a film about people thrust into bad situations and
feverishly working to make wrongs right, even if, in the end, there is no real "right" in the "wrongs" that drive the plot. It's not about atonement but
instead setting the record straight, even when the system -- more than one system, actually, both built up through equal parts back-room corruption
and
honest public works and dealings -- sets out to hide and alter the truth for the sake of the whole rather than the life, integrity, and freedom of the one.
In The Yards, there are no real heroes and villains, just different shades of gray; nobody is innocent, all are to some degree complicit,
and it's about sifting through the degrees to find the real heart of the problem and the truly guilty rather than pinning the collective wrongs of all on
a fall guy who is himself no angel but certainly not the monster he's made to be.
On track towards fate.
The Yards arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p, 1.78:1 transfer, severely cropped down from its original 2.39:1 wide aspect ratio. With that out of the way and pulling down the score quite a bit, how does the cropped transfer fair? Despite the aspect ratio faux pas, The Yards doesn't fare too poorly. This is a somewhat soft, hazy image by its very nature, and quite dark at times, too. Detail isn't superb -- it's mostly bland, in fact -- and viewers hoping for a sharp, well-defined image won't find one. Still, skin and clothing textures fare well enough in extreme close-up shots and under the right lighting conditions, but viewers shouldn't expect much more. Ditto colors; this is a dim, visually unattractive film that eschews a bright palette in an effort to reinforce its darker themes, but well-lit shots reveal a nicely balanced color scheme, usually as seen in the same scenes that also house the best raw detailing available. Grain is retained over the image and actually adds a nice cinematic texture to the transfer. A few speckles and scratches, crushed blacks, and of course the crop job drag the score down, but The Yards looks fairly good all things considered, and would certainly rank quite a bit higher if it were presented in its proper aspect ratio.
The Yards makes its Blu-ray debut with a bland, inconsequential DTS-HD MA 2.0 lossless soundtrack. A wider 5.1 mix might have served it better, allowing it to open up and maybe capture some more of the subtleties of the listening experience, but as it is this is a workmanlike presentation that will get listeners through the movie but nothing more. It often plays like a lightweight soundtrack with no real desire to broaden its horizons. Cramped, unpolished music; squishy ambience; and tinny dialogue are all characteristics that negatively impact the soundtrack. It does display a fairly aggressive low end at times, and a club scene in chapter three serves up a fair bit of energy that even approaches something resembling real clarity, but the track is usually a dull, uninteresting one that will probably disappoint all but the easiest-to-please of listeners.
No supplements are included.
The Yards looks good and is well-acted, but a fairly routine story leads to diminished returns in place of something a bit more thematically and emotionally profitable. Director James Gray's picture is probably about as good as it can be given the unoriginal storyline; it's certainly worth a watch if for no other reasons than its sharp styling and excellent cast, but viewers will probably still leave at least partially disappointed with the end result. Echo Bridge's Blu-ray release of The Yards is, too, likely to disappoint. The Blu-ray has apparently been cropped to a 1.78:1 "HDTV full frame" aspect ratio rather than presented in its original wide format. The lossless soundtrack is of the two-channel variety, and no extras have been included. A better presentation -- even without extras -- might have warranted a recommendation at the release's current bargain price point, but sad to say this is one to rent only, if that.
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