By Any Means Review

Directed By: Elegance Bratton
Written By: Sascha Penn
Runtime: 107 minutes
MPA Rating: Rated R for violence/bloody images and pervasive language.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II – Wayne Strider
Mark Wahlberg – Gregory Scarpa
Nicole Beharie – Allison Strider
Giancarlo Esposito – Vernon Dahmer
David Strathairn – Special Agent Roy K. Moore
Josh Lucas – Special Agent Everett Rhodes
Ethan Embry – Sam Bowers
Jody Thompson – Lawrence Byrd

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Mark Wahlberg star as an FBI agent and a mafia hitman-turned-FBI informant in the historical thriller By Any Means. Unfortunately, despite a solid cast and interesting premise, director Elegance Bratton can’t quite bring this unlikely buddy pairing together.

Set in 1966 Mississippi, civil rights leader Vernon Dahmer Esposito is brutally killed when racist gunmen and members of the Ku Klux Klan firebomb his home. Special Agent for the FBI Wayne Strider (Abdul-Mateen II) was close friends with Dahmer and his family. Strider recently relocated from Chicago to his hometown of Hattiesburg with his wife, Allison (Beharie), hoping to make a difference in his community.

Under President Johnson and Director Hoover’s orders to look into this, the FBI called in one of their closers to investigate the matter off the books and order Agent Strider to work with him. The problem is that the FBI’s closer is mafia hitman Gregory Scarpa, who uses less-than-legal methods to interrogate and investigate suspects.

Agent Strider bristles at Scarpa’s unsavory methods, and the duo mixes like oil and water. However, they’re in a region that’s still deeply rooted in racism against people of color. Sadly, for Agent Strider, the line between justice and righteous vengeance soon blurs.

The main flaw with By Any Means lies in Bratton’s direction, which comes off as clunky. The movie lacks a strong sense of pacing. Most of the film, even the more action-packed and suspenseful moments, unfold in an unappealingly casual, lackadaisical manner. The plot lacks a serious sense of urgency.

Despite the film’s strong supporting cast with notable actors such as David Strathairn, Josh Lucas, and Nicole Beharie, their characters are woefully underdeveloped, especially Strathairn and Lucas as Strider’s FBI superiors.

Edgar Hoover’s FBI employing a mob killer as an informant to do their dirty work is not so far-fetched, but the plot’s events unfold in a way that routinely breaks suspension of disbelief. Certain moments and beats that would have strengthened the character development and motivations are missing, and the movie comes off as gutted.

Another problem is that Sacha Penn’s script has to write around the real-life historical events, so the creative license with history can only be taken so far. As a result, the movie lacks a satisfying climax and final act. Ethan Embry, who continues his recent villain era, plays Sam Bowers, the ringleader behind Dahmer’s assassination.

However, Bowers’ screen time is scant, and his scenes lack significant impact. He’s never present enough to appear as a malevolent force Agent Strider seeks to confront and vanquish in his hometown.

Bratton’s feature also suffers from frequent bouts of tonal whiplash. Scenes between Strider and Scarpa resemble an almost twisted version of feel-good historical dramas such as Green Book. Other scenes almost come off as if Bratton wants to emulate the buddy cop comedy duos of films of yore like Lethal Weapon, complete with the jazzy guitar riffs, which sound woefully out of place.

These aforementioned elements roughly run against each other and never coalesce. It results in a cinematic experience that struggles with defining its own identity, in an attempt to mash up all these thematic styles, from historical drama to action-thriller to buddy comedy. Unfortunately, the movie never truly succeeds with any of them.

Performance-wise, Mark Wahlberg looks like a parody SNL version of a mafia hitman instead of truly embodying the role. His hilariously exaggerated honker prosthetic doesn’t help matters.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, as Agent Strider, never truly finds his footing here. He’s a good actor with a strong presence and handles the action and serious moments well. However, his character comes off more like someone transplanted from the modern day to 1966.

Nicole Beharie has a notable, yet thankless role as Strider’s loving, resilient wife, Allison. As a longtime fan of her work from Sleepy Hollow, it was nice to see Beharie in a major movie release.

Beharie has always been an underrated talent, and hopefully, more movie roles are in her future. Much like many other characters in By Any Means, she would have benefited from more screen time.

By Any Means comes off as a historical thriller that was rampant in the 1990s. However, it’s missing that unique effervescence, style, well-rounded acting ensembles, and je ne sais quoi that made period features of that era so memorable. As a result, the movie does not reach its full potential.

Where To Watch By Any Means

By Any Means hits theaters on September 4. Movie and showtime information are available at the movie’s website.

5.0

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

Elegance Bratton's direction can't really coalesce, and the attempts at various genre styles roughly collide, so the movie never truly takes shape. Additionally, the movie's pacing looks too lazy and lackadaisical, lacking a strong sense of urgency. It is as if the movie suffered in the editing room and was gutted in post-production, and major clarifying scenes and moments of character development seem to be missing. By Any Means comes off as a historical thriller that was rampant in the 1990s. However, it's missing that unique effervescence, style, well-rounded acting ensembles, and je ne sais quoi that made period features of that era so memorable. As a result, the movie never reaches its full potential.