One of the most commanding screen presences in the film industry today teams up with a movie star who arguably hasn’t had a solid film in 10 years for a clichéd, yet admittedly entertaining movie that takes a bold stance on the inevitability of violence, while drawing influence from Lethal Weapon, Green Book, Mississippi Burning, In the Heat of the Night,and BlackKlansman.
Based on a true story, By Any Means takes place in 1966 in Mississippi, where racial tensions remain high, despite the recent passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Idealistic FBI agent Wayne Strider (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) yearns to fight for justice when he finally gets his wish, albeit not in the manner he expects. Following the death of his friend and civil rights activist Vernon Dahmer (Giancarlo Esposito), Strider is tasked by his FBI superior to team up with mafia hitman-turned-FBI informant Gregory Scarpa (Mark Wahlberg) to investigate the murder.
The sophomore feature film from director Elegance Bratton, By Any Means looks, acts, and feels much like a number of movies that have come before it. The buddy cop dynamics between Abdul-Mateen II and Wahlberg harken back to the Riggs and Murtaugh relationship from the Lethal Weapon movies, defined by grounded reason meeting its match against reckless chaos. There’s a road trip, and a somewhat miscalculated pseudo-redemptive arc of a white protagonist that parallels Green Book.
The narrative resembles the likes of In the Heat of the Night and Mississippi Burning in following the unraveling of a murder mystery in the hostile American South, steeped in deep-seated racial hierarchies. And the tone, while certainly not as absurdly funny nor uncompromisingly real as BlackKlansman, is playful at times, despite the density of its subject matter.
In so closely operating like a myriad of other films, Bratton’s movie fails to break new narrative, thematic, or stylistic ground, yet it somehow finds a way to engage until the end credits roll. After a stellar turn in Wonder Man earlier this year, Abdul-Mateen II continues his fine run of form with an understated performance that evokes empathy, despite the heavy-handedness of the script. Wayne Strider’s rectitude never comes across as disingenuous, but, rather, the product of a deeply principled man determined to do good with the authority he has been given.
But this is Mississippi in 1966, which means a Black FBI agent doesn’t have the authority nor receive the respect his badge would suggest. Strider repeatedly has to bite his tongue when law enforcement lower in the hierarchy undermines him based purely on his race. Although Abdul-Mateen II keeps his performance mostly restrained amidst the injustice his character faces, the anger and torment of how he is treated couldn’t be more striking.
Sporting a distracting prosthetic nose and sometimes delivering a performance that feels like it belongs in a different movie, Mark Wahlberg enters the film as Strider’s violent, callous partner, mafia hitman Gregory Scarpa. Wahlberg clearly has a lot of (and perhaps too much) fun playing the high-energy, larger-than-life figure, who repeatedly advocates for violence as a necessary tool to correct for racial injustice.
The philosophical clash between Wahlberg and Abdul-Mateen II’s characters represents the highlight of By Any Means. Throughout the film, the two engage in fairly interesting conversations about the ethics, utility, and necessity of violence, with Scarpa seemingly determined to wither away at Strider’s integrity and win the FBI agent over to his point of view. The back-and-forth between the actors plays comedically at times, but it is largely and, somewhat unexpectedly, serious, making Wahlberg’s exaggerated performance feel ill-fitting.
By Any Means plays out predictably until its third act, at which point a more subversive, possibly divisive, and even cynical message emerges. One expects this kind of buddy thriller to converge on a point of both characters seeing the validity in the other’s perspective and forming some kind of brotherhood, but Bratton takes an unexpected turn in depicting one character’s descent to the other’s amorality (or immorality).
Rather than treat this descent as somber commentary on the self-destructive nature of violence, the film appears content to present violence as a necessary means to an end and, in turn, feels like the work of a creative team angry with racial injustice in 1960s Mississippi and how little has changed since then. It’s an unexpectedly stark stance for a studio film to take, although it lacks the nuance to fully pull it off and make it as effective and stirring as it could be.
The film further subverts expectations, albeit not in a good way, as it resolves its central narrative far too quickly. Bratton appears to be building up to some fulfillment of a revenge fantasy (a la Inglorious Basterds), making the film’s disappointingly understated conclusion feel underwhelming and inconsistent with its broader messaging.
Although not always handling its sensitive subject matter with the thoughtfulness it deserves, By Any Means makes for an admittedly entertaining, yet derivative civil rights thriller that once again showcases Abdul-Mateen II’s propensity for commanding the screen, and has something decidedly angrier to say than one might expect.
The film is now playing only in theaters, via Paramount Pictures. Visit the official site for locations and showtimes.