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By Any Means: Not the Best

Hello, Review-Verse readers.

‘By Any Mean’ official release poster. Courtesy of Paramount Pictures and IMDb.com.

Today, I’m going to be discussing By Any Means starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Mark Wahlberg. At first, I thought it was a buddy cop comedy starring the two, but it’s actually a historical crime drama taking place in 1966 Mississippi. 

Mark Wahlberg as Gregory Scarpa and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as FBI Special Agent Wayne Strider in ‘By Any Means.’ Courtesy of Paramount Pictures and IMDb.com.


Abdul-Mateen, who you may recognize as Marvel’s Wonder Man or Black Manta from DC’s Aquaman, played Wayne Strider, an FBI Special Agent in Jackson, Mississippi assigned to the file room. Wahlberg played Gregory Scarpa, a hitman and enforcer for the Colombo crime family assigned to work with Strider to solve NAACP leader Vernon Dahmer’s, played by Giancarlo Esposito, murder by white supremacists firebombing his house.

FBI Special Agent Wayne Strider, played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, showing his badge to a dismissive police officer in ‘By Any Means.’ Courtesy of Paramount Pictures and IMDb.com.

Even though it was acting and dramatization, I didn’t like the film not only because of reminders of hatred between blacks and whites in 60s Deep South, but because of the clash between Strider’s by-the-book outlook-despite white men disregarding his FBI badge-and Scarpa’s beating up witnesses like he’s Tony Soprano. 

Gregory Scarpa, played by Mark Wahlberg, aggressively interrogating a gun store owner in ‘By Any Means.’ Courtesy of Paramount Pictures and IMDb.com.

And that’s another thing-I read that Dahmer’s descendants felt the film made more of a glorification of Scarpa instead of focusing more on Dahmer’s legacy of encouraging blacks to use their right to vote. And if that’s not enough, in real-life, Scarpa went back to mafia work after helping Strider to solve Dahmer’s murder.

I would have to give a 6/10 for By Any Means. There was no likable chemistry between the leads and mostly gratuitous violence for Wahlberg’s character in a grueling time, and it was mostly about revenge for Dahmer instead of reinforcing his legacy to help other people of color. But in its own way, it was a reminder that when they dug deep, blacks and whites could work together in the trauma of the Civil Rights era. I advise you to take this film with a grain of salt, be aware of any triggers, and get back to me with your opinions. Thank you.

#TheCinematicReviewVerse, #ByAnyMeansMovie

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