By Any Means - Movie Review

Another movie with no promotion whatsoever. Fall is officially here. Technically unofficially. So By Any Means is directed by Elegance Bratton. It's based on true events as the film says, which is pretty loose phrasing. Any movie that has that as the phrasing, I don't know where the reality ends and the fiction begins. But looking into it, the events that did happen involving the people, it's actually kind of wild. This film revolves around FBI agent Wayne Strider, played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. After the murder of civil rights leader Vernon Dahmer, played by Giancarlo Esposito, the FBI goes, hey, you know this area. You live here. Also, we're going to team you up with this guy, played by Mark Wahlberg, who's a mob enforcer hitman from New York, nicknamed the Grim Reaper. I guess he was also nicknamed the Mad Hatter. Point is, the FBI is going to kind of go like this while Marky Mark unleashes the funky bunch on folks to get ---- done. Right out the gate, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Mark Wahlberg, great chemistry. I don't think it's out of place to say they absolutely hold this film on their shoulders. This film that's, it's pretty familiar. It's predictable. If you saw the trailer and you thought to yourself, so it's Mississippi burning with a hitman, you're right. If you also thought that sounds entertaining, you're also right. I always felt there was something amazingly entertaining about someone who knows they are outside of the system and they can do whatever they want with impunity. Thing is, he's teamed up with this guy who's never felt like that. He's always known the system is really, he lives in Mississippi. He's a black FBI agent in Mississippi in the 60s. Anyone's going to be like, oh, FBI, I apologize, sir. Right this way. No hard feelings. That moment, it's starting to look bad and that FBI badge is really doing nothing and Wahlberg just goes blam and smokes the guy. He's like, right, come on, let's get out of here. But there are no witnesses. There's no crime. I was like, this might very well be amazing. Also a great moment that illustrates how different these two are and why there is going to be friction here. In terms of pairing, they might very well be a perfect pairing. It's the right amount of drama. It's the right amount of humor. Not taking away from the heavy subject matter here, but it is funny seeing how Mark Wahlberg reacts to the situation, how little he gives a ----. They essentially get to be anyone, any of us. We're playing Red Dead Redemption 2, riding around on your horse at night and you see in the forest, what looks like a little bonfire. Then you get closer and you realize, oh, that's not a bonfire. All those bed sheets and me with this dynamite, what to do? They don't use dynamite. But in like comparison, they don't get any real wanted star either. They can do anything. Only thing is one of them knows he can do anything. And the other one's like, well, I can't just do anything. There was a bit of inconsistency though, with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's character. They have this run-in in which those guys get away or rather they escape them. And you know, there's going to be repercussions from that. I get Wahlberg's character not caring because he actually seems like he doesn't care. But it also comes across like FBI agent Wayne Strider over there just didn't know. Like, oh man, I'm from this small town. Those guys definitely know who I am and where I live and all right. Guess I'm going to go home now. He's just been so hyper conscious of the fact that with every action, there is a reaction. Reaction being folks will come after him. It feels like he kind of forgot that for a second. It was weird. But in the end, yeah, this movie is possibly exactly what you think it's going to be. Because at a point it was kind of, all right, we're going along. It's a little slow for this dip. I thought it was going to be more Mississippi Burning meets Boondock Saints where they knew who the people were. They just had to put them in the ground. It wasn't like that. They are investigating. They have to get answers. They just have a New York hitman to help get answers. So it actually feels like Mississippi Burning if Mississippi Burning got a 2026 DLC patch in which now you can choose to go through the story with a New York mobster hitman, right? Like Sonic and Knuckles in which lock-on technology could play Knuckles and Sonic 2 and 3. Only instead of playing Knuckles through those familiar stories, you now get to play as a mobster hitman through Mississippi Burning. Gaming metaphor is done. Point is, if you saw the trailer and you thought it's going to be this entertaining, it is actually that entertaining. It's everything it promises, nothing it doesn't. It does hold to the words of the great philosopher Harris, Alonzo Harris. To protect the sheep, you got to catch the wolf and it takes a wolf to catch a wolf. The stars have phenomenal chemistry together. That's what sells it. I had a really good time in this one. No alcohol required. All right, so by any means, have you seen it? What did you think about it? Whatever you thought, comment below, let me know. And as always, if you like what you've seen here and you want to see more, click right here to see more.