BY Any Means
By Any Means
Stars: Yahya Abdul Mateen II, Mark Wahlberg, Nicole Beharie, Josh Lucas, LisaGay Hamilton, David Strathairn and Giancarlo Esposito
Director: Elegance Bratton
Scriptwriter: Sascha Penn
Composer: Terence Blanchard
Cinematography: Ante Chen
Hammerstone Studios/Paramount
Rating: R
Running Length: 110 Minutes
In a film, several years ago set in the 1960's, there is a scene where an African-American man in a suit goes to his family home. The mother says that he has a nice suit, but what is the white man doing in the car? The visiting son replies that “he is my driver,” to the astonishment of the mother. Similar scene in “By Any Means.” If the FBI can’t solve a crime in the 1960’s, just bring in a mob guy who knows what to do and the mob guy drives a mean getaway car. Sascha Penn’s script shows the methods worked in the 1960’s to get information, while Terence Blanchard’s soundtrack is a good background. This was a tough time for America. Fear is prevalent in the South.
The theme of this film is to show the inability of the FBI to bring Ku Klux Klansmen to prison.No one wants to give out useful information. Here, one FBI agent (Wayne Strider) is sent to investigate and he knows right away he needs help. This comes by hiring a known Mafia hitman, Greg Scarpa (Mark Wahlberg) to get answers. If the FBI can’t solve a crime in the 1960’s, just bring in a mob guy who knows what to do. It is this sly humor that unexpectedly occurs at various moments,. Scarpa knows exactly what to do and uses anything near-by as a weapon.
Violence was prevalent in the Deep South in the 1960’s and the actors show this with facial expression. The weariness of trying to get justice is shown well by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Wayne Strider. Mark Wahlberg on the other hand, shows that using violence is an every-day occurrence for his character Gregory Scarpa. This is quite a team.
The film is set in a time when no white person could be trusted and no one in the black community wanted to trust a white man, people walked a fine line. Be aware, this film contains violence of that time period. Mark Wahlberg does it well.
Copyright 2026 Marie Asner
