If you want better sexual content level
Choose Mayday. It scores 5.0 vs 1.0 for sexual content level, with a 4.2 overall score.
By Any Means Movie Review
Bottom Line
Choose it for Abdul-Mateen II, the prickly lead chemistry, and striking period craft. Skip it if major historical liberties, graphic torture, or an anticlimactic ending will outweigh the pulpy revenge-thriller appeal.
Best for
Best for viewers who enjoy violent period crime thrillers, mismatched-partner chemistry, and strong performances even when the history is heavily dramatized. Fans of pulpy revenge stories are the likeliest fit.
Not for
Not for viewers seeking a careful historical account, subtle political drama, restrained violence, or a strongly resolved ending. The torture, profanity, and adult material also make it a poor family choice.
Verdict
By Any Means works best as a forceful buddy-crime thriller powered by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and a far more divisive Mark Wahlberg. The period production, cinematography, costumes, score, and supporting cast earn substantial praise, and several reviewers find the revenge-fantasy violence gripping or cathartic. The tradeoff is a script that repeatedly simplifies its own moral questions, takes major liberties with history, and struggles to reconcile sober civil-rights drama with broad pulp. Most damaging is an ending widely described as abrupt or anticlimactic, with title cards carrying payoff the drama itself does not deliver. The result is visually polished and often watchable, but far less convincing as nuanced history.
Feature Scorecards
Summary
44 reviewed features-
Very positive 4.5-5.07 (16%)
-
Positive 3.5-4.49 (20%)
-
Neutral 2.5-3.49 (20%)
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Negative 1.5-2.411 (25%)
-
Very negative below 1.58 (18%)
Pros highlights
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The Strider–Scarpa pairing is widely seen as a major draw, with prickly banter and contrasting personalities giving the movie energy. A few critics, however, found their bond underdeveloped or unconvincing.
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The cast is one of the film’s clearest strengths, with the two leads repeatedly carrying material that some found thin or formulaic. Even mixed reviews often credit the performances with keeping the movie watchable.
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Yahya Abdul-Mateen II receives especially strong praise for grounding Wayne with restraint, intensity, and emotional depth. Mark Wahlberg is more divisive, but many still find his broad mobster performance entertaining.
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Wayne Strider’s shift from rule-bound agent to violent avenger is the central arc, and some found it compelling and well acted. Others felt his inner life was too thin or inconsistent for the transformation to fully land.
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The supporting ensemble is generally well regarded, with Nicole Beharie, Giancarlo Esposito, LisaGay Hamilton, David Strathairn, and others adding weight to smaller roles. Some critics wish those players had more to do.
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Elegance Bratton earns strong marks for visual control, clear staging, and energetic crime-thriller craftsmanship. Some critics still feel the execution becomes blunt or paint-by-numbers when handling the larger historical and moral questions.
Cons highlights
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Entertainment value is sharply split. Some reviewers found the violent buddy-thriller energetic and satisfying, while others found it dull, simplistic, or not worth the watch.
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Reviewers broadly agree that the movie takes major liberties with its true-story label, especially through the fictional Wayne Strider and invented interactions. Some accept the dramatization, but many warn against treating it as a straight historical account.
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The central true-crime premise fascinates many reviewers, but the finished story is often judged simplistic, underdeveloped, or structurally incomplete. Strong performances and visual craft keep some viewers engaged despite those narrative problems.
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As a crime thriller and buddy-cop movie, it lands unevenly: some praise the muscular, crowd-pleasing pulp, while others see a slog that cannot reconcile action spectacle with serious historical drama.
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The movie raises potent questions about racism, institutional failure, pacifism, and retaliatory violence, but many critics say it does not explore them deeply enough. A smaller group finds the moral conflict powerful and meaningful.
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The violence is exceptionally graphic, with torture, beatings, shootings, and bloody revenge throughout. Some reviewers find that intensity cathartic or narratively justified, but many call it excessive, grueling, or upsetting.
Cast & Creators
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Wayne StriderAbdul-Mateen II is the most consistently praised performer, grounding Wayne Strider with restraint, intensity, vulnerability, and quiet moral conflict. Multiple critics describe him as the film’s emotional center and the actor holding its competing tones together.
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Vernon DahmerEsposito makes a strong impression in a brief role as Vernon Dahmer, with critics calling him memorable and part of the film’s strong supporting bench. His limited screen time leaves some wishing the story stayed with Dahmer longer.
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AllisonBeharie earns praise for bringing warmth, concern, and emotional weight to Strider’s wife despite limited material. Several critics specifically wish the role gave her more to do.
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ComposerBlanchard’s tense, jazz-inflected score is repeatedly singled out as a major strength and effective mood-setter. Its smoky atmosphere helps sell both the period setting and the thriller tension.
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DirectorBratton’s direction is often praised for visual control, clear staging, and the ability to give the crime-thriller material energy and beauty. Critics are less united on how effectively he balances pulp violence with the film’s historical and moral ambitions.
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ActorHamilton is praised as part of the strong supporting ensemble, with her frightened witness providing several affecting moments. Her small role adds human stakes to the investigation.
Compared With Category Average
Compared with other Movies, this product is above average in plot clarity, suspense, soundtrack quality, near average in character development, acting performance, below average in realism, value for money, makeup quality.
Comparison summary
44 compared features-
Above average 0.4+ pts higher7 (16%)
-
Same as average within 0.3 pts12 (27%)
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Below average 0.4+ pts lower25 (57%)
Largest category differences
| Attribute | This product | Category average | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| realism | 1.0 | 3.4 | -2.4 |
| value for money | 1.0 | 3.4 | -2.4 |
| makeup quality | 1.5 | 3.7 | -2.2 |
| plot clarity | 5.0 | 2.8 | +2.2 |
| ending satisfaction | 1.3 | 3.3 | -2.0 |
| cultural representation | 1.3 | 3.5 | -2.1 |
| theme depth | 2.0 | 3.6 | -1.6 |
| sexual content level | 1.0 | 2.9 | -1.9 |
Consider This Instead
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Choose Wicked: For Good. It scores 5.0 vs 1.0 for value for money, with a 3.5 overall score.
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Compared in Reviews
Products reviewers directly compared with this model, grouped into quick takeaways.
Green Book
- Compared: racial buddy dynamic The film is framed as a reverse Green Book, with the white brute teaching the Black agent to play dirty.
- Better: buddy-road-trip entertainment The reviewer says this mismatched road-trip version is considerably less interesting than Green Book.
Lethal Weapon
- Similar: buddy-cop structure The movie is said to resemble Lethal Weapon more than a traditional historical civil-rights drama.
Mississippi Burning
- Similar: civil-rights crime-thriller premise The reviewer describes the setup as Mississippi Burning with a hitman and finds that concept entertaining.
FAQ
Is By Any Means based on a true story?
It draws on real civil-rights murders and Gregory Scarpa’s reported FBI involvement, but reviewers repeatedly note major fictionalization, especially the Wayne Strider character and many events around the investigation.
How are the performances?
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is the most consistently praised element, while Mark Wahlberg is far more divisive. Supporting players such as Nicole Beharie and Giancarlo Esposito also earn strong notices.
Is the movie very violent?
Yes. Reviews describe graphic beatings, torture, shootings, and bloody revenge, with some finding the violence cathartic and others calling it grueling or excessive.
Does the buddy-cop chemistry work?
For many reviewers, yes: the prickly contrast and banter between Strider and Scarpa are a central strength. A smaller group finds their bond underdeveloped or too dependent on familiar tropes.
Is it historically accurate?
Not as a straight historical account. The film uses real events as a foundation but takes extensive dramatic liberties, and several reviewers explicitly warn that parts play more like Hollywood fantasy.
Is the ending satisfying?
Usually not. The ending is one of the clearest points of agreement, with many reviewers calling it abrupt, anticlimactic, incomplete, or overly reliant on text cards.
Sample Expert Reviews We Analyzed
These are a few of the reviews included in our analysis.
Video Reviews
YouTube - Mr. Know-It-All
- Review score
- 1.8
Article Reviews
thecherrypicks.com
Based on a true story, a young Black FBI agent (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is sent into 1960s Mississippi to investigate a wave of brutal...
- Review score
- 3.2
soundsofcinema.com
Sounds of Cinema review of By Any Means directed by Elegance Bratton and starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Mark Wahlberg and Nicole Beharie.
- Review score
- 1.0
thatshelf.com
By Any Means is a gorgeous movie that addresses important discourse on racial injustice, but doesn't leave a lasting, positive impact.
- Review score
- 3.1
catholicreview.org
By Any Means" (Paramount) is a morally defective fact-based drama that not only rejects Jesus' teaching on the proper response to wrongful...
- Review score
- 1.0
filminrevolt.org
By Jesse Dixon Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Mark Wahlberg star as a young FBI agent and a notorious mafia hitman who join forces to investigate...
- Review score
- 4.7
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