‘By Any Means’ is a Thrilling But Disturbing Chronicle of the Real-Life Pursuit of Justice

September 3, 2026

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Should you see this movie by any means? (CREDIT: Paramount Pictures)

Starring: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Mark Wahlberg, Nicole Beharie, Giancarlo Esposito, Josh Lucas, David Straitharn, Ethan Embry, LisaGay Hamilton, LaChanze, Stephen Bass

Director: Elegance Bratton

Running Time: 107 Minutes

Rating: R for Unbridled Violence and Language

Release Date: September 4, 2026 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: By Any Means wades into the powder keg that was 1960s Mississippi during the civil rights struggle. The FBI took up some terrifying investigations down there, including the murder of activist Vernon Dahmer (Giancarlo Esposito) at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan. Special Agent Wayne Strider (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who was close with Dahmer, is assigned to lead the investigation. But because this case is expected to be particularly violent and intractable, Strider’s superiors inform him that he will be unofficially working alongside a mysterious man named Gregory Scarpa (Mark Wahlberg), who sure seems to be a mafia hitman. Scarpa has no qualms about showering fists and bullets into anyone who stonewalls the investigation. While Strider is stunned by this level of carte blanche, it seems like the only way for them to make any progress, although it doesn’t appear to be doing much to stop the cycle of violence in this crucial fight for justice.

What Made an Impression?: Consequences Be Damned: Like a lot of movies based on true events, By Any Means left me wanting to research the real story. Usually that’s because the onscreen version is so inspiring, and I want that feeling to last with more intimate knowledge. But in this case, it’s kind of the opposite. It might be satisfying in the moment to see someone like Scarpa let loose on a bunch of racists, but surely it’s only adding more fuel to the fire. It would be nice to learn that the real Scarpa was more reined in, though I’m not exactly holding out hope that that was the case.
How Do We Live With All This?: I’d love to tell you that we’re supposed to feel conflicted about the extreme titular means justifying the ends, but I’m not really sure what the filmmakers want us to feel. Director Elegance Bratton delivers it all in an unflinching package that leaves little room for reflection by any of the characters. However, there’s room for us to be reflective as audience members, at least, as we’re not directly implicated in the worst of it. You won’t feel guilty for being entertained, either. I certainly wasn’t. It just would have been nice to have a more direct acknowledgement about the discomfiting nature of it all.
At Least It Sounds Cool: One thing I’m not ambiguous about is the absolutely rousing score from Terence Blanchard. If you heard the logline for this movie and thought, “We need the same composer that they had for BlacKkKlansman,” well, that’s exactly what happened. Blanchard is your man when you need a music package that is going to give your audience’s soul an exhausting jazz workout. It’s invigorating, overpowering, and a little exhausting. So not too different from the investigation itself.

By Any Means is Recommended If You Like: Prosthetic noses

Grade: 3 out of 5 Badges

Is It Time to Boogie on Down to See ‘The Boogeyman’?

June 2, 2023

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I had a Bogey, man. (CREDIT: 20th Century Studios/Screenshot)

Starring: Sophie Thatcher, Chris Messina, Vivien Lyra Blair, David Dastmalchian, Marin Ireland, Madison Hu, LisaGay Hamilton

Director: Rob Savage

Running Time: 99 Minutes

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: June 2, 2023 (Theaters)

Honestly? I would’ve preferred a full-length version of The Boogerman.

Grade: They Took a Little Boogie Out of It

This Is a Movie Review: Dick Cheney is Ten Chess Moves Ahead of Everyone in Adam McKay’s Typically Ambitious ‘Vice’

December 17, 2018

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CREDIT: Matt Kennedy/Annapurna Pictures

This review was originally published on News Cult in December 2018.

Starring: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell, Jesse Plemons, Alison Pill, Lily Rabe, Justin Kirk, Tyler Perry, LisaGay Hamilton, Eddie Marsan

Director: Adam McKay

Running Time: 132 Minutes

Rating: R for Profanity in the Halls of Power and Images of War and Torture

Release Date: December 25, 2018

If I’m understanding Vice correctly, then Adam McKay believes that Dick Cheney (here embodied by Christian Bale) is directly or indirectly responsible for everything that is wrong with the current state of American politics. That actually is not as much of a stretch as it sounds. During his eight years as vice president, Cheney wielded a degree of influence that was profoundly unprecedented for the position. The conventional wisdom is that his views on executive power and surveillance now represent the status quo for whoever is occupying the White House. Thus, McKay is not so far off the reservation to imply all that he is implying. But he may have bitten off a little more than he can chew with the expansiveness of his argument. He was similarly ambitious with The Big Short, but that earlier effort is more durable to scrutiny because there he laid the responsibility on forces that were perpetrated both actively and passively by many people. It may very well turn out to be true that Cheney’s influence is as wide-ranging as McKay claims – it’s just tricky to say so about a person who is still living.

Interestingly enough, that tenuousness is baked right into the script. If not for a few key decisions, the life of Dick Cheney, and ergo America, could have played out very differently. Without the presence of his wife Lynne (Amy Adams conjuring Lady Macbeth), he could have ended up a drunk nobody. And if not for his propensity to see life like a chess match in which he is ten moves ahead of everyone else, there might be no Patriot Act, ISIS, or extreme income inequality.

The thesis of Vice is that it was all so close to going differently. Through fourth-wall breaking and formal experimentation (like playing the end credits halfway through), the message is that all that we have been living through was not foreordained. Some may find that frightening, as it indicates that we are always on the precipice of disaster. And McKay’s propensity to cut to random footage of pop culture ephemera may come off as a lamentation that we are too distracted to do anything about it. But I actually see encouragement. You don’t have to like Cheney for him to be an inspiration. If you have a problem with the way things are in the country right now, maybe you can see an opportunity where everyone else sees the masses placated by “Wassup!” commercials. I’m not sure how well Vice works as a movie, but I choose to see it as an exhortation to make things right.

Vice is Recommended If You Like: The Big Short, Oliver Stone’s political thrillers, The Daily Show, Fourth-wall breaking

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Unitary Executive Theories