‘By Any Means’ review: Mark Wahlberg’s mob enforcer is flatter than the real man

What the film is about

By Any Means dramatizes an alleged episode in the 1960s where the FBI reportedly used mob enforcer Gregory Scarpa to investigate murders committed by the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi. The movie pairs Scarpa with an FBI handler, Agent Wayne Strider, as they pursue the killers of civil-rights leader Vernon Dahmer.

The review's main argument

The film has a compelling factual hook, but it turns that hook into a conventional thriller instead of mining the real story's moral and historical complication. The reviewer proposes a simple test for biopics: if the movie is less interesting than the subject's Wikipedia entry, it fails. By Any Means, the review argues, fails that test because it strips Scarpa of much of what made him a fascinating historical figure and invents or foregrounds a fictional FBI agent whose perspective the film doesn't fully trust.

Characters and performances

Nicole Beharie plays Strider's wife, who is threatened by the Klan once Strider's involvement becomes known, making the investigation personal. The film also features Giancarlo Esposito in the role of Vernon Dahmer.

Structure and tone

Written by Sascha Penn and directed by Elegance Bratton, the film spends time setting up the historical horror of Freedom Summer and the racist violence of 1960s Mississippi. Early scenes carry weight, but when the plot shifts into its investigative mode, it becomes repetitive and relies on familiar thriller beats rather than deepening the characters or the moral dilemmas.

The review criticizes the movie for not explaining how Scarpa became involved with FBI investigations or for exploring his thoughts on the Klan or his vigilante methods. The end credits' "where-are-they-now" note that refers vaguely to an "unnamed Black FBI agent" suggests much of the film's narrative may be fictionalized, which undercuts emotional buy-in.

What the film does offer

Despite its shortcomings, By Any Means reminds viewers of a brutal chapter in American history and depicts the stakes and dangers Black activists and allies faced in the Jim Crow South. The core premise — the FBI partnering off the books with a mob enforcer to combat the KKK — is an arresting premise that remains worth knowing about, even if the film doesn't fully explore it.

Bottom line

By Any Means has powerful source material and a serious historical backdrop, but the movie turns that material into a surface-level thriller. Performances and tone pull in different directions, and the choice to fictionalize or compress key elements leaves the real-life characters feeling diminished compared with their historical records.