BY ANY MEANS : Tuesday 8th September 2026.

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'BY ANY MEANS' at my local multiplex earlier this week, and this American historical crime film is Co-Produced and Directed by Elegance Bratton whose previous feature length films include the documentaries 'Pier Kids' in 2019 and 'Move Ya Body : The Birth of House' in 2025 and the drama film 'The Inspection' in 2022. This film was released in the US last week too, has generated mixed or average critical reviews and has so far recovered US$11M from its US$29M production budget.

The film opens in 1964, where three Congress of Racial Equality workers - James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerne disappeared near Philadelphia, Mississippi without a trace during the summer. FBI supervisor Roy K. Moore (David Strathairn) demands swift answers from regional agents. Moore sends ruthless Brooklyn mob enforcer Greg Scarpa (Mark Wahlberg, who also Co-Produces here) south to assist. Scarpa uses physical coercion with the aid of a baseball bat upon a local Ku Klux Klansman inside a deserted warehouse. Scarpa strikes the suspect repeatedly until he talks openly, giving details where victims lie buried at a farm six miles south of Philadelphia, buried in an earthen dam under fourteen feet of red clay.

 

Fast forward a couple of years to 1966 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and civil rights activist Vernon Dahmer (Giancarlo Esposito) helps local Black citizens register to vote safely. Klansmen ride past his home in the dead of night and throw burning petrol cans into his home, while opening fire. Dahmer helps his family escape safely through a rear window, but he dies from burns and smoke inhalation. 

As his grieving wife Hattie (LaChanze) mourns beside neighbour Rebecca Brewer (LisaGay Hamilton) outdoors, a young Black FBI agent, Wayne Strider (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), arrives to investigate, but is quickly moved on by a pair of local Police Officers with their sidearms at the ready, who doubt that the Black man is actually an FBI agent. 

Strider moves south with his supportive wife Allison (Nicole Beharie). Moore and Special Agent Everett Rhodes (Josh Lucas) assign Strider to direct efforts. The local residents refuse federal interviews due to fear of local deputies. Moore assigns Scarpa to partner with Strider, under strict orders that Scarpa is heading up the off the books investigation and to follow his direction, no questions asked.

Strider believes in strict legal boundaries bringing true justice through the court of law, while Scarpa mocks rules and uses coercion to obtain the information he needs, by any means necessary. Scarpa recites quotes from Malcolm X to justify ruthless choices. Together, they travel through small rural towns actively searching for active Klan members.

Strider watches in dismay as Scarpa breaks federal laws without hesitation, but terrified witnesses begin leaking critical names about the night bombing, including Rebecca Brewer, who is attacked in her bed at night, her house fire bombed and then she is dragged outside and killed, because the Klan learned that she spoke with Strider about what she witnessed the night of Dahmer's death. The evidence points directly toward Sam Bowers (Ethan Embry) and his local gang. Scarpa corners Bowers alone and forces a confession using physical force, by punching him multiple times in the face and killing his incessantly barking dog. The federal agents raid hidden hideouts across county lines under cover of darkness, while the sheriff deputies facing evidence can no longer protect the Klan killers.

Bowers and thirteen other Klan members are arrested for Dahmer's death. Strider achieves justice but feels greatly unsettled by federal hypocrisy, considering his future career path. He realises systemic prejudice runs through federal law enforcement agencies. Scarpa collects his cash payout from federal agents before leaving town and flying back to New York. The Mississippi community honours Vernon Dahmer, with Hattie vowing to continue registration efforts for local voters. Strider accepts that law enforcement demands tough compromises every day, and justice arrives only when people push beyond ordinary legal boundaries.

A pre-credits notation tells us that Sam Bowers was responsible for instigating and planning the 1964 murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner by members of his Klan chapter near Philadelphia, Mississippi, for which he served six years in federal prison; and the 1966 murder of Vernon Dahmer in Hattiesburg, for which he was sentenced to life in prison, 32 years after the crime. He died in prison in 2006 at the age of 82. 

With 'By Any Means' Director Bratton has delivered us a B-grade mash-up of 1988's 'Mississippi Burning' and 2018's 'Green Book' - both Academy Award nominated and winning films in their own right, unlike this film I would bet. That said, the film does shine a light on a period of American history not so long ago that it sill remains within living memory and deserves to be (re)told because it remains as relevant today as it did back then, and if you're a Gen Z'er or a Millennial then this is perhaps an important lesson you should take note of. Mark Wahlberg with his prosthetic nose, his bulging gut and his constant chewing on a toothpick portrays the Colombo crime family hitman and enforcer in what is probably his most violent and hateful role yet and does so with a malevolent conviction, while Yahya Abdul-Mateen has crafted a complex and driven character who yearns to do the right thing but is swayed by the bigotry he experiences in his everyday life. The film is serviceable enough, but it feels like a good cop bad cop buddy cop movie the likes of which we have seen in 'Lethal Weapon' and '48 Hours' et al, is familiar and when the ending comes it feels undercooked and just a bit of an anticlimax. 

'By Any Means' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-