Don't Sleep on 'By Any Means' in Theaters!
Mark Walhberg Dials Up One of The Best Characters of the Year
Move over Tony Soprano, we finally have a new interesting gangster to explore in Mark Wahlberg’s character Gregory Scarpa in the new movie By Any Means.
Scarpa is a Capo and hitman for the Columbo crime family in New York City, who finds himself an FBI information doing jobs for the G-Men in the racially boiling Mississippi of the 1960’s.
What was intended to be a vehicle for hopeful breakout star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Wayne Strider, one of only a few black FBI men of the era, Wahlberg dominates the screen with his nose prosthetic and multi-layered performance as Scarpa. Cut more in the mold of a Joe Pesci Goodfella’s or Casino character, Wahlberg’s take on Scarpa hints at Tony Soprano layers, played by the legendary and late James Gandolfini.
Wahlberg and Abdul-Mateen are an unlikely team chosen to bring down a circle of the KKK, who are intimidating black people to vote in Mississippi in 1966. After the murder of a prominent voter rights activist played by Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito, the FBI call on Scarpa to “do his thing” and get information on the murder “By And Means” alongside his new handler Strider.
Abdul-Mateen is fantastic in the performance despite taking a backseat to Wahlberg. There is no doubt that this actor has the ability to carry a story on his own as he provide in streaming series Wonder Man. Whether it is opposite Jason Mamoa in Aquaman, Keanu Reeves in The Matrix Resurrections, Jake Gyllenhaal in Ambulance, Mark Wahlberg in By Any Means or the upcoming Cliff Booth movie with Brad Pitt, the thing holding Abdul-Manteen back is his constant state of playing supporting actor. I look forward to seeing him in a future breakout leading man role.
By Any means is based on a true story and while it’s historical accuracies are part of the charm, it also is the reason the movie doesn’t reach its full potential.
New Director Elegance Bratton does a solid job setting up the scenes and maintaining pace while writer Sascha Penn gives us fantastic Dialogue delivered by seasoned pros.
The first two acts of By Any Means is on fire… literally, but the third act peters out leaving us wondering what might have been had the creatives taken more liberties with actual events at the end. The movie ending feels rushed, catching you up with reading about what happens later. Scorsese does something similar in Casino, but wraps the ending up with a surprise and some action.
Perhaps the next time around, Bratton will do better. What this movie really does is set’s up another movie following the life of Mark Wahlberg as Gregory Scarpa. If this can be done in the Scorsese style, not only would it be incredibly entertaining, but it could be the greatest role of Wahlberg’s Career. Paramount Pictures take note! Grade: B
