Mark Wahlberg Wishes He Were Unrecognizable in By Any Means
Vulture • • entertainment
Key Points:
- "By Any Means" features Mark Wahlberg portraying mob enforcer Gregory Scarpa with noticeable prosthetics and physical alterations, though Wahlberg's performance lacks deep transformation and comes off as a caricature.
- The film, directed by Elegance Bratton and written by Sascha Penn, is loosely based on true events involving Scarpa's FBI work during the 1960s civil rights era, focusing on violent tactics used against racial oppression.
- Yahya Abdul-Mateen II co-stars as FBI agent Wayne Strider, whose character struggles to navigate institutional racism and violence, but is portrayed as ineffective and underdeveloped, limiting the film's exploration of its complex themes.
- "By Any Means" shares thematic elements with "Green Book" but diverges by emphasizing the harsh realities of racial violence and federal law enforcement's complicated role, ultimately presenting a conflicted stance on the use of brutality for justice.
- The film's ambiguous messaging and Wahlberg's hammy performance detract from its impact, with critics noting it neither fully endorses nor condemns the violent methods depicted, leaving its larger moral questions unresolved.
