By Any Means (2026)

The Civil Rights-era thriller has potential in its premise of an FBI agent teaming with a violent enforcer against Klansmen, but it loses interest in moral questions and leans into spectacle and tired script beats. Wahlberg’s hammy performance overshadows stronger work from Abdul-Mateen II.

The film pairs a Black FBI agent with a mob hitman in a messy, Green Book-adjacent story about violence in the civil rights era, but Wahlberg’s unconvincing performance and the script’s failure to develop its characters undermine any deeper exploration. It amounts to an uneasy argument for brutality when convenient.

Bratton turns tragic American history into classic buddy-cop tropes with Mark Wahlberg and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. The film selectively blends true events into entertaining popcorn fare but struggles with its moral and historical weight.

The film pairs a Black FBI agent with a mob hitman in 1966 Mississippi for an uneasy alliance against Klan violence, but familiar thriller beats clash awkwardly with the historical premise. It delivers occasional nasty thrills and strong performances from Abdul-Mateen II but remains shallow overall.

The film is often stirring but often infuriating, shaping a Machiavellian worldview as an action movie with types rather than fully realized lives. It honors the struggles it dramatizes at its best moments but relies on convenient plot devices.

The film is caught between earnestness and exploitation as a civil rights picture. Wahlberg as the mafia hitman provides crowd-pleasing revenge violence and fish-out-of-water humor.

The critic finds the film an uneven but durable crime drama that works as a historical drama and buddy cop thriller, praising Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's standout performance while noting Wahlberg's more surface-level acting and some unfulfilling elements in the climax.