‘By Any Means’ Just Landed Its First Rotten Tomatoes Verdict, and Critics Are More Divided Than You’d Expect

Mark Wahlberg and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II have teamed up for one of the more unusual crime dramas of the year, a film that trades typical buddy cop dynamics for something far more charged. ‘By Any Means’ pairs a mafia hitman with a young FBI agent in the middle of America’s civil rights era, a premise that sounds almost too strange to be real.

That is because it mostly is real. The film is set against the backdrop of 1966 Mississippi and inspired by true events, following a volatile partnership between a hardened mafia hitman and a young Black FBI agent forced into an uneasy alliance to track down those responsible for the killing of civil rights leaders. The story uncovers a conspiracy that tests how far justice can bend before it breaks.

Now that ‘By Any Means’ has hit theaters, the first wave of critic scores is in, and the numbers are notable. The film opened with a 71 percent Tomatometer score across its early reviews, a solidly fresh rating that suggests the film is landing better with critics than some expected given its unconventional pairing of stars.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays Special Agent Strider, a man who moves back to his Mississippi hometown determined to bring justice to a region where the Klan operates with near total impunity. After civil rights leader Vernon Dahmer, played by Giancarlo Esposito, is murdered, the FBI finds that no one will testify against the Klan, either out of fear or outright bigotry. That impasse is what pushes Strider’s superiors toward a controversial solution.

With federal pressure mounting from above, Strider’s bosses turn to hitman and FBI informant Gregory Scarpa, played by Wahlberg, sending him to Mississippi to intimidate the people standing in the way of justice. TheWrap’s review called the film uneven but durable overall, singling out Abdul-Mateen II for developing his character with real insight even as Wahlberg leans into a more familiar, larger-than-life persona.

Behind the camera, ‘By Any Means’ comes from director Elegance Bratton, whose previous feature ‘The Inspection’ earned acclaim at its festival premiere. Bratton described the project as a story about unlikely alliances forged under impossible circumstances, where justice is not clean and the truth comes at a cost, a sentiment he shared with Variety. The film also rounds out its cast with Nicole Beharie, David Strathairn, Josh Lucas and Ethan Embry alongside Esposito.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II joined the project in February 2025, stepping into the role after Sterling K. Brown had to exit due to scheduling conflicts. Paramount Pictures ultimately acquired the U.S. rights and dated the film for a Labor Day theatrical release, banking on the true story angle and its charged central partnership to draw audiences into theaters over the holiday weekend.

With reviews still rolling in and that Tomatometer number likely to shift, ‘By Any Means’ has already sparked plenty of conversation about whether Wahlberg and Abdul-Mateen II’s odd-couple chemistry actually works. Did this unlikely FBI and mafia pairing win you over, or does the premise feel like a stretch even by Hollywood’s standards?