‘By Any Means’ Earns a Solid Cinemascore as Audiences Respond to Its Wild True Crime Premise

Historical thrillers built around real events often walk a delicate line between respecting the facts and delivering the kind of dramatic tension audiences expect from a night at the movies. When a premise sounds almost too outrageous to be true, that balancing act becomes even trickier to pull off convincingly.

That’s precisely the challenge facing director Elegance Bratton’s newest crime thriller, which pairs a notorious mob hitman with an FBI agent on a mission most audiences would assume was pure Hollywood invention. Despite that improbable pairing, the story draws directly from real events buried in 1960s civil rights history.

Audiences have now weighed in on how well that unlikely premise translates to the screen, awarding ‘By Any Means’ a solid B+ grade from opening night moviegoers on CinemaScore. That respectable grade suggests the film’s blend of true crime intrigue and period drama resonated reasonably well with the audiences who showed up for its opening weekend.

‘By Any Means’ follows Gregory Scarpa, played by Mark Wahlberg, a mafia hitman allegedly recruited by the FBI to help investigate the murder of civil rights leaders in 1966 Mississippi. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II stars as Wayne Strider, the Black FBI agent tasked with handling Scarpa throughout the investigation, with the two forming an unlikely partnership as they work to bring down a group of Ku Klux Klan members responsible for the killing of NAACP chapter president Vernon Dahmer, played by Giancarlo Esposito.

While Scarpa was a genuine mobster reportedly used by the FBI as an informant, there’s no historical evidence confirming he actually worked alongside a Black FBI handler, making Abdul-Mateen II’s character an invented figure built around scarce historical details. Wahlberg explained that he’d previously encountered a different Scarpa biopic focused entirely on his mob war history in New York, admitting this particular chapter of the character’s life was completely new territory for him, according to Yahoo Entertainment, which cited comments Wahlberg made to For the Win.

That scarcity of documented history created a considerably tougher challenge for Abdul-Mateen II, who had limited source material to draw from for his character. Since records confirm a Black FBI agent served as Scarpa’s handler during the investigation without providing extensive personal detail, the actor relied on broader research into Black agents working within the bureau during that era to help shape his performance.

While opening night audiences responded warmly enough to earn the film its B+ grade, critical reception has been considerably more mixed. Several reviews have pushed back on how far the film strays into dramatized action-thriller territory, arguing its rollicking, feel-good tone sits awkwardly alongside a true story that didn’t actually conclude with meaningful justice being served.

Other critics have taken more specific issue with the film’s tonal balance, describing its violence as bluntly drawn and questioning whether framing brutal enforcement tactics as heroic sits comfortably within a story centered on the civil rights movement. That critical skepticism stands in contrast to the more positive reception from opening night ticket buyers.

Beyond its two central leads, the film’s supporting cast includes Nicole Beharie, Josh Lucas, David Strathairn, Ethan Embry and LisaGay Hamilton, rounding out a period-set ensemble backed by Paramount Pictures. Directed by Elegance Bratton, whose previous film ‘The Inspection’ earned significant critical praise, ‘By Any Means’ represents a considerably different genre direction, blending crime thriller elements with historical drama.

Given the disconnect between its mixed critical reviews and stronger opening night audience grade, ‘By Any Means’ looks positioned to generate ongoing debate about how effectively it balances entertainment value against the weight of the real history it’s drawing from. Whether that divide affects its overall box office performance will likely become clearer as its theatrical run continues.

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