Sometimes, movie trailers fail to inform audience members that the upcoming film is based on true events.
Usually, when marketing a new cinematic attraction, you’d highlight the grains of truth in it.
But, I ended up learning that factoid about “By any Means” when I decided to catch it on the big screen last week.
While the movie deals with heated tensions in southern Mississippi at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, it shows an interesting side to how the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) possibly handled hate crimes.
Now, there have been plenty of movies about FBI informants and contracted personnel that do work off the official record – I’m sure it’s still going on at present, too.
Still, for me, the highlights were bad, evil guys getting their just rewards for their heinous crimes.
When good triumphs over evil is always my overall movie preference by far.
Means is an American historical crime thriller film directed by Elegance Bratton and written by Sascha Penn.
The film stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Mark Wahlberg, Nicole Beharie, Josh Lucas, LaChanze, David Strathairn, LisaGay Hamilton, Nicole Beharie, and Giancarlo Esposito.
It clocks in at 107 minutes long and is rated R for violence/bloody images and pervasive language.
In 1964, three young Mississippi civil rights activists disappear without a trace during the summer.
Federal bureau supervisor Roy K. Moore (Strathairn) demands swift answers from regional agents.
Moore sends ruthless Brooklyn mob enforcer Greg Scarpa (Wahlberg) south to assist.
Scarpa uses physical coercion upon a local Ku Klux Klansman inside a warehouse.
The mobster strikes the suspect repeatedly until he talks openly, giving coordinates where victims lie buried under thick red soil.
Two years late in 1966 Hattiesburg, civil activist Vernon Dahmer (Esposito) helps local Black citizens register to vote safely.
One night, Klansmen ride past his home before erecting a burning cross and throw burning gasoline cans while shooting at his home.
Dahmer helps his family escape safely through a rear window, but he dies from burns and smoke inhalation the next morning.
As his grieving wife Hattie (LaChanz) mourns beside neighbor Rebecca Brewer (Hamilton) outdoors, a young Black FBI agent - Wayne Strider (Abdul-Mateen II) - arrives to investigate.
Though originally from Mississippi, Strider spent his teen and young adult years in Chicago before deciding to move south with his supportive wife Allison (Beharie).
Moore and Special Agent Everett Rhodes (Lucas) assign Strider to direct efforts.
The local residents refuse federal interviews due to fear of local deputies.
Moore assigns Scarpa to partner with Strider.
Strider believes strict legal bounds bring true justice through proper courtrooms, while Scarpa mocks rules and uses coercion to obtain total compliance.
While chasing down leads, Scarpa recites quotes from Malcolm X to justify his ruthless choices.
Together, they traverse small rural towns searching for active Klan operatives that can point them towards those responsible for Dahmer’s murder and destroyed home.
While it’s a pretty violent movie, Means doesn’t pull any punches on how ruthless Scarpa is and that’s what makes the story even more believable in my book.
Not to mention, there are a few interesting historical facts at the end of the film and before the credits.
