Movie of the Week
Mafia-FBI duo seek justice… ‘By Any Means’
A new crime thriller follows a young Black FBI agent in a dangerous pursuit of killers targeting civil rights leaders.
Justice comes with a dangerous compromise in By Any Means, a movie inspired by a true story about the limits of lawful investigation.
The crime thriller is screening in Ster-Kinekor cinemas and Nu Metro theatres from today (4 September 2026).
The story follows a young Black FBI agent sent into 1960s Mississippi to investigate a wave of brutal killings targeting civil rights leaders. When official channels fail to deliver answers, the case pushes him beyond conventional law-enforcement methods.
His unlikely partner is Greg Scarpa, a notorious mafia hitman whose methods sit far outside the law. Although the two men are divided by race, experience and duty, they enter the same deadly hunt as the line between justice and vengeance begins to disappear.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Man on Fire) leads as the young agent, while Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter) plays Scarpa. The cast includes Nicole Beharie (The Morning Show), Giancarlo Esposito (Gus Fring in Breaking Bad), Josh Lucas (Ford v Ferrari), David Strathairn (Lincoln), Ethan Embry, LisaGay Hamilton and LaChanze.
Elegance Bratton, director of The Inspection, directs the film from a screenplay by Sascha Penn. The central tension in By Any Means extends beyond whether the killers can be found. The movie asks what happens when law enforcement relies on a violent criminal to reach the truth, placing justice, vengeance and institutional failure on the same collision course.
