Director: Elegance Bratton, Writer: Sascha Penn, Starring: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Mark Wahlberg, Nicole Beharie, Giancarlo Esposito, Josh Lucas, David Strathairn

Genre: Historical crime drama/thriller

Rating: R

Running time: 1 hour, 47 minutes 

Brief Summary

By Any Means is a fictionalized historical drama set primarily in Mississippi in 1966, during one of the most dangerous periods of the Civil Rights Movement. The story centers on Wayne Strider, played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, a young Black FBI agent who believes deeply in justice and initially seeks to achieve it through lawful institutions.

 Strider is assigned to investigate racist violence against Black civil-rights leaders. His investigation ultimately focuses on the murder of civil-rights activist Vernon Dahmer, portrayed by Giancarlo Esposito. Dahmer was a real NAACP leader whose home was firebombed by members of the Ku Klux Klan; he died from his injuries. 

The FBI pairs Strider with Gregory Scarpa, played by Mark Wahlberg—a Mafia hitman who historically also served as an FBI informant. Scarpa and Strider could hardly be more different. Strider represents law, procedure, discipline, and an aspiration toward justice. Scarpa operates through intimidation, violence, and whatever methods he believes will produce results.

 That partnership creates the movie’s central moral question: What should a person do when the institutions designed to deliver justice are themselves corrupted by injustice? As Strider encounters racism within law enforcement as well as the larger society, his confidence that the system will deliver justice begins to erode. Meanwhile, Scarpa offers a very different philosophy: if evil people refuse to respect the law, perhaps defeating them requires methods outside the law.

The film deliberately allows the boundary between justice and vengeance to become increasingly difficult to distinguish. Paramount’s own synopsis describes this as the point where “justice and vengeance begin to blur.” That tension makes the movie particularly interesting for Christian discussion.

My review of the Film

 As a historical drama, By Any Means should not be viewed as a documentary. It draws upon real people and events but substantially dramatizes them. Wayne Strider is a fictional/composite character, and critics have noted that the film takes considerable liberties with the historical record. Vernon Dahmer’s son has criticized the film’s fictionalization of his father’s story. 

 As a movie, it is more successful at raising moral questions than answering them. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II gives the film its moral center. Mark Wahlberg’s Scarpa functions almost as his opposite: the man who asks whether moral restraint accomplishes anything when confronting people who possess very little moral restraint themselves.

Critics have divided over whether the film adequately examines this issue. The Associated Press found it a compelling Civil Rights-era action thriller, while other reviewers argue that the film ultimately becomes too comfortable with revenge and violence instead of seriously examining their moral consequences. 

For a Bible study class, however, that weakness can actually create a valuable discussion. Scripture gives us standards by which we can evaluate the choices made by the characters rather than simply accepting the film’s conclusions.

Life Lessons for a Bible Study Class

1. Justice and vengeance are not the same thing.

This is probably the most important biblical lesson in the movie. Wayne wants justice. Scarpa is willing to use vengeance to obtain what looks like justice. As the story progresses, the distinction becomes increasingly blurred.

Scripture draws a much sharper line: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God.”  – Romans 12:19 (ESV)

The desire for justice is not sinful. In fact, Scripture repeatedly commands God’s people to pursue justice: “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression.” – Isaiah 1:17 (ESV)

The Christian challenge, therefore, is not choosing between justice and indifference. It is learning to pursue justice without becoming consumed by vengeance.

Bible-study question: At what point does Wayne’s pursuit of justice begin to resemble Scarpa’s pursuit of vengeance? How can Christians vigorously oppose evil without allowing hatred to transform them?

2. Good ends do not automatically justify sinful means.

The title itself invites this discussion: “By Any Means.” Scarpa’s philosophy is essentially that the righteousness of the objective can justify questionable methods. Christianity rejects that principle. Paul addresses essentially this argument:

“And why not do evil that good may come? – as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.” – Romans 3:8 (ESV)

This gives a Bible class an important ethical principle: A righteous goal does not automatically sanctify an unrighteous method. The question is relevant far beyond the movie—to politics, business, family relationships, church leadership, warfare, criminal justice, and everyday conflicts.

3. Racism contradicts the biblical doctrine of humanity.

The racism depicted in the movie is not simply a social problem. From a Christian perspective, it represents a profound theological error about who human beings are.

Genesis establishes human dignity at creation: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him.” – Genesis 1:27 (ESV)

And Paul declares: “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth.” – Acts 17:26 (ESV)

Racism therefore attacks something God established: the shared dignity of humanity made in His image. The movie’s depiction of the Ku Klux Klan is especially useful for discussing the danger of attempting to combine racial hatred with Christian terminology or symbolism. A cross used to terrorize people represents a grotesque inversion of the Christian message. The cross of Christ represents sacrificial love and reconciliation not racial domination.

4. Silence in the presence of injustice can help injustice flourish.

One disturbing element of By Any Means is not merely the existence of violent racists. It is the presence of institutions and individuals who tolerate, protect, ignore, or enable them. The film depicts local authorities turning a blind eye to racial violence. 

Scripture does not permit God’s people simply to look away: “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.” – Proverbs 31:8 (ESV)

This leads to an important Christian question: What responsibility does a believer have when he witnesses injustice against someone else?

Biblical faith requires more than personally refraining from evil. There are circumstances in which righteousness requires speaking, defending, intervening, and advocating for those being mistreated.

5. Hatred can cause us to become like the evil we oppose.

One of the movie’s most interesting developments is Wayne’s transformation. He begins as a man who strongly believes in lawful justice, but repeated exposure to hatred, corruption, and injustice increasingly pushes him toward Scarpa’s methods. Critics have specifically noted this progression from rule-bound agent toward vengeance. 

That creates a powerful spiritual warning. When fighting evil, Christians must guard against allowing evil to reproduce itself inside us. Paul writes: “Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.” – Romans 12:21 (ESV)

Notice that Paul identifies two dangers: the evil committed against us, and the possibility that this evil may overcome us. We can defeat an enemy externally while allowing that enemy’s hatred to defeat us internally.

6. Courage sometimes requires standing against the system.

The film also illustrates an important distinction: Christians are called to respect legitimate authority, but authority is not synonymous with righteousness.

Scripture contains numerous examples of believers refusing to cooperate with injustice: the Hebrew midwives resisting Pharaoh (Exodus 1:15–21), Daniel continuing to pray despite the king’s decree (Daniel 6), and the apostles refusing orders that contradicted God’s command. Peter and the apostles explain the governing principle: “We must obey God rather than men.” – Acts 5:29 (ESV)

The biblical response to corrupt authority, however, differs significantly from Scarpa’s philosophy. Scripture does not say, “When authorities are corrupt, anything becomes permissible.” Rather, obedience to God remains the controlling standard.

7. Justice delayed can test a person’s faith.

Wayne’s frustration reflects a problem believers have wrestled with for centuries: Why does God allow evil people to prosper while innocent people suffer?

Habakkuk asked essentially the same question: “O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save?” — Habakkuk 1:2 (ESV)

The film provides an opportunity to teach that frustration with injustice is not evidence of weak faith. Biblical prophets themselves cried out against oppression. The danger comes when frustration causes us to abandon God’s standards in order to accomplish God’s purposes.

A Central Bible-Study Theme

I would build a lesson around this question: “Can Christians pursue justice without becoming agents of vengeance?”

Three passages work especially well together: Micah 6:8 establishes the obligation to pursue justice; Romans 12:17–21 establishes the prohibition against personal vengeance; and Romans 13:1–4 establishes government’s legitimate responsibility to restrain wrongdoing.

Together they prevent two opposite errors. The Christian cannot say, “Justice doesn’t matter; simply forgive and ignore evil.” But neither can the Christian say, “Because my cause is just, whatever I do to my enemy is justified.” Biblical justice rejects both passivity toward evil and sinful vengeance against evildoers.

Final Evaluation

By Any Means is not primarily a Christian film, and Christians should not accept its moral conclusions uncritically. It is also rated R for violence/bloody images and pervasive language, so those considering showing clips in a church setting should preview them carefully. 

Nevertheless, the movie can provide excellent material for a mature Bible study because it confronts enduring questions: What is justice? What distinguishes justice from revenge? How should believers respond when institutions fail? Can righteous purposes justify unrighteous methods? What responsibility do Christians have toward victims of racial injustice? And how do we fight evil without allowing evil to reshape our own hearts?

Perhaps the most important biblical response to the title By Any Means comes from Romans 12:21: “Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.”

The movie asks whether evil sometimes requires us to adopt the methods of evil to defeat it. The gospel gives a radically different answer: Christians are called to confront evil courageously, seek justice persistently, protect the oppressed faithfully and still refuse to let evil determine who we become.