‘Ray Donovan: The Movie’ review: Liev Schreiber returns in a finale designed to tie up loose ends

Last updated Jan 16, 2022

Executive manufacturer David Hollander directed what totals up to this additional-long finale episode and co-wrote it with star Liev Schreiber, who had actually guaranteed fans some sort of benefit method back in February 2020. Now that it’s here, credit Showtime with the customer-service savvy to supply both its skill and the audience with a more rewarding conclusion, one that reaches into the past in addition to advancing in today.

For those who (naturally) forgot, the seventh season ended with a shootout that left Mickey (Jon Voight), the household’s amoral patriarch, on the lam, and Smitty (Graham Rodgers), the other half of Ray’s child Bridget (Kerris Dorsey), dead.

The film gets there, with Ray figured out to settle old ratings, while thinking back through flashbacks about his complex youth with Mickey, and not by the way how Ray stumbled into his existing line of work.

At its core “Ray Donovan” constantly dealt with discomfort and loss, and here, whether they eventually equate into vengeance or forgiveness. Those styles turned Ray into among the most tortured characters in this contemporary period of antiheroes, attempting to keep an eye out for his bros (played by Eddie Marsan, Dash Mihok and Pooch Hall), who each bring their own heavy luggage.

Certainly, the program was so regularly bleak the one minute that actually sticks out in the film includes the bros drunkenly discussing their weird training while chuckling and dancing, an unusual reprieve from the darkness. Likewise, the more youthful Ray is recommended that nevertheless much of a jerk his daddy is, Mickey a minimum of appears to enjoy life, which isn’t real of his oldest kid.

Tv reveals sign off for all sort of factors, and traditionally it’s not unusual for developers to leave audiences hanging. Having actually invested 7 years in Ray’s odyssey, requesting an authentic ending wasn’t unreasonable.

If absolutely nothing else, “Ray Donovan: The Movie” produces the area for the manufacturers to head out on their terms, in much the method Showtime did with “Dexter,” better, in a limited-series format.

Ray often utilized a baseball bat to fix issues. Although it’s great to see the program’s imaginative group managed one last swing, it’s regrettable they do not knock it out of the park.

“Ray Donovan: The Movie” premieres Jan. 14 at 9 p.m. ET on Showtime.

Jobber Wiki author Frank Long contributed to this report.

'Ray Donovan: The Movie' review: Liev Schreiber returns in a finale designed to tie up loose ends - CNN entertainment