Two years after its abrupt cancellation without an actual ending, “Ray Donovan” gets the chance to clean up another mess with “Ray Donovan: The Movie,” designed to provide the closure that longtime viewers lacked. There’s some of that, but unlike the show’s notorious fixer, it’s not as neat a job as it could have been in terms of tying up loose ends.
Executive producer David Hollander directed what amounts to this extra-long finale episode and co-wrote it with star Liev Schreiber, who had promised fans some sort of payoff way back in February 2020. Now that it’s here, credit Showtime with the customer-service savvy to provide both its talent and the audience with a more satisfying conclusion, one that reaches into the past in addition to advancing in the present.
For those who (understandably) forgot, the seventh season ended with a shootout that left Mickey (Jon Voight), the family’s amoral patriarch, on the lam, and Smitty (Graham Rodgers), the husband of Ray’s daughter Bridget (Kerris Dorsey), dead.
The movie picks up there, with Ray determined to settle old scores, while reminiscing via flashbacks about his complicated youth with Mickey, and not incidentally how Ray stumbled into his current line of work.
At its core “Ray Donovan” always dealt with pain and loss, and here, whether they ultimately translate into revenge or forgiveness. Those themes turned Ray into one of the most tortured characters in this modern era of antiheroes, trying to look out for his brothers (played by Eddie Marsan, Dash Mihok and Pooch Hall), who each carry their own heavy baggage.
Indeed, the show was so consistently bleak the one moment that really stands out in the movie involves the brothers drunkenly discussing their strange upbringing while laughing and dancing, a rare respite from the darkness. Similarly, the younger Ray is advised that however much of a jerk his dad is, Mickey at least seems to love life, which isn’t true of his eldest son.
Television shows sign off for all kinds of reasons, and historically it’s not uncommon for programmers to leave viewers dangling. Having invested seven years in Ray’s odyssey, asking for a genuine ending wasn’t unreasonable.
If nothing else, “Ray Donovan: The Movie” creates the space for the producers to go out on their terms, in much the way Showtime did with “Dexter,” more effectively, in a limited-series format.
Ray frequently used a baseball bat to solve problems. Although it’s nice to see the show’s creative team afforded one final swing, it’s too bad they don’t knock it out of the park.
OVERVIEW
OnMyWay Is The #1 Distracted Driving Mobile App In The Nation!
OnMyWay, based in Charleston, SC, The Only Mobile App That Pays its Users Not to Text and Drive.
The #1 cause of death among young adults ages 16-27 is Car Accidents, with the majority related to Distracted Driving.
OnMyWay’s mission is to reverse this epidemic through positive rewards. Users get paid for every mile they do not text and drive and can refer their friends to get compensated for them as well.
The money earned can then be used for Cash Cards, Gift Cards, Travel Deals and Much, Much More….
The company also makes it a point to let users know that OnMyWay does NOT sell users data and only tracks them for purposes of providing a better experience while using the app.
The OnMyWay app is free to download and is currently available on both the App Store for iPhones and Google Play for Android @ OnMyWay; Drive Safe, Get Paid.
Download App Now – https://r.onmyway.com
Sponsors and advertisers can contact the company directly through their website @ www.onmyway.com.