MOVIE REVIEW - RAY DONOVAN: THE MOVIE (2022)

RATED: TV-MA

RUNNING TIME: 1 Hour 40 minutes

RELEASE DATE: January 14, 2022

DIRECTOR: David Hollander

WRITERS: David Hollander, Liev Schreiber

CREATED BY: Ann Biderman

STARRING:

Liev Schreiber as Ray Donovan

Eddie Marsan as Terry Donovan

Dash Mihok as Bunchy Donovan

Pooch Hall as Daryll

Kerris Dorsey as Bridget Donovan

Katherine Moennig as Lena

Kerry Condon as Molly Sullivan

Jon Voight as Mickey Donovan

Bill Heck as Young Mickey

Chris Gray as Young Ray Donovan

Alan Alda as Dr. Arthur Amiot

WARNING: THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

The Showtime series Ray Donovan was known as a great crime drama that had seemed to be able to continue forever. All of us fans were surprised when we found out that the show had suddenly been cancelled at the end of season seven. There were many questions that had to be answers and directions that each character needed to take that seemed to have given the fans of the show the feeling of the rug being pulled from under our feet. I know that the fans that I know all agreed on the question. Why? Then to our joy a movie announcement came shortly after.

Honestly I am not sure how soon the announcement came after the series had been cancelled. I personally did not see much press about it. I actually found out shortly after the New Year of this year, 2022, when I happened to see a random trailer for it.

I am not one who subscribes to cable anymore. I have long joined the masses who went digital and use streaming services for my entertainment these days. Maybe Showtime aired most of their promotion for the film on their service/channel. I do a great deal of driving though and I have not seen one billboard or promotion in that respect and felt surprised as such. It actually made me more curious about the quality of the film itself because of what I consider a lack of advertising.

I was able to watch the film last night. It began right where the series left off which was expected but took a slightly different turn. After a brief recap of the final season, we are told the end game of the film right at the beginning which I sometimes enjoy. Sometimes it can be fun to watch a film unfold the path to the film's main purpose in this way. Most times it does not work as intended but I enjoyed how they did this in this case.

A big reason why I think this method of story telling worked was because for the first time in Ray Donovan history, we were able to spend a great deal of time with the characters when they were younger. We were able to connect some dots the characters this way and learn how they became the adults they grew into. However the main characters that we saw in this light were Ray and Mickey. I agree with this as well because they are the two characters that we care mostly about especially in this story.

I know that I gave my typical spoiler warning up above and trust me I did plan on completely spoiling this movie. Then a rethought my approach and feel that you all will get more out of this film if I held back and let you enjoy it. I will say that the film did end in a way where we can revisit these characters again and left me wanting for more. I found that I really did appreciate the end. I truly hope to see a Ray Donovan The Movie 2, hopefully with a better name than what I just typed. I HIGHLY recommend this film and I would love to hear how you all felt about it after watching if you feel the need to comment on this post.

ENJOY!