It was quite a shock to fans of Ray Donovan when it was announced that the show had been cancelled after the seventh season finished, as the creative team behind the show had planned for the eighth season to be its final one and was just setting up the endgame. It’s something that as a viewer I find frustrating, as I do get the financial side of things; however, I believe that if a show has been on for three or more seasons then the fans who put time into it, and the actors and crew deserve some sort of closure on the series.
I say three seasons because after two things can still meet an untimely cancellation end, but even if you love the show, you’re not hugely invested in it. Once you hit season three you kind of expect for things to be headed towards some sort of end goal, and that the showrunner has a plan in place as to where the finish line is and begins to steer the show towards it. If a show hits season four then a movie to put a bow on things should the show be given the axe should just be status quo. With Ray Donovan we were seven years in, the show was still incredibly strong, the storytelling was great and the actors were crushing it every episode – and then it was done.
Just like that we were left with Ray (Liev Schreiber) out in the woods digging a hole as our final shot in the series, with absolutely no closure to his series long storyline with his father Mickey (Jon Voight.) Fans immediately let Showtime know how unhappy they were at the news, cancelling their subscriptions, starting petitions and taking to social media to voice their displeasure. Not long after Schreiber announced that the fans had been heard, and they were in talks to return to give the show a proper ending.
When the pandemic hit things obviously were thrown for a loop, but a year later it was announced that Showtime ordered a feature length movie that would serve as a closing chapter to the series. While I still feel that after seven seasons unceremoniously cancelling the show like they did was just a terrible move, as it doesn’t exactly make you want to invest time into seasons of a show on a network that doesn’t care about its customers, I will say that at the very least it’s good that we got this movie to help wrap up the main storylines, even if it’s a bit rushed at times.
Now, I do say movie because it’s called Ray Donovan: The Movie, but really it should be viewed as episode 11 of the seventh season, because that’s what it is. This isn’t a movie that someone who has never watched the show can just pick up and watch, as it doesn’t stand alone whatsoever. I’m not sure who decided to call it The Movie, but I think calling it Ray Donovan: The Finale would’ve been more apropos.
The movie picks up pretty much right after the season finale of season seven leaves off, so if you’ve yet to watch the movie I’d recommend just going back to season seven and watching the last episode again to get the flow going again heading into the movie. One thing that may surprise some is that the film is only 100-minutes long, which has some pros and cons. The pros are that the pacing is fairly solid throughout, and that the length of this movie does play out like an extended episode would without overstaying its welcome.
The focus of the movie is on Ray and Mickey, which makes sense as if anything has to be resolved by the end of this it’s their relationship. The plan for the eighth season was to mix flashbacks in with the current happenings so that we’d learn about Ray’s childhood, what shaped his personality and his volatile relationship with Mickey, a better insight as to why Mickey is the way he is, and how Ray got into being a fixer in the first place. All these things were supposed to build up throughout the season and culminate into a poetic finale, and while season eight never happened, the plans to handle the storytelling in the way they’d wanted carried over to the movie.
Even at 100-minutes we get a lot of storytelling here, and again, if you watch the end of season seven again leading into this one it does flow nicely. The flashbacks aren’t jarring because they began in season seven, so while we don’t get as much of an emotional reaction to some major things due to them having to fit so much into such a small amount of time, it’s all still handled incredibly well by writers David Hollander and Schreiber. They focus on the pieces of the story that need to be told in order to give fans a satisfying ending, and while this story being spread out over the course of 10 episodes would’ve been highly preferred, I feel they still nail the landing – even if it’s a somewhat abrupt one – for the story they were trying to tell.
The cons aren’t things that can really be held against the movie, as they’re really attempting to cram almost a full season of ideas into 100 minutes, but certain things feel rushed or left by the wayside. With the focus of the film being on Ray and Mickey, the only other character to get a strong story in the film is Ray’s daughter Bridget (Kerris Dorsey), which make sense seeing as her fiancé, Smitty, was killed in the seventh season finale and her role in the family had been growing since the show moved to New York. The rest of the Donovan clan see their individual stories wrapped up in a simple scene or two. Again, I believe they’re almost all handled as well as they can be with the time they’re given, but at the risk of sounding like a broken record, after spending seven seasons with these characters you do feel that everyone deserved a proper send-off.
Still, I wasn’t truly disappointed with the handling of any of the characters in the movie, as we do have to view it through the scope that we’re given, and in that light they do everyone as much justice as they can to send fans away as happy as they can. The only storyline that feels awkward and fairly rushed is that of Ray’s season seven love interest Molly Sullivan (Kerry Condon.) Last season saw Ray kill her father James (Peter Garety) after he found out that he raped Ray’s sister, leading to her suicide. Molly is the one who slowly uncovers the truth about her father, and tells Ray she’s there for him. At the start of this movie she again acts like she’s there for him, but then when we see her again in the second act she seems lost in grief for her missing father. While this emotional arc would’ve worked with ease over the course of a season, it unfortunately just doesn’t come off well within such a constricted time frame.
When it comes right down to it though, the story of Ray and Mickey is the heart of the show and to get to see that story come to a satisfying conclusion is something I’m grateful for. I give lots of credit to Hollander and Schreiber for putting together a proper finale and tying up as much as they could within the given time frame. It’s not an easy task, but they brought Ray Donovan to a close in a way that won’t appease all fans, but should please the majority.
Video and Audio Review
Ray Donovan: The Movie gets the DVD treatment here, and it looks good as a whole. It feels like a more cinematic episode of the show, with a filmic look at times. There’s some softness at times, but nothing that takes away from the experience as a whole. The blacks are rich enough without muddying, and visually it’s a solid looking transfer. There’s nothing that jumps out as overly impressive, as it’s more of an “on par” release in terms of what you’d expect visually.
On the audio side of things we’ve got nice, clean and clear dialogue, with sound effects and the show’s score delivering the goods, as per usual. As a whole everything on the audio side words together harmoniously, not setting the bar above what the show has delivered in the past, but continuing at the same level so that Ray Donovan: The Movie fits seamlessly into the mix as a true final episode of the show.
Paramount Pictures Presents Ray Donovan: The Movie. Directed by: David Hollander. Written by: David Hollander and Liev Schreiber. Starring: Liev Schreiber, Jon Voight, Kerris Dorsey, Eddie Marsan, Dash Mihok, Pooch Hall, Kerry Condon, Bill Heck, Chris Gray. Running time: 110 minutes. Rating: 14A. DVD Released: March 24, 2022.
About Brendan Campbell
