Ray Donovan: The Movie

"Ray Donovan: The Movie" picks up where season 7 ended. Ray's father Mickey (Jon Voight) on the run with valuable documents belonging to the Donovans' long-time rivals, the Sullivan clan, while Ray (Liev Schreiber) and his brothers Terry (Eddie Marsan), Bunchy (Dash Mihok) and Daryll (Pooch Hall) are dealing with the usual questions of fate and a haunted past from which they'll never quite escape. Ray's daughter Bridget (Kerris Dorsey) has been left a young widow after her husband Smitty (Graham Rogers) was collateral damage in yet another shootout involving the Donovans. Outstanding acting performance from the whole cast, and Live Schreiber´s best role of his career. With this movie, Ray gets the send-off he deserves. Like his daughter Bridget in the movie says: "It had to stop, it had to end". Ray, we will miss you!

A suitably dark closure to a series that brought a lot to me. I especially enjoyed Bill Heck's young Mickey Donovan. No spoilers here, but the finale was dark, but also optimistic.

You can take a break now Ray.

The story and dialog were slow and contrary in many aspects to the characters we have come to know. The acting was impeccable as it was throughout the series, but my family and I still did not find it to be a satisfying conclusion! :-(

Ray Donovan is one of the best HBO series, and one of my favorites of the last couple years. This movie is a great send-off and ties up all the loose ends. Liev Schreiber is great as Ray, and the rest of the cast holds their own and can own a scene from time to time. But, Jon Voight is a showstopper as Mickey. He is vitty and funny, with slick slapstick Irish mannerisms. His character is either in the wrong place at the wrong time or in the right place at the right time. In both situations, there's always something going wrong, even if he's in control.

This movie puts the main focus on childhood trauma and guilt, which has always been one of the main themes in the show. It is well-paced, visually good looking, and the actors haven't lost their step. I was skeptical at first, but seeing the Donovan family again and resolving or at least erasing issues that have plagued them for years is a great service for me as a fan. This is worth a watch. I enjoyed it.

This is a movie that will only please the fans of the excellent show Ray Donovan. I can't see anyone enjoying this movie if they didn't watch the series before, it's almost impossible to understand then. But if you did, this movie is a good farewell. I enjoyed all the seven seasons of Ray Donovan, a show that got better with the years, with excellent characters, like Mickey, Bunchy, Terry and Ray. The movie is clearly the end of the show, that we will all miss but to everything comes an end and they couldn't have it done better than with this movie.