Ray Donovan: The Movie

Ray Donovan was cancelled at the end of its seventh season with the story left open. This film exists to close it. Ray is after his father Mickey, and the search takes him back to Boston, where the family's story began. David Hollander directs and co-wrote it with Liev Schreiber, who plays Ray. Jon Voight plays Mickey. The structure runs on two timelines. In the present Ray is pursuing his father; in the past we see young Mickey in 1980s Boston with his wife and children. Events implied across years of the series and never shown are stated plainly here, establishing where the family's present condition came from. That has a consequence: the film is not a story that stands alone, it is a closure. For anyone who has not seen the series most of the characters go unintroduced and the source of the emotional weight is invisible. Completing an unfinished television narrative as a film is not usual, and this became one of the most visible instances of a series ending brought back by audience pressure. Who it is for: viewers who followed the series and anyone who likes crime narrative built on family. Who it is not for: do not start here, and it does not substitute for an eighth season. Several strands are closed off very quickly.