David McGlone, Festival Director at the Wexford Film Festival:

'By Any Means' is a gripping movie which keeps you guessing from the first moment to the last. The story is wonderfully layered and engaging, while the lead performances are simply outstanding. In a world that is so obsessed with celebrity culture and in fame being a goal for many, 'By Any Means' really digs deep to reveal the seedier side of that world. It's beautifully paced, directed fantastically and wonderfully told.

Gareth Jamieson, Film Critic at GEM Screen Talk:

It goes without saying that By Any Means will keep you guessing until the very end, as characters' stories and motives shift and change, and its success as a film stands on the ability to build characters that engage and a story that intrigues. Read the full review here.

Maxwell Hubbard, Film Critic at MPH Movies:

It sounds like a familiar premise 'beautiful female kidnapped and held hostage for ransom', but what By Any Means comes with is a little more between the ears. This directorial debut from Leighton Spence offers up a thrilling tale of sinister motives, desperate measures and tainted reputations. But By Any Means doesn't just stop there as it also manages to provide a social commentary on the current celebrity gossip driven culture that we live in and the role that the media plays in this. Read the full review here.

Ben Rider, Jury Member at The Monkey Bread Tree Film Festival:

By Any Means isn’t your typical micro budget feature film. Usually they are savvy with their cash, and are little dramas set in some locale where people have an excuse to talk… I in fact know my own work falls into this terrible trope, and have done several things over the years in an attempt to get out of it (rarely succeeding). I’m not sure what it is, or why indie filmmakers get stuck in the ‘dialogue’ loop of plotting, but it seems to happen very often. There is though, on the rare occasion, an exception. A film which is made within a genre, but one that isn’t simply a ‘dialogue film’ stuck within a genre package. By Any Means is that exception. It is a genre film which, though featuring a heap of dialogue, is more of a film set within its own ideas of ‘action’. It is a thriller film with ample grit, but shot with a solid production polish – making it glossy, and easy to follow. This all goes hand in hand with its main successful elements: it is a solid viewing experience which doesn’t stress its indie budget, or the limitations of making a low budget film. It is for that sole reason, when looking at the stack of potential films to nominate for the Jury Award, By Any Means became a strong selection… and then a firm winner as time went on. It is a film which escapes its budgetary restrictions, all the while celebrating its own industrial understanding of the genre bite.