The writer-director John Swab often uses rural Oklahoma as a setting to interrogate American violence in his accomplished, yet sometimes scuzzy genre works. His newest film, “King Ivory,” is a thematically heavier, cinematically attuned picture that misses its emotional mark.
In “King Ivory,” the fentanyl trade is examined through five interwoven stories — beginning in Mexico. There, the smuggler Ramón Garza (Michael Mando) prepares to return to Oklahoma with a shipment of drugs and migrants. Among those migrants is Lago (David De La Barcena), a teenager whose American dreams are dashed when he becomes a dealer for Ramón. On the other side of the law is Layne West (James Badge Dale), a Tulsa cop splitting his time between handling his drug addict son Jack (Jasper Jones) and policing drug runners like Ramón and George “Smiley” Greene (Ben Foster), and their kingpin Holt Lightfeather (Graham Greene).
While this slick film wants to use their stories to put faces to the fentanyl epidemic, Swab’s genre instincts get the better of him. The juxtaposition he attempts to make between Jack’s white privilege and Lago’s systemic obstacles fades as the film gives greater focus to Jack. Swab’s bid to humanize the Mexican characters by backgrounding their families also diminishes as he tables their stories in lieu of ferocious shootouts, causing a promising “King Ivory” to devolve into a common action-thriller.
King Ivory
Rated R for strong drug content throughout, violence, pervasive language, some sexual references and graphic nudity. Running time: 2 hours and 10 minutes. In theaters.
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