Last Updated on December 1, 2025
PLOT: The fentanyl epidemic is examined from the perspectives of a drug cop (James Badge Dale) in El Paso with an addicted son, a drug kingpin (Michael Mando), a hitman (Ben Foster) and his mother (Melissa Leo).
REVIEW: John Swab recently made headlines when he was hired to direct the high-profile Will Smith Netflix movie Fast and Loose. While it may seem like the streamer is taking a risk by hiring a mostly unknown director, the fact is Swab has been spending the last decade making rather good, low-budget movies, including Long Gone Heroes (which our critic Tyler Nichols was a big fan of) and his excellent drug rehab drama Body Brokers. But his latest, King Ivory, is likely the one that landed him the gig directing Fast and Loose, with this being one of the most potent crime pics I’ve seen since Shot Caller.
King Ivory premiered over a year ago at the Venice Film Festival, and it’s a shame the movie hasn’t gotten more attention, as it’s truly an excellent deep dive into the opioid epidemic ravaging much of North America (I’d wager that all of us — in some form or another — have been touched by it). It takes the same approach as Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic, but feels more realistic in the way it takes a dark, unsentimental look at the epidemic. Notably, Swab has been open about being a former addict himself, and the movie benefits enormously from the fact that he certainly knows the material inside and out.
Unlike Traffic, there are no real good guys and bad guys in this one — just a group of people doing what they have to do to survive. James Badge Dale’s Layne, an El Paso cop working on the drug detail, could have easily been portrayed as an action hero, but here you see how he’s just trying to do his best even if he knows nothing he does can possibly curtail the influx of fentanyl (the street name for which is King Ivory). Making matters worse for him is the fact that his teenage son has his own growing drug problem no one is quite sure how to deal with. He’s not so much a hero as just a regular guy doing his job. Similarly, Michael Mando’s Ramón Garza, the head of the cartel Layne is trying to track down, is far from a Tony Montana-like monster. While cold and ruthless, he also has his moments of humanity, as like Layne, he’s really just doing a job, with perhaps the place they were born the only real difference between the two men.
Both Dale and Mando are excellent, although the movie is stolen by Ben Foster as a hitman named Smiley. Sporting a breathing tube, with his unassuming stature, he’s nevertheless portrayed as a born killer — even if he’s far from a psychopath. The movie spends a good amount of time showing his home life, with him trying to deal with a moronic, racist uncle (Ritchie Coster) who wants in on Smiley’s rise in the drug trade — with him the favorite of an incarcerated kingpin, Holt (Graham Greene in one of his final roles). He also has a loving mother, played by Melissa Leo, whose experience as a veterinary tech has her stitching up Mando’s Garza in a memorable scene. Despite the low budget, there are some solid set pieces, albeit done in a stark, documentary-like fashion, with Swab seeming like he’s channeling directors like William Friedkin or Sidney Lumet rather than more bombastic, modern directors. It makes for a potent mix.
Hopefully, King Ivory’s solid reviews get the film seen by an appreciative audience. It feels doomed to fly under the radar, but like Shot Caller, it could turn into a cult film once it hits streaming. If it’s playing near you I highly recommend giving it a shot, as it’s one of the better films I’ve seen lately.
