King Ivory
2024 film by John Swab
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
King Ivory is a 2024 American action thriller film written and directed by John Swab. The film stars James Badge Dale, Ben Foster, Michael Mando, Graham Greene, and Melissa Leo.
| King Ivory | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | John Swab |
| Written by | John Swab |
| Produced by | Jeremy M. Rosen |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Will Stone |
| Edited by | Andrew Aaronson |
Production company | Roxwell Films |
| Distributed by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 129 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $7,5 million |
| Box office | $154,681[2] |
The film premiered at the 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival in September 2, 2024, and was released on November 14, 2025.[3]
Plot
Cast
- James Badge Dale as Layne West
- Ben Foster as George 'Smiley' Greene
- Michael Mando as Ramón Garza
- Rory Cochrane as Beatty
- Ritchie Coster as Mickey Greene
- George Carroll as Ty Grady
- Graham Greene as Holt Lightfeather
- Melissa Leo as Ginger Greene
- Jasper Jones as Jack West
Production
Release
The film premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, in the "Orizzonti Extra" sidebar.[5] In March 2025, Saban Films and Roadside Attractions acquired North American distribution, while Universal Pictures handled other territories.[6] It was theatrically released on 752 screens in the United States on November 14, 2025.[7][8]
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 67% of 18 critics' reviews are positive.[9] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 60 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[10]
The Hollywood Reporter's film critic Jordan Mintzer praised the film, describing it as "effective", "hard-nosed" and "above your average drug thriller", and noted "its uncompromisingly bleak view of fentanyl's damaging hold on the U.S. is not necessarily a crowd-pleaser, but it well deserves a look".[1] Rodrigo Perez from The Playlist paired it to Steven Soderbergh's Traffic, and described the film as 'intense and engaging' and 'a terrific surprise'.[11]
Screen International's Tim Grierson criticized the film, noting that while 'Swab creates a sense of constant propulsion [... ] and certainly the testosterone-fueled shootouts are muscular in their execution', 'the high-octane King Ivory is intense without being insightful' and it 'rarely surprises'.[12]
