– By Cate Marquis –
THE RIVALS OF AMZIAH KING takes us inside a hidden world, of the cut-throat honey businesses in rural Oklahoma, in a tale about a beekeeper and bluegrass musician named Amziah King, played by a charming Matthew McConaughey. The character’s name is usual but fitting for the music-filled backwoods setting for this tale, which is a mix of light and dark drama/thriller. The film starts out playful, with a streak of dark humor and filled with fiddle, banjo and mandolin music, along with warm drama, before it abruptly switching midway, after a pivotal event, into a much darker mystery/action thriller. The turn in tone almost makes it feel two different movies.
But it starts in the light, with Matthew McConaughey, at his most appealing best, playing the charismatic Amziah King, a musician and community leader who is both kind-hearted and sharp-witted, and also the owner of a honey extracting business. King is a beekeeper and extracts honey (it is the bees who make the honey, he notes to an outsider), and bottles the high-quality honey and sells it. THE RIVALS OF AMZIAH KING, which also stars Kurt Russell, although he doesn’t appear until later in the film, begins as a musician-centered, slightly darkly comic but warm-hearted tale, with Amziah and a bunch of musicians gathered for a jam session at an old-style drive-in burger joint. A call from the police interrupts the concert, as the authorities are looking for Amziah’s help in identifying some stolen honey – barrels of it – that they seized at a traffic stop when the driver of the vehicle ran off.
The early scenes introduce us to the cut-throat nature of the rural honey business in this corner of Oklahoma, as well as to the clever Amziah and his colorful cohorts. McConaughey plays up his Texas drawl but most of the characters sport country accents are so thick that one longs for subtitles at several points (and the film even has a little tongue-in-cheek fun with that, with one character whose accent is so dense, none of the other characters can understand him either). At one point, Amziah reconnects with a former foster child, Kateri (Angelina LookingGlass), and takes her on as sort of apprentice in the honey business, while warning her of the ruthless nature of the competition.
Actually, there are many more scenes built around music than bees and the honey business in this film but we do learn some things, both about bees and beekeeping, and about producing those bear-shaped bottles of honey in this first half of the film, which also showcases Amziah’s sterling personally qualities that make him so beloved in the community.
But about half-way, a crime sparks a sharp turn into something much darker, and the film transforms into a mystery/thriller about revenge and with some shocking twists. Both the film’s tone and its focus shift, as Angelina LookingGlass’ character takes the lead and Kurt Russell’s one comes into play. While both Amziah and Kurt Russell’s Dob McCoy are leaders in the community, they are very different kinds, morally and ethically.
Although this story is set in Oklahoma, it was filmed in Alabama, and so looks more green and wooded than many parts of Oklahoma are. Andrew Patterson both wrote and directs this film, with There are some delightful scenes with bees, and one that is comic, tense and informative, by turns, when McConaughey’s Amziah is called on to help a grade school that has been colonized by bees. The danger of bee-stings is brought up, and some ways to reduce that chance of that.
The acting is fine, again especially in the first half, with McConaughey shining in this charismatic role, Angelina LookingGlass charming us as well, as Kateri, who says she is “Native” (although she never gives a tribe or people) but was raised in a series of poor foster care after being take out of Amziah’s care when his wife died. Tony Revolori does a nice turn as Komar, a musician who tags along with buddy Remick (Jake Horowitz) to help out Amziah, but gets more trouble than he expects. The cast also includes Rob Morgan (particularly good here), and nice performances from Scott Shepherd, Cole Sprouse, Owen Teague and Catherine Dyer.
Frankly, I found the first half of the film, the part more about music, beekeeping and bees, more engaging than the second mystery/thriller half, despite that I am a fan of mysteries generally. Part of the reason is the shift Angelina LookingGlass’ character, revealing unsettling aspects under her appealing exterior. There are several disturbing moments, some shocking even, that put things that follow, and her character, in a very different light.
Some are hailing this film as “feel-good” and that certainly describes the playful, music-filled first half. The second half is another story, almost another film, where some very disturbing things occur that undermines the warm effect of the first half.
THE RIVALS OF AMZIAH KING opens in theaters on Friday, Aug. 15, 2026.
RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars
