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‘The Rivals of Amziah King’ Review: Matthew McConaughey Shines in a Bluegrass Western Thriller That Could Make Angelina LookingGlass a Star
Andrew Patterson's film is offbeat and accomplished, with plot holes you have to look past. But he's got an audacity brought alive by his actors.
It’s set in rural Oklahoma, where McConaughey plays Aziah King, a veteran honey maker who’s a born-again Christian and a bit of a broken man (he’s a widower with a heart condition), though we can see that he relishes his life. In the opening scene, Aziah and his pals gather in the parking lot of a local fast-food drive-in, where they take out their instruments and launch into a bluegrass performance, even though no one is there to listen to them. Mostly, though, it’s up to Kateri to pursue her lone justice, which she does at times with a lack of remorse that’s shocking Then again, you might say that the flips side of the film’s feel-good Christian benevolence is its eye-for-an-eye ruthlessness.
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