“Arthur the King” Review
Mark Wahlberg cares for a dog in the adventure sports film “Arthur the King”, loosely based on a true story that showed the bond between a world-class athlete and a stray.
It’s important to understand with every film just what exactly the film is trying to accomplish. Some films are trying to say something important, others are more crowd-pleasing and others accomplish both with strong success critically and commercially. “Arthur the King” is most definitely a feel-good sports film that teams up Mark Wahlberg with a cute dog and it’s clear that all the film wants is to give the audience a nice, easy good time. However, with this in mind, “Arthur the King” doesn’t live up to its potential and, despite having some heartwarming moments, falls short of the fun times it promised.
In the world of adventure racing, which sees teams of athletes traversing rough terrain by running, hiking, climbing and kayaking, Michael Light (Mark Wahlberg) is gearing up for one last race with the knowledge that he has never won a world championship looming over him. Alongside his team (Simu Liu, Nathalie Emmanuel and Ali Suliman), Michael treks through the hundreds of miles of jungle in The Dominican Republic when they discover a stray dog that has been following them. When the dog proves to be a useful friend, the team adopts him and names him Arthur. Together, this group must make their dangerous journey to the finish line and achieve the glory they crave.
The film’s premise certainly suggests that there’s going to be plenty of excitement. After all, all four of the film’s actors have been in some outstanding action films and series and they’re going to be doing extreme things to get across the beautifully shot landscape of The Dominican Republic. But too much of “Arthur the King” is focused on character development that feels surface-level. For instance, Simu Liu plays a character who’s pretty popular on Instagram and Wahlberg doesn’t like that his focus seems to be more on views and clicks than on the race. What do you think is going to happen? Of course they don’t get along but eventually make up. I wouldn’t mind so much if the conflict was better handled and if the dialogue didn’t feel like it came from a first draft. For me, I feel that these petty conflicts are unnecessary as the overall stress of the scenario would be enough to sow tension. In “Apollo 13”, you don’t see Kevin Bacon and Bill Paxton snap at each other because Bacon was getting more media attention as the “first bachelor to head to the moon.”
Not that “Arthur the King” doesn’t deliver on some of its promises. Some of the set-pieces are very impressive and there is a good scale to this massive race. As for Mark Wahlberg, he is giving his all and that’s what I love about this actor. Whether he’s saying the c-word (which I will not type so that people who read this that have known me since I was a child won’t drop dead of a heart attack) to Leonardo DiCaprio, smoking pot with a teddy bear, starring in porno films for Burt Reynolds or running through the jungle with a dog, he fully commits himself. The chemistry between Walhberg and the dog Ukai cannot be denied and, if that’s enough for you, then I think that core relationship might carry the film.
Unfortunately, the overall story feels flat because it takes forever to set up the race. We see why it’s important but we don’t feel it. These characters talk about their performance and what they’re going to do but these expository scenes would have worked better if they were just handled in a more interesting way. I would love to have seen these guys train together before racing and seeing their subtle disagreements appear so that they could be resolved throughout the film. In my opinion, the race should have started in the first 15 minutes because, by the time the race actually starts, I feel burnt out and I need to be recharged.
Not only does the suspense have to be built up again but there’s no real sense of danger present. In the film’s trailer, the characters almost walk off of a cliff but are stopped by Arthur, which endears the dog to the group. However, you don’t feel this weight on the characters that they now owe their lives to Arthur. Whenever someone or something saves your life, that’s a big deal and should have been delved into a bit more than just a throw-away line.
While I was expecting more entertainment from this mainstream adventure film, I do think that there is an audience for it. If you’re looking for a fun movie with sports, Mark Walhberg and a dog, this might appease you but I can’t see anyone wanting to rewatch the film or adding it to their list of favorites for the year. It’s pretty inconsequential with a bit of charm to it that might latch onto some viewers.
