Arthur the King (2024) Lionsgate/Drama-Adventure RT: 107 minutes Rated PG-13 (some strong language) Director: Simon Cellan Jones Screenplay: Michael Brandt Music: Kevin Matley Cinematography: Jacques Jouffret Release date: March 15, 2024 (US) Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Simu Liu, Juliet Rylance, Nathalie Emmanuel, Ali Suliman, Bear Grylls, Paul Guilfoyle.
Rating: ***
How many of these inspirational BOATS (Based On a True Story) has Mark Wahlberg made now? Going backwards, we’ve got Father Stu, Joe Bell and The Fighter. That’s three, but it’s five if you count Patriot’s Day and Lone Survivor. Any way you look at it, he’s made a lot of them. I guess this is his thing now.
Coming in at number six is Arthur the King, an adventure drama directed by Simon Cellan Jones (The Family Plan) and written by Michael Brandt (Wanted). Wahlberg stars as Michael Light, a professional adventure racer famous for never winning a race. It’s his ego that gets in the way each time. His latest loss, in which he and his team kayaked right into a mud bed, went viral. It follows then that he feels he has something to prove to the world, his family and himself. It’s for this reason Light signs up for one last race, a grueling endurance race across the forests, mountains and rivers of the Dominican Republic. We’re talking 435 miles here, folks!
Due to his infamy, he has a hard time getting a sponsor. The only way one company will even give him half the money he needs is if he convinces one of his old teammates to join his new team. Leo (Liu, Barbie), a social media star who originally posted the video, still has hard feelings about how things turned out the last time. Light promises things will be different this time. Leo agrees to join if for no other reason than to promote his brand. The other members of the team are Chik (Suliman, Lone Survivor), an ex-member of the winning team with a bad knee and Olivia (Emmanuel, the Fast & Furious movies), an expert free climber with a terminally ill father.
The title Arthur the King refers to a canine, a stray dog Light encounters during the race. Their friendship starts with a meatball and grows from there. He follows them as they race to be first to the finish line. At one point, he keeps them from falling off a cliff while trekking through a forest at night. Not long after that, he’s accepted as a member of the team.
I swore I wouldn’t get suckered it by Arthur the King, but I did. I liked it better than I thought I would. Sure, it’s completely formulaic and predictable throughout, but it works, almost all of it. The least effective piece is Light’s personal story. We’ve seen and heard it before. He’s an aging athlete looking for one last shot at glory. He has a happy family life with a loving, supportive wife (Rylance, Perry Mason) and cute little daughter. He doesn’t like working for his father (Guilfoyle, L.A. Confidential), a former military man who rides him for holding onto an impossible dream. He needs to win this race. He is a textbook underdog.
The racing stuff is surprisingly thrilling. The circumstances are less than ideal. Their limited budget doesn’t allow the team much prep time so they have to cut corners in order to be ready to go. It’s an extremely physically demanding race that will push them to their limits and beyond. Take the first event, a 24-mile run through the jungle, most of it uncharted terrain. It doesn’t get easier from there. It’s all good stuff, but the most exciting part is the zip line sequence. Light and another team member must work their way around a frayed section while dangling precariously high off the ground. That’s when my fear of heights kicked in. I haven’t gripped my armrests so tightly since The Walk in 3D. I still get vertigo thinking about it.
I loved the part dealing with Light and Arthur. What can I say? I’m a dog lover. I always get drawn in by stories about boys/men and their dogs. Arthur the King is no different. The pooch has serious trust issues with humans due to the abuse he suffered as a street dog in a crowded foreign city filled with folks that don’t value dogs like we Americans do. Light admits that he’s not a “dog person” but we know that will change by movie’s end. And what an ending it is! Arthur the King doesn’t end with the outcome of the race. There’s more. It becomes a story about saving a sick dog by getting him to the US for medical care. It’s so moving. I bought right into it.
The performances in Arthur the King are fine I suppose. Wahlberg plays a role he’s played several times before. By now it’s second nature. The characters aren’t very deep, but we know enough about them to care a little. I can’t say there are any real problems with the screenplay or direction. It’s all fine. The movie keeps the audience interested, it moves along at a nice pace and it’s genuine with its emotional content. In short, it’s an effective drama that deserves a fair shake.
