ARTHUR THE KING – A Review by John Strange
This film is built around a man, Michael Light (Mark Wahlberg), who is determined to not just race in the Adventure Racing World Championship, but to win it. He is given one last chance by his wife to race in the Dominican Republic.
It is a dream, one that will require a sponsor and then as much more as he can manage. Despite the challenges thrown in their path, the team gets to the DR with little time to train using the terrain.
The team’s main competition is the Australian team. The animosity between the teams is a driving motivation for Team Broadrail.
But you really don’t care about the humans, do you?
The stray dog who joins the team is a loner who is chased away by everyone, human or dog. Until the day he happened upon Team Broadrail at their first checkpoint. Whereupon he was fed by Michael.
Days later, the team sees him again, miles and miles from where they had met. And becomes a valued member of the team. Together they endure the grueling trek towards the finish line.
The terrain the team must cross is as beautiful as it is challenging and dangerous. There must have been enormous challenges just shooting this film, from zip lines to unexpected dangers in the dark. I was truly impressed with the cinematographic choices made.
Arthur is the star of the film and Mark Wahlberg and the rest of the cast are his co-stars in my eyes. This is probably because I am a dog owner/lover. Arthur does such a good job helping the team, despite a wound on his side that looks so terrible that it broke my heart.
I won’t add a spoiler, even though I want to do so badly! Arthur The King is based on a true story and is adapted from the book Arthur: The Dog Who Crossed the Jungle to Find a Home by Mikael Lindnord. It has a strong cast that made me believe in them.
Director: Simon Cellan Jones
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Simu Liu, Juliet Rylance, Nathalie Emmanuel, Ali Suliman, with Bear Grylls as Himself, and Paul Guilfoyle
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for some strong language)
Selig Rating: 4 Stars
Runtime: 107 Min.
Release Date: 03/15/2024
Genre: Adventure
Language: English
Movie Site: ARTHUR THE KING Official Site
Trailer: ARTHUR THE KING Official Trailer
The Selig Rating Scale:
5 Stars – Excellent movie/show, well worth the time and price.
4 Stars – Good movie/show
3 Stars – OK movie/show
2 Stars – Well, there was nothing else…
1 Star – Total waste of time.
