Review
Arthur the King (Adventure, Sports) [Based on True Story] [Based on Memoir] (2024)
Director: Simon Cellan Jones
Writer: Michael Brandt, Mikael Lindnord (Based on Memoir by)
Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Ali Suliman, Nathalie Emmanuel, Simu Liu
Attempting to revive his career, an adventure Endurance racer assembles a team trying to scrounge together enough sponsorship to make the trip happen. During this fateful race, they meet a defiant stray dog and bond with the animal, accepting him as their unofficial mascot and fifth member.
With a past career mostly comprising of directing episodes for TV series, Simon Cellan Jones fills the directorial seat left open by Baltasar Kormákur, originally meant to direct ‘’Arthur the King’’ likely due to his experience with such features. Coming off a recent project with Wahlberg, Jones seems a decent replacement. It was filmed in Puerto Rico and produced by eOne Films, Tucker Tooley Entertainment and Mark Canton Productions while being distributed by Lionsgate,
Having retired from adventure racing for three years after previous failures to claim victory, Michael Light (Mark Wahlberg) manages to find partial sponsorship and form a team of former friends, strangers, and rivals. During their arduous trek through the Costa Rican jungle terrain, they meet an additional companion, somehow able to keep track of them and forming an affectionate bond with Michael and the rest of the team, lovingly naming him Arthur after the mythical king.
Establishing a strong connection between canines and humans, Jones’ feature forms a diverse and segmented approach with bouts of incredible tension and hardship and, ultimately, that life is more than just competition.
To feature such a unique physical sport is already a deviation from many similar projects, then introducing a separate journey based on actual events you’d think makes something truly different. Circumstances come through a redemptive tale, although not exactly as expected; it’s tense, with a dramatic undertone that promotes kinship and acceptance even if none of the elements are entirely formed.
The extreme sport shown is arduous—the same goes for the script and filmmaking style. There’s this aforementioned tenseness as Wahlberg’s team of athletes pass treacherous terrain, an instance of zip lining with him and Emmanuel being most memorable, and those moments present middling amounts of clarity. Before such a point, despite the tenaciousness, it abuses too much screentime without delineating where it truly should stand as it should be clear as day where that is. Without enough connective tissue, even the dog, the titular character itself, only becomes a noticeable highlight later; even the characters mention how his journey must’ve been even more harrowing. It tries to stretch different facets but never makes a whole, and that’s a shame.
For an audience of Jones’ depiction of Lindnord’s memoir, the overlying message precedes the screenplay itself, a film of moments in tenacity and pressure, splotches of internal drama throughout which fail quite to carry most performances.
Verdict
An Arthurian legend it is not.
6,0
