Cinematic Releases: Arthur the King (2024) - Reviewed

Images courtesy of Lionsgate

At the risk of being immodest, Marky Mark’s films are boring now.  Ever since Mile 22 dismayed critics and Mark Wahlberg became born again with his faith causing him to renounce some of his best works including but not limited to Boogie Nights and more recently Ted, the actor-producer guiding many of his own projects tailored for him continues to slip further into Will Smith all-things-to-all-people mediocrity.  After the dismal Joe Bell came and went without much discourse followed by the faith-based Father Stu which even got a slightly tamer Father Stu: Reborn cut, Wahlberg turned his attention to streaming which paired him up with British director Simon Cellan Jones for the action comedy The Family Plan.  Forming a rapport with the filmmaker, the newly formed twosome joined forces again a year later for the true sports/dog mascot story Arthur the King, a film that might put a smile on some people’s faces while others like yours truly are being put to sleep.

 
Based on the 2016 non-fiction account by Swedish athlete Mikael Lindnord Arthur – The Dog Who Crossed the Jungle to Find a Home with the name changed to Michael Light (Mark Wahlberg) for the movie and the location moved to the Dominican Republic, the film follows Light’s initial failure leading a tense endurance race years prior and a lifelong obsession with turning his skewered reputation around.  Three years later after enlisting a team of fellow athletes to embark on an adventure race of 435 miles, bringing former colleague Liam (Simu Liu) and some newcomers along the way, Light picks up where he left off when he attracts the attention of a wounded and sickly stray dog in the streets.  Giving the pup some meatballs, a bond is formed immediately and the dog follows Light and his team everywhere they go, including knowing where cliffs and shortcuts are to the team’s benefit and soon Light stops caring about the race when the prospect of losing a new best friend to preexisting health conditions looms large.

 
Lensed in tight panoramic widescreen by French Joe Bell cinematographer Jacques Jouffret, Arthur the King looks fine and some dynamic thrill sequences involving a cable transport system gone awry utilize some terrific GoPro photography.  Location photography in the Dominican Republic is scenic as well as squalid, giving viewers a tapestry of all the good and bad sandwiched together.  The soundtrack on the other hand by Kevin Matley is dry dull boring survivalist synth junk heard thousands of times over on episodes of Naked and Afraid.  I don’t count one memorable composition of music anywhere to be found in this thing.  Simu Liu as Michael Light’s former colleague Liam gives a generally strong performance though make no mistake, this is Marky Mark’s show through and through with most of the attention focused on him in tight closeups with ample room for inspiring soliloquys and tugging at the heartstrings with the poor but determined dog. 

 
Something of another Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey story minus talking animals plus a strangely defanged Marky Mark, Arthur the King is tragically destined for late night cable TV reruns after it comes and goes through theaters without much said about it.  While yes a wild and kind of heartwarming true story, there’s honestly a short news story in this saga to be made rather than a padded out ego-driven melodrama.  As a dog lover I want to recommend this film but can’t.  I’m all for Mark Wahlberg’s new path in life but it’s stifling his work and threatening to condemn the actor to Hallmark Channel or Lifetime Movie Network Hell.  Maybe kids will like it until parents have to cover their ears when Wahlberg just can’t help but drop an impassioned F bomb near the film’s end earning it a PG-13.  All in all, it grieves me to give this bland mediocrity a hard pass.

--Andrew Kotwicki