PREMISE
An adventure racer adopts a stray dog named Arthur to join him in an epic endurance race.
THE GOOD STUFF
MARKY- Wahlberg seems to be like one of those dudes who nobody really strongly dislikes. If we’re going to be honest with ourselves… his range is pretty limited, he’s always been just a little bit too on the muscular side to play guys who do normal things, and work normal jobs. And that’s okay. Because at the end of the day, he does movie star s***. And he’s always fit the bill for that particular thing.
One thing about being a movie star is making smaller type films seem bigger just because you’re there and that seems to be the specialty of Wahlberg. He always finds these enjoyable movies that certainly would have never gotten made if not for his movie star clout. (The gambler, mile 22, Spencer confidential Joe bell, father stu, etc., etc., etc.) As with those movies, he always finds a way to keep it entertaining and interesting all the while not making it deep and introspective.
One can say that Wahlberg is completely coasting in this movie. And I would agree. But even still, the key to any movie star worth his salt is to keep it entertaining throughout and have good chemistry with co-stars. His performance is standard, but he does know that the emotional stuff comes with the dog in this film, and he delivers. This is good standard movie star stuff from him. There’s not much more to say other than that.
THE SPORT- One of the things I find interesting about sports movies in general is that if the story is interesting enough you do not have to explain the details of the sports all that much. Adventure racing isn’t exactly a complicated sport to explain, and that’s what makes the pace of the movie so brisk. There are a lot of complicated elements to the actual races depending on where the races take place, and to people who know the rules of the sport, there are certain things that are going to stand out here as just dramatic interpretations. But the way adventure racing is presented here is kind of fun.
ARTHUR’S INVOLVEMENT- It would have been a very easy and schmaltzy thing to do to have Arthur’s story be told in detail along with the Wahlberg story to create some kind of a matching juxtaposition and how they both came up in the same way. But this story doesn’t do that. I can’t say how, but the way that Arthur becomes a part of these racers’ lives is a pretty awe-inspiring thing. And that’s before he actually gets involved in the plot of the story. Â
THE BAD STUFF
POSSIBLE PLOT HOLE?- I don’t mean to be that guy, but a small but noticeable section of the first act of this movie is the Wahlberg character trying to raise $100,000 as well as get a sponsor in order for the team to be able to race. There are multiple conversations about this particular thing going on between the Wahlberg character and his wife in their house…
……. Which is this beautiful palace with a humongous deck that has the most killer view of the Colorado mountains that you’ve ever seen in your f****** life. It’s like a 3 or 4-million-dollar estate that they have…at least. And I couldn’t help but to be annoyed when they kept cutting back to the castle over and over. It’s like bro, you should be able to have a hundred thousand dollars stuck in your couch given how lavish you’re living.
This got annoying a lot quicker than I thought it would. I’m almost certain this is something that just bothers me.
THE UGLY STUFF
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ARTHUR THE KING is a low-key good sports movie about an unusual sport. You add in the canine element to things and the story easily tugs on those heartstrings of yours.
Not everything in a movie theater has to have heavy emotional depth or be a 200 million spectacle. Chill movies like this need to be welcomed a lot more often.
ARTHUR THE KING is in theaters now
