{"id":28206,"date":"2024-03-14T23:06:10","date_gmt":"2024-03-15T06:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=28206"},"modified":"2024-03-14T23:06:10","modified_gmt":"2024-03-15T06:06:10","slug":"arthur-the-king-has-difficulty-reaching-the-finish-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=28206","title":{"rendered":"ARTHUR THE KING Has Difficulty Reaching the Finish Line"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 107 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This motion picture from Lionsgate Films opens\nexclusively at theaters on March 15th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in 2016, a biography about the leader of a Swedish\nadventure racing team was published. It stated that during a competition, the\nman encountered a local dog who traveled with the group and formed a personal\nbond with them. Arthur the King<\/em> is an Americanized, exaggerated version\nof the story that tries very hard to pull on the heartstrings. It does have\nsome sweet moments, but this adaptation never really feels convincing and\nstrains to involve viewers on an emotional level at the finish line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After ignoring his team and embarrassing himself during an\nAdventure Racing World Championship, Michael Light (Mark Wahlberg) spends the\nnext three years regretting his mistakes. Nearing the end of his competitive\ncareer without a win, his understanding wife Helena (Juliet Rylance) allows him\nto give it one last go. After gaining sponsorship for the yearly competition,\nhe recruits new teammates Olivia (Nathalie Emmanuel) and Chik (Ali Suliman),\nalong with ex-pal Leo (Simu Liu) from the previous fiasco. The race involves an\narduous, 435-mile journey across the Dominican Republic involving trekking and\nvarious modes of transport like bikes, kayaks and more. But along the way,\nMichael crosses paths with a badly wounded stray dog, who follows them. The\nanimal is soon given the name Arthur and he ultimately changes the athlete\u2019s\noutlook on not only the contest, but his own priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The movie doesn\u2019t spend a lot of time developing the lead\ncharacters, only giving the broadest of strokes. Michael is shown as a man\noverly obsessed with winning, while Chik aims to prove himself to the current\nchampions who cut him from their roster. Olivia is racing for her father and\nLeo serves as the media-obsessed foil for the protagonist, questioning the\nleader\u2019s every call. And that\u2019s about it. In fact, more time is spent\nanthropomorphizing Arthur, who is given a scene avoiding and outsmarting a snarling\npack of strays. Perhaps just as oddly, the filmmakers provide only a second or\ntwo with the lead\u2019s race competitors, who throw a verbal jab or two at the team\nbut otherwise remain well in the background. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The protagonists also bluntly state their thoughts and\nfeelings about their challenges as they pop up. Perhaps intense races aren\u2019t a\nplace for subtlety, but several lines come across as jarring. This lack of\ncharacter detail doesn\u2019t add a great deal of tension or conflict to the\nproceedings. And for those who don\u2019t know a lot about extreme sports, it isn\u2019t\neven clear initially on the specifics of what the Adventure Racing World\nChampionship entails (you can thank me for giving you a few details in this review).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Big-eyed pooch Arthur is likable and his interactions with\nMichael and the crew are, at times, entertaining. The film also benefits from\npretty photography of the Dominican Republic. There are a couple of\nrace-related moments that, even if they aren\u2019t intense, at least start to get\npulses pounding. A few shots of bikes hurtling down a mountain and another\ninvolving the team crossing a valley in the jungle using an unusual mode of\ntransport efficiently displays how treacherous and potentially dangerous things\ncan get.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet the story is never engrossing enough to feel authentic\nor truly engaging. And the post-race material is even more over-the-top. The\nfilm continues well past the finish line as Mchael and the others are given a\ndiagnosis on the animal\u2019s condition. While well-intentioned, the overly earnest\nemotional outbursts that follow are about as subtle as a bag of hammers being\ndropped on one\u2019s head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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These criticisms are a little rough. Arthur the King<\/em>\nis polished-looking and there are a few fun moments. Wahlberg does his best to\nshow his character growth, understanding that care and compassion for both his\ncanine co-star and team is essential to feeling fulfilled. The movie certainly\nhas its heart in the right place and if you simply enjoy movies featuring\nclose-ups of a cute dog staring into the screen, the picture may still work for\nyou. But in the end, the majority of the race lacks urgency or excitement, and\ndespite the best efforts of the cast the drama fails to be as powerful or\ninspiring as it should.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 107 minutes This motion picture from Lionsgate Films opens exclusively at theaters on March 15th. Back in 2016, a biography about the leader of a Swedish adventure racing team was published. It stated that during a competition, the man encountered a local dog who traveled with the group and formed a personal bond […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":28208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[215,785,788,789,1026,1857,1858,1859,1860,2789,5999,6049,6251,11167,12473,13270,14601,16555,18430,18895],"class_list":["post-28206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-215","tag-adventure","tag-adventure-racing","tag-adventure-racing-championships","tag-ali-suliman","tag-arthur-the-king","tag-arthur-the-king-film-review","tag-arthur-the-king-movie-review","tag-arthur-the-king-review","tag-biopic","tag-dog","tag-dominican-republic","tag-drama","tag-juliet-rylance","tag-lionsgate","tag-mark-wahlberg","tag-nathalie-emmanuel","tag-race","tag-simu-liu","tag-sports"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28206\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}