Unfortunately, there’s no gambling in this mix of sports movie and dog drama, which dutifully — and lazily — stays the course from start to finish. Heartstrings are tugged, dogs are adored, and it’s all harmlessly inspiring. Plus, any animal lover will be hard-pressed not to shed a tear or two when they see an endangered pup being lovingly embraced. But amid shallow characters and dumb dialogue, director Simon Selan Jones and screenwriter Michael Brand lose this race by looking for the safest route.
Adapted from “Arthur: The Dog Who Crossed the Jungle to Find a Home,” a book by Swedish racer Mikael Lindnord, “King Arthur” changes the nationality of our main character – meet Mark Wahlberg’s all-American outsider Michael Light – and invents a lot from the circumstances under which Lindnord met his furry friend during the 2014 World Adventure Racing Championships in Ecuador. (The film is set at a 2018 race in the Dominican Republic.)
Still, the broad strokes of the tale remain the same. While Michael and his team rest between stages in the Dominican jungle, he throws a meatball to a stray dog who comes to call Arthur (played by Ukai, a proven good guy). Before he knew it, he had inadvertently recruited a fifth team member for the upcoming hundreds of miles of treacherous trekking.
But that reunion doesn’t happen until midway through King Arthur, which has to wade through a quagmire of muddy exposition before it can pick up speed. As established by a short prologue set at a 2015 race that failed, Wahlberg’s Michael is perceived as the best adventure racer to never win an event. Leave it to Grylls, whose play-by-play is strangely ubiquitous during contests that don’t seem to be televised, to offer a stunning summary of Michael’s reputation: “Some might say he’s his own worst enemy .”
When we catch up with Michael three years later in Colorado, he seems to be living a life of domestic bliss, raising a sweet daughter (Cesse Valentina) with his wife and former teammate, Helen (Juliette Rylance). But despite his lovely family and stunning mountain home, we’re told Michael has resisted putting down roots because he’s still haunted by his failed resume. (Of course.) So he promptly jets off to Big Sur, West Hollywood, and Hawaii to put together a World Adventure Racing Championship team and chase that elusive title.
We begin with Chick (Ali Suliman), a former navigator who treats Chekhov’s back knee. Then there’s Olivia (Natalie Emmanuel), an ace climber trying to live up to her dying father’s legacy. (This undercooked plot leads poor Emmanuel to deliver the most embarrassing revelation of a cancer diagnosis this side of “The Room.”) And Simu Liu plays Leo, a caricature of a social media influencer who is admittedly more about self-promotion than teamwork. Along the way, we check in on Arthur and his life on the streets of Santo Domingo before he meets Michael’s team.
If you look past the violent banter and run-of-the-mill sports clichés, Arthur the King offers a curious insight into the high-octane world of adventure racing, with its quirky intricacies and grueling feats of fortitude. The film also deals with the competing interests of sport and sponsorship, dipping a toe into this heavier discourse without diving in. And Jones delivers plenty of thrills as our heroes cover 435 miles over five-plus days, culminating in a zipline mishap full of white-knuckle antics and tension-busting shenanigans.
While Arthur’s introduction to Michael’s team ups the wow factor, it’s hard to match the intensity of the thrill-seeking marathon with the inherent stupidity of a dog staring at the camera while the whining and whimpering seems to be added in post-production. And no amount of puppy love can save the weft-worthy dialogue. Even when the rousing finale provides a glimmer of redemption, it’s not enough to save a film that goes out of the blocks and never recovers.
PG-13. In local theaters. Contains strong language and scenes of danger. 107 minutes.
