7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
An adventure racer adopts a stray dog named Arthur to join him in an epic endurance race.
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Simu Liu, Juliet Rylance, Nathalie Emmanuel, Ali SulimanSport | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Unabashed dog lovers like yours truly will almost certainly enjoy Arthur the King, even if they'll know that, much as when Fido looks imploringly at them with longing eyes when there's some tasty food available, they're being manipulated. If there's an extremely specific Venn Diagram available showing this particular intersection, there may also be others out there who join me in not only sharing a love of dogs but also a real enthusiasm for so-called adventure or endurance racing. For those similarly inclined, Arthur the King may be some kind of previously unknown or unimagined mecca since its "based on a true story" setup is that an adventure racer named Michael (Mark Wahlberg) finds himself the unwitting "partner" of a stray dog named Arthur who joins Michael's team at the Adventure Racing World Championship in Santo Domingo.
Arthur the King is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. The IMDb lists Panavision cameras (and lenses) capturing at 8K source resolutions, with a 4K DI. This is a really gorgeous looking transfer virtually the entire way through, with the outdoor Santo Domingo material looking stunning, with surprisingly fulsome detail levels even in some midrange and wide shots (including aerial flyovers). There are some intentional tweaks to the appearance of things where "first person" quasi-Go Pro material is introduced, and which has a much more overt "video" look to it. The palette is nicely suffused throughout. Once again the Lionsgate masthead has noticeable banding, but I didn't see any issues once the film started.
Arthur the King features an expressive Dolby Atmos track that offers clear and consistent surround activity from the get go, though things really only kick completely into high gear once the actual games have started. The glut of outdoor adventure racing material provides ample opportunities for often nicely layered ambient environmental effects, and Kevin Matley's score is also well represented in the side and rear channels. There's some appealing dynamic range courtesy of the wide gamut of locations and situations. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are available.
If you're unfamiliar with adventure racing, there are any number of at times rather visceral reality shows available to watch, including various iterations of World's Toughest Race and Race to Survive (the latter just started airing a New Zealand set season as this review is being written). The pairing of a down on his luck adventure racer with a down on his luck dog leads to, yes, predictable results, but the context of this story gives it some additional energy, even if you can almost feel your emotions being massaged this way and that as the story develops. Techical merits are solid and the supplements very enjoyable. Recommended.
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