The term “sport” does not begin to explain it. At the forefront of the extreme sport subculture, Adventure Team Racing is perhaps the most brutal and toughest endurance sport known to man. It makes a combination of running, swimming, and biking in an Iron Man competition seem like children’s play. An adventure race can include running a significant distance, mountain biking, rock climbing, kayaking, or any other assortment of torturous forward moving action over all forms of harsh terrain. Races can continue for several days with certain breaks being acceptable and time penalties for IV drips and other supportive aids. It is about an American army MRAP team racing through jungles, mountains, and rivers of the Dominican Republic that is known as Arthur the King, which is based on one of these races, (the real race had a Swedish team racing in the Ecuador). Mark Wahlberg stars as Michael Light, the team’s leader who finds an abandoned dog on the streets which he names Arthur bringing some unbreakable bonds in the family.
It is actually about three stories being told at the same time: they are all interesting in parts, but do not work well together. Michael’s story is the most mundane and the weakest in this film. He has gets restless easily; of aggressive natures, he may be an adrenaline rush junkie, or simply a person who bears the title of “the best adventure team racer no one knows”, as ‘Man vs.
As he stands off camera as a placeholder for Bear Grylls’s character in “Wild,” this actor was cold and rude. Family is the core focus of Michael’s life. That includes his daughter and wife, but it does not extend to the career offered by his father, a real estate agent with a military background. His legacy certainly will not be the “champion” meme and parodies where a guy is stuck in thick mud with his entire dysfunctional team.
He lost his last sponsor after a bruising defeat, which makes things worse. Michael can make it happen with only fifty percent of the funds he figured he would need. The first member of the crew is a navigator called Chick McCullough (Ali Suliman). Michael has started to assemble a team even though requires more than what they have. One such member is an injured Topsy, who was released from the championship club, Olivia (Nathalie Emmanuel), the daughter of a sick former winner and an expert free climber. Michael eventually recruited her, however. He argues that it will not happen again as Leo was the reason they lost in the last race and many still resent him for it. Michael assures him that this time Leo will play a significant part in how the team operates.
‘The Warzone Race’ pushes the envelope by presenting new and innovative ways of seeing time. “Racing the toughest terrain on earth; 5-10 days of top level competition.” The team work together flawlessly, which is what you hope to see as they struggle to afford the necessary preparation. They compromise on the crucial preparation time required for working on the site.
They get there just before the race starts as they did not have plenty of time to adapt to the weather. ‘The first rule is anything can happen’ Michael tells the team and people all respond with enthusiastic sports talk clichés such as “Whatever it takes,” and “We accept it. We embrace it.”
In the first event, a 24-mile journey into the heart of the jungle, there is no defined track so one of the facets of the sport is locating running routes which cross bold and otherwise unexplored fields. This section of the picture has beautiful locations (even though the runners almost never bother about them) and very thrilling scenes including one which consists of the actual nerve-racking action of a tear in the cable of a zip line.
The third piece also includes Arthur’s story, a battered street dog who surprisingly after Michael, who is ‘not a dog person’, offers him a meatball, follows the team for countless miles and even prevents them from running over the edge of a cliff. Michael and Arthur both begin the movie as anti social characters but by the end of the race we see them evolve from being a team to becoming a family.
While the whole team has the same spirit of “Whatever it takes”, there is a change at the turn of the game in regards to how the human members of the team perceive what is it that they are ready to do anything for.
One also heard, to a degree, Michael’s viewpoint when Wahlberg spoke to Arthur, it was as if he couldn’t help but imitate Andy Samberg imitating him, and I was certain that someone was about to tell the dog to greet his mother. But the bond that Michael shares with Arthur and the passion he puts in driving to win the race and bring Arthur back is astonishing. The anticipation is heightened by the prospect of seeing the real Mikael and Arthur’s pictures during the closing credits.
He is depicted as Michael’s wife references his goal as a ‘magical finish line’ and the film challenges the viewer as well that in the midst of various ‘finish lines’ that self goals or objectives bring, one should also take the time and effort to ask themselves what ‘win’ truly means.
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