Director: Adam Egypt Mortimer
Distributor: The Searchers
Duration: 90 minutes
Archenemy (Blu-ray) – Movie Review
Superhero movies have been on the rise ever since Robert Downey Jr. donned Marvel’s Iron Man suit and called it his own. Sure, there have been other franchises causing small ripples in the popularity of the superhero genre, such as the X-Men movies, the Superman films and of course, The Dark Knight trilogy. These may have contributed to gaining new fans for super-heroism around the world, Marvel has been properly fleshing out its universe, showing that its superheroes are here to stay and that they still have a lot more in store for us. This time we take a look at a more obscure superhero film, Archenemy. It hit a few gritty notes, but failed to properly envelop us in its rugged action.
Archenemy throws us in the middle of a troubled neighborhood, where we meet Indigo (Zolee Griggs), who works for a drug dealer, in order to make money to support her and her brother Hamster (Skylan Brooks). Hamster is more interested in becoming a reporter, but fails to show up on big publishers’ radars. In the same neighborhood roams a man that goes by the name Max Fist (Joe Manganiello), who claims he comes from a different dimension and used to be a superhero. Hamster is quite enticed by the gritty drunken man’s story and wants to get his story out in the open. While initially it seemed he was all bark and no bite, he then suddenly helps the siblings out when The Manager (Glenn Howerton) sends his goons to Indigo. Blood and violence soon ensue, making it seem like Max was indeed used to fighting evil or that he’s just a violent nutjob.
The flow of the movie is somewhat timid for the first half of the film only to wrap things up very rapidly at the end of the experience. You’ll go from a lot of information and speculation to a long sequence of action scenes. This isn’t bad per se, the movie just lacks a certain something to keep you hooked from start to finish. While the concept is actually quite nice, it’s the execution that falls short to entertain its viewers with its fairly unique story. A fun inclusion is the animated sequences that are thrown in the mix. Even though these are not really of outstanding quality, they have a certain charm.
Acting performances in the film are limited to a few cast members. You’ll see Joe Manganiello play the gritty ‘hero’ in this flick, and he feels quite suited for the part. He has experience in the genre, and that is clearly noticeable. Zolee Griggs plays Indigo, a young girl who works with a dealer to support her brother, who is then played by Skylan Brooks. The duo does not have that much experience under their belt, but they handle their parts with a certain charm. On the evil side of the fence, you’ll see Glenn Howerton playing ‘The Manager’, who plays the villainous drug dealer. He has a proper mafia vibe to his performance, which adds a bit of realism to the experience. Last but not least, there is Cleo, who is played by Amy Seimetz. She gets limited screen time, but it’s still nice to have this character incorporated in the story.
Sadly, as we’ve seen with Blu-ray releases of The Searchers before, they lack special features of any kind. It would have been nice to learn more about the main character, the creative process, or just the concept of the film itself. We can only choose our subtitles options and that is all we get. This feels like a missed opportunity, that could have actually created some extra value for a superhero collector or enthusiast.
Conclusion
Archenemy isn’t a very bad experience, it’s just a blandly executed one. Even with its nice concept and overall background story, it fails to truly captivate its viewers because of its superficial approach. We enjoyed our encounter with a new ‘superhero’, but it will never reach the heights of other productions. With the lack of any specials on the Blu-ray version, we’d advise waiting for when this one reaches the bargain bin.
Archenemy (Blu-ray) - Movie Review,
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