High school dropout/aspiring reporter Hamster (Skylan Brooks) gets a temp position with social media based news site Trendible, much to the annoyance of his sister/guardian, Indigo (Zolee Griggs), who is keeping them supported through low level drug deals. Hamster seemingly finds a story in local vagrant, Max Fist (Joe Manganiello), who's known throughout the community for his claims of being a superhero of the city of Chromium but lost his powers after coming to Earth in a void. While initially uninterested, Hamster capture's Max's stories and shares them becoming a near instant success, but when Indigo steals from her boss The Manager (Glenn Howerton), it puts both her and her brother in danger with Max Fist as the only thing that can save them.
Archenemy is the latest film from SpectreVision, Elijah Wood's production company best known for its breakout genre cult hits Color Out of Space and Mandy. Archenemy is the follow up film from Adam Egypt Mortimer who helmed fellow SpectreVision film, Daniel Isn't Real, The film been divisive with audiences, and I think a big part of that is the marketing. The trailer in particular gives the impression that there's a level of action in the movie on par with Kick-Ass or The Punisher and there really isn't. That's not to say the movie doesn't deliver, but spiritually speaking the movie has more in common with the Ryan Gosling movie Drive than a traditional action movie and that will be a deciding facto in your enjoyment of this movie.
In terms of story the film is really more of a character study/mystery for the first 2/3rds. If you were to mix elements from Unbreakable, The Soloist, and Paul Schrader scrips like Taxi Drive, Hardcore, or Rolling Thunder, you'd most likely get something very similar to Archenemy. Much like Unbreakable, Archenemy deals with "superheroes" whilst also sidestepping the trappings and tropes of the genre. Most of the traditional superhero tropes are told to us by Max Fist himself to both us the audience and Hamster the interviewer and it does a good job of setting up the uncertain approach the movie takes throughout most of the film.
When we're first introduced to Max Fist we hear him tell us his story as a hero of a city called Chromium with a halo above it. The sequence is mixed with minimalist animation done in a style somewhere between Rotoscoping and motion comics that shows a world that can best be described as an atompunk neon Metropolis. All the scenes of showing Max Fist's past are done in this style and it's an incredible story telling technique because not only does it fit with the superhero themes Archenemy bases itself upon, but it adds a layer of uncertainty to the proceedings and makes us question if Max Fist is telling the truth or if it's a fantasy his broken mind has cobbled together.
The actors all do a good job of approaching this material. Joe Manganiello is fantastic as Max Fist and his character strikes just the right balance and fits the ambiguity of the movie so his character works as both a fallen larger than life hero who's both out of time and out of place and as a self-medicating schizophrenic who's cobbled together these unbelievable stories from an untreated mental illness. Skylan Brooks is also quite good as Hamster, and makes a good proxy for the audience with his enthusiastic drive and curiosity making him a likable protagonist as he learns more about Max. Zolee Griggs I thought was equally good as Indigo, who is trying to provide for her younger brother and herself by getting in over her head with sleazy characters.
The movie does take a turn roughly an hour in, and I can see people both liking and disliking this turn. Without giving too much away, the reality of Max Fist finds itself contradicting with the "legend" and the movie is unafraid and unapologetic when it goes into this territory. Not only is it visually interesting, but it continues to blur the lines between real and unreal keeping the audience on their toes as we approach the final confrontation. It's definitely a bold choice on the part of the filmmakers and they should be respected for running with a hard to swallow idea and delivering it at full force.
Archenemy is technically a "superhero" film, but it's also so much more than what you've been sold. It's a mystery, it's a thriller, it's darkly comic, it's surreal, and it doesn't easily fall into a particular box or genre. It's an ambitious movie that despite its small budget has big ideas that transcend its relative "smallness"
