It feels like a lifetime ago and yet it was only January that the film Daniel Isn’t Real was released. It debuted in the UK at Arrow Video FrightFest in August 2019 and has quickly become one of this writer’s favourite films, not just of the last couple of years, but ever. It was written and directed by Adam Egypt Mortimer, a filmmaker who returns to bookend 2020 with his follow-up, Archenemy.
Starring Joe Manganiello, Archenemy joins aspiring digital storyteller Hamster (Skylan Brooks) as he meets the formidable Max Fist (Manganiello). Fist is one of the local eccentrics and claims to be from another place, a place in which he has superhuman powers. As Hamster begins to document Fist’s story, the pair, along with Hamster’s drug-dealing sister, Indigo (Zolee Griggs), find themselves under threat from the local drug king-pin and his mysterious boss, who may or may not have connections to Max’s past.
As with Daniel Isn’t Real, Archenemy is a visual delight, Mortimer confirming himself as a filmmaker with a strong eye. Following through his love of colour from Daniel Isn’t Real, Archenemy is bathed in hues of red, blue and purples, creating the perfect graphic novel, science-fiction fantasy aesthetic. The palette evokes feelings of blood and chrome, the reds and steely blues operating side-by-side to reinforce the duality of Max. A filmmaker that knows how to set tone and create a mood, Mortimer once more births a world that is both ethereal and real. It’s an odd juxtaposition, combining fantasy and reality, but it works wonderfully and transports the viewer to a place that is alien, yet oddly familiar. This sensation reflects the feelings experienced by Max and serves to place the viewer into his shoes.
It’s not just the eyes that Archenemy seduces, the soundtrack, score and sound design too are stunning. The soundtrack is appropriately hip and cool, mirroring both Hamster and Indigo’s youthful uniqueness, whilst the score, by Matt Hill, is grimey and gravelly with plenty of distortion and just a slight hint of metal. The score has a transcendental quality to it, as aggressive as it can be, Hill also manages to make it oddly soothing and ethereal. The sound design plays around with levels, pitch and timbre to create a mixture of sound that assaults the senses and ensures the viewer is paying full attention.
Spiritually, Archenemy channels those gritty and garbled superhero films from the late eighties and early nineties, which touchstones to the likes of The Punisher, Spawn and The Crow. Despite its strong theoretical musings, which make it a rather unique action-thriller, the tonal familiarity makes it more accessible to a wider audience. Superhero movies have been clean cut for too long and this regression to grimier times is a welcome palette cleanser.
Joe Manganiello gives one of the best performances of his career, here, for one of the first times in his career, he has been granted the opportunity to be more than the ruggedly handsome piece of eye candy. He’s no stranger to the action realm, but previous works have trapped him into certain boxes and it’s brilliant to see him smash his way out of them here as he embraces his inner animal. His performance is suitably gruff, moody, and off-kilter, which meshes beautifully with the work of both Skylan Brooks and Zolee Griggs. Brooks’ Hamster is pure extroverted hyper-active energy, passion and idealism, which compliments Max’s introverted, grumpy pessimist, giving them a perfect hero / sidekick dynamic. As Indigo, Griggs falls somewhere between the pair, having the steely determination of Max whilst still retaining some of the cocksure attitude of Hamster, a trait which highlights their familial bonds.
Archenemy may have been made with a relatively modest budget, but Adam Egypt Mortimer isn’t afraid to shoot for the stars. He and his team have stretched every penny to its limit and in doing so have created a film that looks and feels far more expensive than it is. It doesn’t quite rival the big league comic book films, but Mortimer uses several techniques to cheat certain aspects and make it appear more substantial. One of the best of these techniques is the decision to tell the alt-world story through animation. It ties in the comic book theme and injects some visual flair and style, whilst at the same time covering off a big chunk of the action sequences. With a bigger budget the temptation may have been to lose these segments in favour of making them live-action, but in doing so it would have lost one of the aspects that enables it to stand apart.
Although a visual and aural delight, Archenemy occasionally suffers from a lack of clarity. With so many competing storylines, events and characters become ever so slightly confused, leaving the viewer struggling to fully comprehend just who, if anyone, is our lead. It’s an ever so slight stumble and one that in no way detracts from the enjoyment of the movie.
Daniel Isn’t Real is a very tough act to follow, and whilst Archenemy isn’t quite as special as it’s predecessor, it certainly retains Mortimer’s magic touch. A film that channels superhero films of yesteryear and then repackages it into an intellectual and thoroughly modern fare, Archenemy is the perfect punk-rock palette cleanser to the oversaturated Marvel market.
Archenemy is available on Digital HD from Friday 11th December 2020.
Archenemy
Summary
Archenemy may not quite achieve the same cinematic perfection as Daniel Isn’t Real, though it does demonstrate that Adam Egypt Mortimer is a future auteur, one that is very ready for a much bigger scale production.
