#667 – Archenemy (2020)

Archenemy (2020)

Film review #667

Director: Adam Egypt Mortimer

SYNOPSIS: A homeless vagabond wanders the city, who claims that he is a superhero that has lost his superpowers after arriving from another dimension. He meets a teenage boy who is having trouble with a local crime boss, and the two team up to try and right some wrongs…

THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Archenemy is a 2020 sci-fi film. A homeless ruffian who calls himself Max Fist claims to be a superhero who lost his powers after arriving on Earth from another dimension. A teenage boy known as Hamster wants to be an investigative journalist, and thus becomes interested in Max Fist’s story. However, Hamster and his Sister are in trouble with a local crime boss, and Hamster and Max form an unlikely alliance and friendship as they work together to help one another. The premise of this film is fairly simple, centring around an unlikely friendship that is a familiar tale and easy to grasp, but handles it well for the most part. While the opening relies on a typical setup to establish it’s premise and characters, it branches out a bit more later on.

The main issue that pervades this film is around a very poorly written story and script: in the first instance, there’s just so much of the story told through exposition and dialogue that just weighs everything down, and breaks the first rule of cinema of showing not telling. As such, the film is constantly slowed down or paused to reel off bloated dialogue, and any sense of momentum is constantly disrupted. Action scenes are competent, but lack the scale and spectacle due to the limited budget. Archenemy has a good idea attached to it, but it’s over-reliance on long dialogues and exposition constantly ruin any sense of energy and momentum the film may be able to generate.