Archenemy (Blu-ray Review)
Max Fist (Joe Manganiello) is a local drunk who claims to be a superhero from the planet Chromium. He tells anyone who will listen that he was pulled into a wormhole, falling through time and space, and dropped to earth without any of his powers. No one pays any attention to Max except a teenager named Hamster (Skylan Brooks) who can’t get enough of Max’s stories. When Hamster and his sister (Zolee Griggs) get in trouble with a vicious drug syndicate led by The Manager (Glenn Howerton), Max takes to the streets as a brutal vigilante hellbent on proving himself as the hero no one believes him to be. Archenemy is out on Blu-ray February 16, 2021!
Film 
Max Fist (Joe Manganiello) is a down on his luck homeless-alcoholic, who says he’s a superhero from another dimension. In this world, he has no powers or abilities and will talk your ear off if you let him. He’s got plenty of stories to tell and Hamster (Skylan Brooks) is the only kid that will listen. Skylan wants to get into the news-blogging “nightcrawler” business, but when his sister Indigo (Zolee Griggs) gets involved with the local drug syndicate, all bets are off.
With the syndicate hot on the kids trail, Max will have to act as a surrogate protector for the youngsters and hope that his “superpowers” kick in just in time to save everyone involved.
Outside of some really cool artwork and promotional materials, I did not know what to expect with Archenemy. It was sold as a world-bending action-superhero-science fiction blend, which looked pretty cool. Joe Manganiello as Max Fist is believable as the big lush trying to fit in the regular world but is foiled by his own grandiose ego. He tends to go on and on about how much of a God he is and how he could destroy the world if only he had his powers back.
Hamster and Skylan are actually quite the revelation and bring some much needed “grounding” to the film. They play great off of each other and off of Max. They’re just young people caught in a mean world that doesn’t value them.
Archenemy is lower budgeted film but is filled with some excellent ideas and has some cool visuals. It’s funny, that it mentions it’s from the folks that produced Mandy and Color Out of Space, which don’t necessarily have anything to do with each other – maybe some of the color palette is the same and some of the animation is similar. It also has some cool graphic novel inspired scenes featuring Max in his world. He wasn’t lying about being a superhero in another world, his powers just didn’t port over to this one. Max Fist is like a lower budgeted version of Hancock.
With that being said, Archenemy was entertaining enough to spend some time with. The film’s running time is short, so you’ll be able to get through it in no time.
Video
Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Clarity/Detail: Sharpness and contrast levels are nicely balanced out.
Depth: This is very “visual” film, and the Blu-ray handles the aesthetics quite well. It’s another one of those films that scream for a 4K release.
Black Levels: Black levels are deep, inky, and crush-free.
Color Reproduction: The color palette is the clear winner, as it changes throughout. Some scenes have that graphic novel look along with frames that look like moving paintings. Banding and pixilation were not an issue here.
Flesh Tones: Everyone looked natural. Pastiness and jaundiced-like folks were not present on this Blu-ray transfer.
Noise/Artifacts: The Blu-ray is free from artifacts and noise anomalies. There are some scenes during some of the fantasy elements that may look like noise but they’re not.
Audio
Audio Format(s): English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH
Dynamics: Archenemy has a nice and brutal lossless soundtrack. RLJE constantly hits it out of the ballpark with these and this one is no different.
Low Frequency Extension: The LFE subwoofer channel keeps the low end bumpin’, without distortion or rattle.
Surround Sound Presentation: The surround sound channels are filled with plenty of bullets, objects, and debris flying all over the place. When trouble isn’t brewing, the back channels handle the lovely ambience really well.
Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue reproduction is free of impurities.
Extras
There is one special feature on this Blu-ray and it’s a short making-of featurette. It’s basically just a few interviews with the main cast. I wish there would have been a director’s commentary or few more supplements to snack on. It is what it is.
- Making Of Archenemy
Summary
Archenemy is not a game changer by any means. The Blu-ray looks and sounds great. I wish the spcieal features were more substantial. Archenemy is an entertaining romp that I was glad to take is recommended.
The images used above within the review are not actual Blu-ray screenshots. They are for illustrative purposes only.
Archenemy is released
on Blu-ray February 16, 2021!
ORDER NOW!
Gerard Iribe
Gerard Iribe is a writer/reviewer for Why So Blu?. He has also reviewed for other sites like DVD Talk, Project-Blu, and CHUD, but Why So Blu? is where the heart is. You can follow his incoherency on Twitter: @giribe
