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Cherry is arguably the first major movie for Apple TV+. With the team and story behind it, it’s easy to see why they’re promoting it more than any of their previous films. The Russo Brothers direct and Tom Holland stars. The film is based on a semi-autobiographical book by Nico Walker, a former US Army medic who would go-on to rob ten banks in order to fund his heroin addiction. Apple is clearly banking on the hopes that this will be their first Oscar contender, but sadly, Cherry comes out stumbling.
Many critics have been extremely negative about Cherry. Some have even labeled it the worst movie of the year. However, considering that we’re only in February, that can’t be too hard of achievement to obtain. Because of all the negativity within the journalism circles, I went in expecting it to be awful. While Cherry isn’t a good movie, it’s not as bad as many are saying. Give it a few months, and we’ll likely see it slip from many “Worst of 2021“ lists.
Some Issues
Cherry suffers from the “Michael Bay effect” – it places visual spectacle over the attempts of making a good story. This makes for a jarring comparison with the last half of the movie when we leave the Middle East and return to America. The film takes a drastic turn from a war film to a drug addiction parable. It’s like if you spliced The Hurt Locker with Trainspotting, a pairing that has the potential to make for an interesting story considering that many war films don’t show the after-effects of those who fight in them. Although, the script feels rushed and clumsily-written, making this attempt at such a tale fallen short of what it could have been.
What I disliked most was the unnecessary narration of Holland’s character. I’m unsure whether the narration was always part of the script. It seems to be added in post-production to help establish the film’s timeframe and give the audience exposition dumps that could have been given within the plot if the script was tackled properly.
The Failure in Trauma
The other major issue is that it’s another war film that only shows us the aspects of war from the sole point-of-view of an American. Besides a short scene in a medical tent involving an elderly man’s infected hand, we don’t truly see how this war is affecting the citizens of the country in which the action takes place. This especially doesn’t work well when Holland’s character is shown to be the only soldier who is sympathetic to the locals. The film always pushes past this character trait as if it doesn’t matter. This only causes a major issue later in the film.
Cherry should be pitied and seen as a true human being. However, the film doesn’t allow the audience to see enough of his inner self to warrant these emotional reactions to surface naturally. Once he starts robbing banks to fund his drug addiction, all sympathy is lost for him.
The Main Leads
The strongest aspect of the film is Tom Holland and Ciara Bravo, both carrying the whole movie on their shoulders. Holland may not give an awards-worthy performance. Despite this, he shows he has enough talent to eventually break out of the Spider-Man movies and move onto more serious dramatic roles when ready. The issue with him is that while he’s 24 years old, he still looks like a teenager. This is one reason why he’s so well cast as Peter Parker. Cherry would have benefited more with an actor who looks older than Holland. This only becomes even more apparent when Holland sports a fake moustache at the end of the film. It looks incredibly bad and unconvincing on him, so much so that it’s almost laughable.
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Ciara Bravo as Emily, wife to Holland’s Cherry, is mostly absent for the film’s former half due to Cherry being shipped out to the Middle East. Once he returns home, Bravo gives a fantastic performance that wonderfully matches Holland’s. Together, they share great on-screen chemistry and deliver two believably tormented characters who become embroiled in a downward spiral. This manages to be captivating despite the shoddy script.
Conclusion
Still hot from Avengers: Endgame, the highest-grossing movie of all time, the Russos had a lot of expectations to exceed. Sadly, this feat fails. Though, I do commend them for making their first directorial follow-up a smaller art-piece as opposed to another blockbuster. Whether or not they should stick with high-profile action movies is still up for debate. We could argue that they should steer clear from these smaller dramatic movies. The duo has nestled themselves as experienced action filmmakers with films like Extraction and four Marvel movies under their belt. Cherry isn’t the worst movie in this genre, but it’s clear that their talents seem better suited for high-budget films.
As stated before, Apple is hoping this to be their first major awards contender outside of television. Sadly, that likely won’t be the case for Cherry. While sounding promising on paper, the final product has terrific performances stuck inside of a melodramatic script. Its muddled tone is mixed with nothing but intensely unlikeable characters on top.
If anything, a Community movie should still be in the cards for them. This has been up in the air for a while now, and it might be a perfect time to get started.
