Adapted from the 2018 semi-biographical novel of the same
name by Nico Walker, a US Army veteran who struggled with drug addiction to
the point where he was sent to prison for a series of bank robberies that he
committed to fund his drug use, Cherry isn’t exactly the kind of film
that I watch regularly. That’s usually the case when it comes to films
that could be described as ‘arthouse’ flicks which, simply put, is a genre that
I’ve never been able to get into. While there have been a few arthouse films
that I’ve liked such as 2016’s Swiss Army Man, other films such as 2017’s
mother are among some of the worst films that I’ve ever seen. At the end
of the day, it all depends on whether a particular arthouse film interests me
or not, and in Cherry’s case, the main reason why it got my attention
basically had everything to do with its directors; a pair of brothers
who, like Walker, hail from Cleveland. These two mainly got their start working
on highly regarded television shows such as Arrested Development and Community,
but in recent years, they’ve been responsible for hit films such as Captain
America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers:
Infinity War, and the highest-grossing film of all-time for the past two
years*, Avengers: Endgame. Yes, folks, Cherry is notable for
being the first big directorial outing from brothers Joe and Anthony Russo since
the landmark outing that was Endgame. In fact, this film even sees them
reunite with the MCU’s Spider-Man himself, Tom Holland, who stars in the lead
role of a fictionalized take on Nico Walker. However, despite all the talent
that’s involved both in front of and behind the camera, Cherry is,
admittedly, a rather flawed crime drama despite its ambitious (and, in several cases,
good-natured) intentions.
In 2002, a young man from Cleveland (Tom Holland) falls in
love with one of his college classmates named Emily (Ciara Bravo). However,
when she reveals to him that she has opted to transfer to a different school in
Montreal, thus basically ending their relationship, the young man is so torn up
about it that he decides to enlist in the U.S. Army. And while he eventually
manages to rekindle his relationship with Emily to the point where the two of
them get married, his experience as an Army medic in Iraq leaves him completely
traumatized and stricken with a severe case of PTSD once he returns home. With
no viable options to properly deal with his newfound trauma, the young man
resorts to painkillers like Oxycontin, and once Emily can no longer deal with
his BS, she becomes an addict as well. Unfortunately, the two of them end up
getting into a precarious situation when they consume the large number of drugs
that they were supposed to hold for their local drug dealer, Pills and Coke
(Jack Reynor), who promptly informs them that they’re all about to face the
wrath of his boss, Black (Daniel R. Hill). Thus, to settle their massive debt
with Black, the young man embarks on a series of bank robberies, but as time
goes on, his messed-up life only begins to spiral even further out of control
than it already has.
Cherry is one hell of an ambitious crime drama and
not just because it has a decently hefty runtime that’s on par with any of the
Russo brothers’ MCU films. No, that runtime is simply an indicator of just how
much the main protagonist goes through over the course of the film, from his
time in Iraq to his drug-funding bank robberies. That said, though, because of
all the material that the film goes through to tell this story, there are quite
a few instances where the plot ends up being a bit too sprawling for its own
good. As much as the film is a strong showcase of the Russo brothers’ talented
direction, especially because of how visually driven it is, there are a few
times where it either feels a bit unfocused or completely overwhelmed by its numerous plot threads. And if that weren’t enough, I’d also argue that some of these
plotlines end up being far more interesting than others (and, in some cases,
don’t get as much attention as they probably should’ve), such as the main
protagonist’s PTSD struggles or how the string of bank robberies that he
commits slowly but surely start to get messier in their execution. Ultimately,
though, what really hurts Cherry is its meandering pace, which only
makes this incredibly long film feel even longer. Not only that, but the film
also sports a surprisingly crude tone. Now, granted, I recognize that this clearly
must’ve been intentional since this is far from being a light-hearted story… and
yet, the endless amount of juvenile sex jokes can admittedly be a bit much.
One of the best things that I can say about Cherry is
that it’s a prime example of a film where its lead actor gets to show that they
are far more than just their career-defining role. Of course, in this instance,
I’m mainly referring to Tom Holland, who has spent the last several years
playing the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s rendition of Spider-Man but
successfully disappears into the transformative role of this film’s main
character. Holland does a phenomenal job of blurring the line when it comes to
the process of either making his character genuinely sympathetic given the
horrible things that he goes through (e.g. having to witness the death of his
friends firsthand during the war) or utterly pitiful because of how much he
screws up his own life. In other words, Holland’s strong screen presence allows
you to find some bits of humanity within a character who’s not exactly the
easiest guy to root for (sympathetic PTSD struggles notwithstanding). These
complex moral dilemmas also apply to Holland’s main co-star, Ciara Bravo. While
Holland’s character is obviously the main protagonist of the film, his wife
Emily goes through some fascinating incidents of her own, mostly by way of her
also becoming a drug addict simply because she gets fed up with her husband’s antics.
Considering that this is basically her first major leading role, Bravo more
than holds her own against Holland, and while their characters’ relationship is
almost always rocky, they do manage to sport some solid chemistry together.
The Russo brothers have said that Cherry is arguably
the most personal film that they’ve made to date, and in a lot of ways, it’s
easy to see why. For starters, given the setting of its source material, they
got to film it in their hometown of Cleveland, which was also something that
they got to do for parts of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Not
only that, but it’s also worth noting that one of the film’s credited writers
is their sister, Angela Russo-Otstot. And so, with all this in mind as well as
their noble efforts to accurately convey the horrors of PTSD, you can’t really
fault Cherry for its ambition… ultimately, though, that same ambition is
what ends up hurting it. It’s a film that tries to cover a lot of narrative
ground and while it certainly has a run-time long enough to make that happen,
it suffers from some incredibly sluggish pacing and often feels incredibly unfocused
because of how many plot points it’s trying to juggle, with some handled far
better than others. And while the film certainly succeeds at giving off an
incredibly uncomfortable vibe by way of the main character’s descent into utterly
messed-up territory, most of its content comes off as being a bit too crude for
my tastes. Now, with all this said, this doesn’t mean that I think that the
film is ‘bad’. At the very least, you can see what the Russo brothers were
going for and it benefits greatly from the strong lead performances of Tom
Holland and Ciara Bravo. Ultimately, though, I’d say that this needed a few
more run-throughs in the editing bay to both streamline the looser parts of its
narrative and liven up its pacing.
Rating: 2.5/5
(*Just a few weeks
ago, a re-release in China helped push James Cameron’s Avatar back into
the top spot that it had held since its initial release in 2009 before Avengers:
Endgame overtook it a decade later…)
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