Cherry
(Apple Original Films)
By Lucas Allen
After the one-two, awesome and emotional punch of “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame,” the Russo brothers (Anthony and Joe) return to the screen in a smaller and intimate drama that doesn’t involve superheroes or magic stones. This time, they’re bringing their artistic know-hows to “Cherry,” which is based on the autobiographical novel by Nico Walker about his real-life experiences as a soldier and a junkie.
The story begins with Cherry (Tom Holland) as a young college student pining for another student, Emily (Ciara Bravo). Soon enough, they develope into a loving and comfortable relationship until she leaves him to earn a degree in Canada. While she goes out of country, he takes it upon himself to apply for the U.S. Army and faces a brutal basic training. As he faces the horrors of war, he tries to keep it together when he calls his sweetheart from base camp.
Upon returning home, he experiences severe PTSD to the point he explodes with rage and begins popping pills into his system. Emily soon joins his addiction, and they turn to heroin for a faster high. They end up breaking a safe full of drugs belonging to drug dealer Pills & Coke (Jack Reynor) and don’t have money to pay him back for their little mistake. Desperate, Cherry turns to bank robbery to pay off their troubles while using it to get more heroin. Naturally, desperation leads to more grief for the young lovers.
The movie is divided into five parts showcasing the main character’s transformation from student to soldier to bank-robbing junkie. The first four parts are almost a great movie with interesting filmmaking choices, including a change in aspect ratio for one part. It’s also true to real life about the horrible experiences of fighting overseas and witnessing first-hand the destruction and the chaos that no one should ever go through. The effects of PTSD on the individual and others can feel all-too-real at times. Those first four parts help make the movie worth watching as a stellar drama.
Once you get to the fifth and final part, though, the movie tumbles downhill right to the unexpectedly absurd. First of all, watching the two main characters live life as junkies becomes almost a theatrical comedy with some drama and horror exchanged for laughs. Then you have the bank robbing scenes playing like a high school production of “Heat,” with the intensity becoming less serious. Most hilarious of all, the filmmakers chose to name the banks shown on the screen as crude parodies of real big-name banks. It’s obvious that the directors had a background in comedy, but this kind of bold creativity felt out of place in a movie that up to that point remained consistently dramatic.
In spite of all that happening within the last hour, the movie is anchored all throughout by Holland giving his career-best performance so far. As he did with Netflix’s “The Devil All the Time,” he successfully sheds his Spider-Man persona (including his imitation of Peter Parker from the older Marvel comics in the film’s beginning) to create an honest and raw portrayal of a young man losing himself in a depraved world of his own. Bravo is also very good as a young woman going through her own problems that led to being addicted herself. Other notable performances include Reynor and Michael Gandolfini (son of the late James Gandolfini and star of the upcoming Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark) as hard-drinking Cousin Joe.
For the first two-thirds, “Cherry” could’ve been a great film as a stellar drama and a brutal war film about the effects of battle and PTSD. But in that last third, it becomes an over-long crime film involving money and drugs. There’s potential in rewriting and re-editing the final part to help the movie stay consistent throughout. But as it is, it’s best recommended as a great example of a young actor like Holland finally branching off on his own and ready to take over the world.
THE MOVIE’S RATING: R (for graphic drug abuse, disturbing and violent images, pervasive language, and sexual content)
THE CRITIC’S RATING: 3.5 Stars (Out of Four)
