Cherry is the latest collaboration between director duo Anthony and Joseph Russo and Tom Holland of Spider-Man fame. The story centers on an Iraq veteran (played by Holland) who develops PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) after serving as an army medic. To escape the trauma of war, he begins taking illicit drugs and eventually resorts to bank robbery to finance his addiction.
I’ve never been the biggest fan of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) and those involved, but when I first heard the news of Cherry, the premise intrigued me. Three of the biggest names in the superhero movie field were doing a crime drama that’s mostly independently funded.
Despite the fact that they’ve made some of the highest grossing films in recent years, the Russos always seemed to me like “yes-men” for Disney and Marvel who lacked impressive directorial achievements without the aid of the Marvel brand.
In many respects, Cherry seems like the Russos attempt at proving to critics that they can make a serious movie without brand recognition or excessive CGI. The result is a dull 141 minutes that wallows in misery.
Cherry’s primary fault as a crime drama is that it only understands the surface appeal of movies about crooks and junkies. The constant scenes of violence and misery have no real motivation beyond “PTSD” or “drug addiction”. Tom Holland’s narration sometimes feels nonstop, and yet we barely understand the thought process behind most of his actions.
During the scenes in Iraq, we’re left clueless if Holland’s character is incompetent, naïve, overwhelmed, or even well-intentioned. During the latter half of the film, we barely understand the motivations behind the robberies. While the traditional rule of screenwriting is “show, don’t tell”, Cherry does neither.
Tom Holland’s narration is a strange addition to the movie. There are several scenes in the movie where he begins talking directly to the audience like Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street or John Cusack in High Fidelity. However, the narration in Cherry is particularly strange because it often interrupts the flow of scenes and becomes jarring.
This is one of the many symptoms of the film’s complete lack of subtlety; another symptom is the soundtrack. While the tracks themselves aren’t too bad, the use of them is horrid.
Dramatic opera music plays during the most mundane scenes and generic piano music plays over the more emotional scenes to let you know that it is, indeed, a sad scene.
The soundtrack and use of narration both seem like attempts to mimic Martin Scorsese’s iconic crime dramas. However, the Russos seem to fundamentally misunderstand the appeal of these films.
Unlike Scorsese’s Goodfellas or Taxi Driver, the narration and soundtrack in Cherry hinder the pacing and atmosphere of the movie rather than complementing it.
All of these bizarre stylistic choices are attempts to strengthen the muddled mess that is Cherry’s script. According to the Russos, Cherry is a reflection of the Midwest’s opioid crisis. This may be true, but the film jumbles together so many contrasting themes that it’s hard to pick out what it intends to say about “the opioid crisis”.
There’s some semblance of criticism of the US Military, the treatment of veterans, and possibly the prison system. All these elements feel like social commentary, but none of these themes are explored in any meaningful way. The film is too personal to feel like social commentary, but it’s also too muddled to feel like a character study.
The one consistently decent element in the film is Tom Holland’s performance. I had my doubts that Holland could break the dorky high-schooler image to convincingly play a traumatized addict, but his performance is surprisingly believable. While better lines could have helped, Holland definitely deserves credit for making Cherry watchable.
The other actors range from mediocre to grating. Ciara Bravo plays the role of Emily, the wife of Tom Holland’s character, and Jeff Wahlberg plays Jimenez, a friend and accomplice. Both of these performances are barely passable, and each scene with them is miserable to watch.
Overall, Cherry has confirmed my suspicions that the Russo brothers cannot direct a serious movie. Cherry is a sad attempt at mimicking superior films, and it’s a long, miserable slog for audiences. Hopefully, the Russos will just stick to the Avengers in the future.
Tom Holland deserved a better, serious, debut film.
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