Why 'Cherry' is not the film you expected.

The long-awaited film Cherry by Anthony and Joe Russo has arrived on the streaming platform Apple TV+. The lead role in the project was played by British actor Tom Holland, appearing in a new guise — a PTSD-stricken drug-addicted robber — far from the friendly neighbor image everyone is used to.

The directors envisioned a truly grand yet entertaining epic, criticizing the Iraq War, addressing drug addiction, and weaving a strong love story. But no miracle happened — the Russos failed to encompass the unencompassable. Let's see what went wrong.

A Plot Invented by Life Itself

A modest 'nameless' guy (Tom Holland) is on the threshold of adult life when he falls in love with a girl named Emily (Ciara Bravo from the series 'Wayne'). Everything seems perfect for the couple. But when his beloved announces she plans to move to Canada for studies, the young man, in a fit of emotion, enlists as a volunteer in the army. This decision radically changes both his story and the girl's life.

The film 'Cherry' is based on the partially autobiographical book by Nico Walker, in which the author recounted his experiences in Iraq and their aftermath: post-traumatic stress disorder, drug addiction, and a turn to a life of crime.

How many films have we seen about heroes with PTSD, from 'Taxi Driver' to 'American Sniper'? In how many movies have we witnessed criticism of Bush-era foreign policy? How many projects have told us about the severe consequences of drug addiction? Yes, the story's realism partly explains its plot's secondary nature. But you can't shake off these questions and the inevitable comparisons that arise while watching. Worse still, the Russo brothers fail in each of these directions.

Four Films in One... and All Bad

The film 'Cherry' is deliberately divided into several chapters. Each differs in mood and tone of narration, color and camera techniques, presence or absence of humor, and so on. With this decision, the creators seem to apologize for the frankly clumsy mix of four genres at once: romantic comedy, antimilitarist cinema, psychological drug drama, and a heist film.

Each of these 'mini-films' suffers from different problems:

• For a rom-com, 'Cherry' is not light enough or, frankly, romantic enough. And honestly, it's unclear what unites the main characters and why their feelings are so strong;
• For a film about the horrors of war, it has too much inappropriate humor (just consider the shot from the protagonist's rectum or the robot dance performed by a flag bearer);
• The drug drama lacks emotionality and depth (and the creators even claim they were aiming for 'Requiem for a Dream'. Come on!);
• The heists in the film are so absurd and caricatured that you don't even want to remember them. It feels like some kind of joke.

And the main problem with the film is that when venturing into serious topics, Anthony and Joe Russo seem to fear any bold decisions. Instead, they try to joke their way out (often unsuccessfully), add dynamics and action (completely unoriginal), and dilute the action with meaningless dialogue. There's also a feeling that the directors always kept in mind that they were making an entertaining movie, and heaven forbid it contains anything that might scare off viewers.

All these glaring nuances are irritating and overshadow the film's merits, of which 'Cherry' has plenty. These include Tom Holland's finally solid acting performance, the most beautiful scenes accompanied by mesmerizing music (screenshots of which you'll see again in movie-themed public pages), the importance of the topics raised, and original cinematographic solutions.

Is 'Cherry' Worth Watching?

'Cherry' is a chaotic mix of genres, at times a decent but mostly very strange film that shows Tom Holland can transform and portray complex characters, yet doesn't allow him to fully demonstrate this ability.

Trailer:

That's how controversial and ambiguous the first film by Anthony and Joe Russo turned out after years of working for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. What do you think of the movie?