*Spoilers*
Tom Holland stars in Cherry, as an ex-Army medic suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder who becomes a serial bank robber after an addiction to drugs, puts him in debt. This movie is directed by the Russo brothers who are known for their Avenger Movies. Cherry is an unsatisfactory movie that is supposed to be a statement from the brothers saying that they can make intense movies even though they can’t.
Tom Holland and Ciara Bravo are the main characters in the movie and play the role of Cherry and Emily. The movie hasn’t actually stated the name of Tom’s character but has been implied in a scene where his co-star calls him Cherry.
This movie is based on Nico Walker’s 2018 hit novel Cherry. This book is a semi-autobiography about Walker’s life and the struggles he went through before and after being in the war. Nico is currently in prison for the bank robberies he did in Cleveland. The movie rights to his book were taken by the Russo brothers as soon as it was published.
Most audiences found the film mediocre but it has gotten a lot of negative reviews from film critics. Like me, they think that this movie had potential which was wasted. When I compare this movie back to the book there isn’t much to say. The movie has most of the scenes in the book but the cinematography and direction are what make the movie so dull and different than the book.
The Russo brother’s Avenger movies always stand out a bit because of their expertise in directing special effects. In Cherry, the only part that looked realistic was when the special effects of the war started. This movie is more about how the brothers direct instead of the actual story. Nico’s story had a lot of emotions which were played very well by the actors but weren’t shown in the storyline. The book goes through every little detail of his experiences and had a more realistic feel to it. There are no parts of the movie where the story has any believable scenes.
The scenes with bank robberies are absolutely ridiculous and repetitive. Cherry casually walks into a bank, pulls out a gun, makes small talk with the clerks (who are always women) while they take out the money, and leaves with no police chase. Bank robberies are a serious job where the robber wears a mask, avoids security cameras, and is chased by the police. Apparently, in this movie bank robberies are like going to the grocery store. I don’t understand what the Russos thought they were doing. They could have at least made it somewhat believable. This is only one of the unrealistic scenes that this movie has.
Like the robberies, another scene that was absurd was when Pills and Coke, their drug dealer, asked them to keep safe for him while he was away. A while later they broke into the safe and consumed all the drugs in there. Firstly, it doesn’t make sense why a drug dealer, with a big house and a lot of money, would give a safe full of drugs to drug addicts. Secondly, why would they break into a safe without knowing what’s in there? They are these crazy drug addicts who would
do anything to obtain more drugs but an incident like this would make one think that there will be consequences. In the movie, Pills just asks them to get the money back which is why they start robbing banks.
Cherry is like a poorly structured and badly executed drug movie. The directors did a good job in the war part of the movie with the explosions and effects. The other parts, not so much.
These stories haven’t connected in the way that Nico wrote his story. It’s broken into sections that sometimes end up in other parts of the story. Cherry’s PTSD is shown in a way that makes him look crazy instead of stressed. Holland’s performance as an actor was great but the execution of his character’s role in the movie is not placed well. His part in the movie is one of the biggest reasons people watched it.
This movie might have been an average movie in the eyes of the audience but is labeled as a flop in the Russo brother’s profile.