Cherry (2021)

I've always said film is a visual medium and for me good films tell their story in a way that is as visually interesting as the story. But the second part of that is that there needs to be the story. So while there are films that are disappointing because they lack a visual punch, others let us down by not offering us a very interesting story. I guess it should come as no surprise that a film from the directors of Avengers End Game would be all spectacle with little of depth to the story. 

The story in Cherry has potential and there is a story here that could be interesting, but Cherry is a film that languishes in its cliches, in ideas of what a movie about a solider is supposed to be. It's a critique of militarism that revels in its military images, almost fetishizing them. Not only does this water down any message that it might have, but it steals focus away from what story there was. But there really isn't a lot of story here. Cherry flirts with interesting ideas about the nature of what draws people into the military but always feels like it stops short of getting really into it as it instead focuses on well timed slo-motion or clever camera angles. 

Tom Holland has had a hard go of trying to find a project that can show off what a good actor he really is. Whether it's The Devil All the Time or The Current War, his films just haven't done him justice. Cherry is much of the same. He's good with what he's asked to do, but what he's asked to do is sort of an imitation of other soldier's pain movies. He almost makes it work but the film stops him from making it. 

For me the Russo's show so much potential but have yet to make a movie that doesn't feel assembly line.
Cherry isn't changing that yet but there are many more films in their future and Cherry isn't terrible. It's just exceedingly average and seems like it is so interested in making us go "wow look at that" that it stops short of creating anything new narratively, simply relying on the crutch of other, better, movies that have come before. 

Cherry

Starring: Tom Holland, Ciara Bravo, Jack Reynor, Michael Rispoli, Forrest Goodluck, Michael Gandolfini, Damon Waynes Jr. 

Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

Writers: Angela Russo-Otstot, Jessica Goldberg