REVIEW #14 CHERRY (2021)

This highly anticipated film directed by the Russo Brothers, follows Cherry a young man who meets the love of his life Emily whilst studying and on the news of her sudden departure agrees to join the United States Military. His experiences scar him with PTSD and we see him and Emily struggle with their mental health as they turn to a life of crime and drugs.

CAST & THE ACTING 

Tom Holland plays the lead role of Cherry and delivers a great performance as we see him transition from a quiet, shy student into a man crippled by his time in the army. Ciara Bravo also delivers a strong performance as Emily who suffers as a result of her husbands mental determination. There aren’t many other key characters to mention here but those two performance help justify the overall score.

THE PLOT & THE STORYLINE 

I was expecting a lot more from this storyline here, it’s very predictable! Man goes into the army comes home scarred and effectively ruins his life as a result of it. It pretty much meant you knew what was coming next throughout the whole film. So I don’t think it was very creative and ultimately wasted the talents of its cast. The military training scenes were very cliche and we have seen something similar in plenty of other films. I am not sure how I felt about the narration throughout the film, I was hesitant at first but breaking the 4th wall in scenes and talking directly to the audience did grow on me in the end.

CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS 

I actually thought the cinematography was pretty good in this film. The Russo Brothers, at times, used the colour and visual effects in scenes to represent the emotions Cherry was feeling which I liked. I think in general the scenes were put together really nicely and transitioned well and I enjoyed the soundtrack for the film, I thought the selected music really complimented the scenes it was used in.

OVERALL (6/10)

The performances from Tom Holland and Ciara Bravo really shined in this film but they were let down by the predictable and overused storyline. The decent camera work helped pull back some of its score but overall it was still very average. It’s not a film that I would rewatch but it was nice to see Tom Holland show diversity in his acting ability for sure. I was expecting a little more from this film considering how much hype there was around it. If you’re stuck for something to watch then give it a go but there are plenty of other films that might be more entertaining.

Cheers for reading.

Callan