Apple TV+ has officially released a first look at the upcoming crime drama Cherry.
It’s here, the latest collaboration between the Russo Brothers and Tom Holland. This time, they’re setting the Marvel Cinematic Universe aside for a new and highly anticipated adventure. Entitled Cherry, it follows the story of an army medic with PTSD, who becomes addicted to opioids and starts robbing banks to fund his addiction. A semi-autobiographical film, it’s based on the novel of the same name by Nico Walker.
From the trailer, it looks like we can expect a lot of action and adventure. Beginning with an upside-down bill with ‘this is a robbery’ written on it, Cherry has been described as a new take on the ‘coming-of-age story’ as a young man struggles to find his place in the world. Including a mix of violence, war and drugs, the film has also received an American R-rating for “graphic drug use, disturbing and violent images, pervasive language and sexual content”.
The film itself boasts a rather interesting cast. Best known for his role as the MCU’s Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Holland, after the recent Netflix film The Devil All The Time, continues to step out of his comfort zone as the star of Cherry. However, will he be able to pull off an outstanding performance? From the trailer, it seems like he might.
Offering a glimpse at an emotionally unstable, struggling, bank-robbing veteran, Holland has certainly been given the freedom and space to experiment with a range of different emotions. The trailer sees him flip between being happy in love to taking on a severely depressed, manic character, desperately seeking sanity. The Russo’s even went as far as to say his performance is “Oscar-worthy”.
If The Devil All The Time is anything to go by, Holland is a talented man outside of the MCU and it’s exciting to see the young actor take on more challenging roles. He’ll also be accompanied by Ciara Bravo, best known for her role in Wayne and To The Bone, alongside Kelli Burglund (Now Apocalypse), Jack Reynor (Midsommar) and Forrest Goodluck (The Revenant).
Mainly, though, the trailer stands out for its uneven tone. In 2 minutes and 54 seconds, the clip switches between a happy romance, an action film with explosive and violent scenes, a dark comedy with tones of suicide and depression and finally, what looks to be a sinister thriller. My only question is, have the Russo Brothers perhaps tried to tackle too many ideas within one film?
Discussing Cherry in a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Anthony Russo said: “We do think about it as an epic film and it is very much a person’s life journey but it does have a little bit of a split personality between being this character study and an epic life cycle.” His brother echoed this by stating the film is shot with different lenses and various production design.
While ambitious and certainly unique, I only hope Cherry doesn’t get lost in its tone, lacking the all important cohesive unity a film needs. I guess we will just have to find out next month…
Cherry opens in cinemas and on Apple TV+ on 26 February 2021.
Words by Lucy Lillystone
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