What You Need To Know:
CHERRY has a strong pagan, immoral, mixed worldview. The protagonist wanders through life until he meets a woman who gives him some purpose. He also acts according to his own whims, which leads to his criminal behavior. Positively, the movie has some strong patriotic feelings toward American servicemen. However, this attitude is undermined by a harsh, one-sided portrayal that military men in power only look to abuse their rank. Aside from some warped, unbiblical talk about love, CHERRY has more than 350 obscenities, 14 strong profanities, some extreme violence and sexual content, drug and alcohol abuse, and other immorality. Ultimately, CHERRY is an abhorrent, unsatisfying movie for everyone.
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Streaming on Apple TV+, CHERRY follows a young man and his rise and fall from college student, war medic and then drug dealer, junkie and bank robber. CHERRY is too slow and jumpy and has a strong, somewhat mixed, immoral pagan worldview with constant foul language, substance abuse, and extreme violence and sexual immorality.
CHERRY is told in chapters and begins with a young man robbing a bank at gunpoint. Cut to a prologue, where the protagonist, an unnamed 23-year-old male, says he doesn’t know why people do things. Shortly after, viewers enter Part 1 of the story, which takes place in 2002. The same protagonist is in college at a Jesuit school and sees a young woman, Emily. Although he has a girlfriend at another college, he takes a liking to Emily, and there’s a flirtation.
This young man goes to the bank to fix an overdraft charge, but runs into trouble, foreshadowing what’s to come. The protagonist joins the army since Emily says she’s going to study abroad in Montreal. However, she doesn’t end up going because she doesn’t want to leave him. So, they go to a courthouse and get hitched.
Part Two of CHERRY zones in on the protagonist’s basic training. Viewers see the sergeants haze and abuse their cadets. In Part Three, titled Cherry, the protagonist sees war up close as a medic who takes care of his fellow servicemen. War is rough and even rougher on the protagonist.
In Part Four, the protagonist returns home to his wife, Emily, but things are challenging. There’s so much PTSD in his head that he seeks the help of a physiatrist. The psychiatrist prescribes him a painkiller, but when he mixes his meds with hard drugs and alcohol, Emily gets indignant until she joins her husband’s destructive behavior in Part Five. Eventually, they both become junkies and start to rob banks to fuel their habits.
CHERRY features Marvel’s current SPIDER-MAN star, Tom Holland, in a complete 180 from his superhero role, which will either enthrall or deter viewers. According to Holland, he took the role because the directors, who also have worked with Holland on other Marvel projects, asked him to participate. Holland’s character is unnamed because they wanted to portray a conglomeration of multiple characters all in one. In terms of filmmaking, there are a few interesting stylistic shots using a fisheye lens and bird’s eye views. Also, the chapter titles help distinguish onscreen events. However, the movie feels too jumpy, is very slow and has a depressing ending. The music is melodic, though, and matches the main character’s pensive nature.
CHERRY has a very strong pagan, somewhat mixed, worldview. The protagonist is Romantic early in the movie and seems to wander through life until he meets a woman who gives him some purpose. However, he also acts according to his own whims. This eventually leads to his criminal behavior. Positively, the movie has some strong patriotic feelings toward American servicemen who initially sign up to go to war. However, this attitude is undermined by a harsh, one-sided portrayal that military men in power only abuse their rank. Aside from some other warped “I Love You’s” that don’t align with biblical principles, CHERRY has more than 350 obscenities, 14 strong profanities, some extreme violence, strong sexual content, drug and alcohol abuse, and other immoral content. Ultimately, CHERRY is an abhorrent, painfully cynical and unsatisfying movie for everyone.