Cherry ★★

The Russo Brothers

Starring Tom Holland, Ciara Bravo, Jack Reynor, Michael Rispoli, Forrest Goodluck

With the increase in quality in technology, moving pictures are now able to try cool, new and innovative concepts to create the overall style for their film. And in Cherry, the first outing for directors Joe and Anthony Russo since 2019's Avengers: Endgame, these concepts are perhaps overused, instead coming across rather cocky and a little overweening.

Tom Holland is on top form as ever here. His chemistry with all his on screen co-stars, most notably a terrifically intricate Ciara Bravo, shows how excellently he can adapt his performance. And his performance adapts further with the change in genres. This film is a coming-of-age, action, drama and thriller all rolled into one and each genre is equally captured in expert style.

But with each chapter/genre comes new stylistic choices. Cherry feels a little over-stylised; using ideas such as altering aspect ratios or the odd subtitled quote. Each of these new concepts or styles that are introduced are then never used again. From the opening of the film you'd assume that the to-camera, breaking-the-fourth-wall Tom-Holland-foolery will be a recurring theme, but instead it gets forgotten, letting the film move on to its next quirk.

And all of this feels a little easy, especially considering The Russo Brothers' past work. It's a simple way to keep your audience captivated when in actuality the story is decent enough to carry the film.

It's extremely long yet incredibly gritty, and the use of chapters also makes it feel like separate short stories as appose to one entity. Perhaps this was the intention, but it made certain parts of a riveting, well-performed story feel disjointed.

Cherry available now on Apple TV+