CHERRY 2000


Available on disc

In the near future, society is breaking down at the edges and sexual politics have become fraught with issues. One refuge from this is the possession of a robotic partner. The Cherry 2000 is the state of the art model, but no longer manufactured. When Sam Treadwell's Cherry breaks down, he learns that spares may be found in a warehouse far beyond the edge of law and order in Old Vegas. He hires a tough female tracker to help him brave the wastelands and its dangers to replace his lost love.

We can blame Max Rockatansky. The global success of the MAD MAX franchise led people to believe that anyone with some vehicles, explosives and cameras could head out into the desert and make a low-budget, high-grossing post-apocalyptic blockbuster. CHERRY 2000, amongst many others proves that not to be the case. It doesn't help that the film doesn't know what it wants to be. Is it a proper action movie, a satire on sexual morays, a hard-edged romance, a comedy where every joke falls flat? It tries hard to be all of these and meanders between them all to no real effect. The script is weak in terms of plot and dialogue, stringing together a bunch of incidents and calling it a story. At one point, an ex-girlfriend appears out of nowhere in the heart of the evil gang's camp for no other reason than... well for no reason at all really. She appears in a radiation suit for no reason and then strips down to a 50s bathing costume, again for no reason, and displays an alarming obsession with sandwich making for, you guessed it, no real reason. You could argue that the filmmakers were going for the surreal at this point, but if you have to make an argument then the they have certainly missed the target.

The film could have got by on the action alone. MAD MAX had a less than perfect script and some unbelievably thin characters, but the action was stunning enough to distract from all that. CHERRY 2000's action stuns, by contrast, in its ineptitude. The chasing gang are characterised as the future's idea of the Keystone cops and lots of things blow up, but in poorly edited and deeply unexciting sequences that show this director is no George Miller. There is some nice stunt work on a hanging car and the sluice gate inside the hydroelectric dam is a nicely mounted sequence, but on the whole the film tries to subsitute comedy for action and doesn't pull off either well.

The cast do what they can, but they are hamstrung by the script. It doesn't help that David Andrews has all the charisma of wet string. Handsome he may be described as, and handsome he may be, but he is a plank of wood as solid as the one that cracks him on the head at one point.Melanie Griffith, on the other hand, radiates charisma all over the place, but doesn't for a moment manage to convince as the tough as nails, but emotionally sensitive tracker. When the two leads are as ineffective as this, you need some really good back up. Pamela Gidley, as the source of Treadwell's motivation, is pretty, but utterly bland and it is inconceivable that any man could become obsessed by her. Brion James makes the most of his brief appearance as a duplicitous tracker, whilst Thom Thomerson has a character that any actor would struggle to imbue with any life. Only Ben Johnson, as a grizzled old tracker looking for a quiet retirement, comes out of this with any credit. Oh, there's also a blink and you'll miss it appearance from Laurence Fishburne as a sex lawyer.

Only in its depiction of the future of sexual relationships does CHERRY 2000 show any originality. Relationships are worked out by lawyers in advance of any coupling and both parties sign long and detailed contracts before heading for the bedroom, stating exactly what acts can and cannot be carried out. Partners have their own 'reels' that show them in action with previous partners to show prospective new hook ups. This is all transacted in clubs set up for the exact purpose. It's a depressing view that only grows more relevant with each passing year.

CHERRY 2000 has no clear vision of what it wants to be when it grows up and so comes across as juvenile, childish and a pale, pale shadow of other, much better, forays into the wild west of the post-apocalyptic future.