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Cherry 2000
Another far-fetched post-Apocalyptic adventure, 1987's Cherry 2000 does have a lot going for it, including some eye-popping visuals, but falls short as a complete film experience.
Ironically, it is 2017 and what's left of the United States is living in a world where romance and technology have blurred beyond recognition. Sam Treadwell is a wealthy businessman who has been blissfully happy with an android named Cherry 2000. One night while making love to his beautiful android she short circuits and is no longer able to function despite the fact that Sam still has the personality disc that allows the android to operate. Finding other romantic options unacceptable, Sam decides he must have a Cherry 2000 and hires a sexy renegade tracker named E Johnson to take him to the dangerous Zone 7, where there are many Cherry 2000's but the tyrannical leader, Lester, doesn't have any personality discs to make them operable.
Yes, 1987's vision of 2017 was a little premature, but I'm sure for screenwriter Michael Almereyda, 2017 seemed like a million years away, but he still provides a viable setting for this story which offers an ordinary guy caught up in some very extraordinary circumstances, especially his connection with a very unconventional heroine and the immediate "will they or won't they" sensibility bubbles to the surface and becomes the underlying theme of the story.
Director Steve DeJarnett mounts an often visually arresting canvas for this theme to come to fruition. There is an incredible moment where Sam and E land a plane on sand-like surface and we see these statues nearby and, upon closer observation, it comes to light that statues are at the top of a casino in Las Vegas and that the entire city is buried under this sand. This reveal literally took my breath away, as did most of the look of this film, DeJarnett nails the "Mad Max" look of this film with a strong assist from his production team.
The performances are nothing special, but we really don't care because films like this usually aren't about acting, but maybe the acting is what kept this film from being what it should have been. David Andrews' Sam was a little on the wooden side and Melanie Griffith never really convinces as the bad ass female Indiana Jones, and Oscar winner Ben Johnson was wasted in a thankless role, but I LOVED Tim Thomerson as the maniacal Lester. The movie is great to look at and there's some terrific action sequences, but it never hooks me the way it should have.
Another far-fetched post-Apocalyptic adventure, 1987's Cherry 2000 does have a lot going for it, including some eye-popping visuals, but falls short as a complete film experience.
Ironically, it is 2017 and what's left of the United States is living in a world where romance and technology have blurred beyond recognition. Sam Treadwell is a wealthy businessman who has been blissfully happy with an android named Cherry 2000. One night while making love to his beautiful android she short circuits and is no longer able to function despite the fact that Sam still has the personality disc that allows the android to operate. Finding other romantic options unacceptable, Sam decides he must have a Cherry 2000 and hires a sexy renegade tracker named E Johnson to take him to the dangerous Zone 7, where there are many Cherry 2000's but the tyrannical leader, Lester, doesn't have any personality discs to make them operable.
Yes, 1987's vision of 2017 was a little premature, but I'm sure for screenwriter Michael Almereyda, 2017 seemed like a million years away, but he still provides a viable setting for this story which offers an ordinary guy caught up in some very extraordinary circumstances, especially his connection with a very unconventional heroine and the immediate "will they or won't they" sensibility bubbles to the surface and becomes the underlying theme of the story.
Director Steve DeJarnett mounts an often visually arresting canvas for this theme to come to fruition. There is an incredible moment where Sam and E land a plane on sand-like surface and we see these statues nearby and, upon closer observation, it comes to light that statues are at the top of a casino in Las Vegas and that the entire city is buried under this sand. This reveal literally took my breath away, as did most of the look of this film, DeJarnett nails the "Mad Max" look of this film with a strong assist from his production team.
The performances are nothing special, but we really don't care because films like this usually aren't about acting, but maybe the acting is what kept this film from being what it should have been. David Andrews' Sam was a little on the wooden side and Melanie Griffith never really convinces as the bad ass female Indiana Jones, and Oscar winner Ben Johnson was wasted in a thankless role, but I LOVED Tim Thomerson as the maniacal Lester. The movie is great to look at and there's some terrific action sequences, but it never hooks me the way it should have.