Cherry 2000

Okay, "Cherry 2000" has finally achieved "cult film" status. But unlike many other cult movies, it actually deserves the title.

There are many things to like about this flick. The nuanced, likeable Ben Johnson has a good role that even delivers some tragedy (how often do you get that in a b-movie?). The charismatic Griffith is alternately contemplative and kick-ass. Of course, Tim Thomerson as Lester nearly steals the show, providing a truly strange, ruthless villain.

The effects are cheesy, sure, but they never look fake, unlike a lot of the CGI films coming out today. When you see E. Johnson's Ford being dangled over the Hoover Dam, that is an ACTUAL car, not some stupid digital effect.

The movie does lay its message on thick, but considering the obvious budget constraints they were working with, that's a perfectly excuseable flaw. The satire is at times hilarious (watch for Larry Fishburne's turn as a lawyer with Morpheus-esque reflecting sunglasses, and the final exit of the villain is truly visually ironic). I bought this on DVD (having never seen it on TV) and really liked it...maybe you will, too.

It is the future on earth where anything is possible: even robots that look, act and perform like humans and can do almost any task. High powered businessman Sam Treadwell (David Andrews) has a problem: his android model Cherry 2000 short circuited during some heavier than expected foreplay. After a brief trip to the repair shop; seeing some newer models he doesn't like and realizing that there is no hope of fixing his current model, he embarks on a treacherous trip into 'The Zone' to find an identical model. He hires the tough, very pretty and VERY heavily armed E. Johnson (Melanie Griffith) as his guide. She along with her trusty modified Ford Mustang adapt themselves to the task. Tim Thomerson absolutely STEALS the show as the criminally insane, antagonistic, would-be crazy gang leader of the future who leads a rag-tag group of Rambo wannabees in various acts of military mayhem in his pursuit of these two protagonists. This one is not to be missed and should be added to everyone's library of classic B movies in DVD or video tape format!!!!

Sure it's all too obviously influenced by "Mad Max" and "The Road Warrior", but it's still consistently engaging entertainment for cult film enthusiasts. Credit has to go to production designer John Jay Moore and cinematographer Jacques Haitkin for giving it just the right slightly futuristic look, and it's got some gorgeous rural vistas to take in. It's a little episodic, but it's also got some energy, and some nifty moments.

Melanie Griffith offers a delightful performance as female "tracker" E. Johnson (the E stands for Edith), hired by lonely man Sam Treadwell (a fairly stiff David Andrews) to take him to a dangerous area where he can find a replacement for his robot wife Cherry (Pamela Gidley). On their journey they run into colourful characters played by such wonderful acting veterans as Ben Johnson, who's endearing as Six Fingered Jake, and Harry Carey Jr., as Snappy Tom.

You know you'll be in for a good time when you look over that supporting cast: Marshall Bell, Laurence Fishburne, Michael C. Gwynne, Brion James, Jack Thibeau, and Robert Z'Dar. The always welcome Tim Thomerson has a particularly amusing role as an unconventional desert dwelling despot, whose followers have it in for people such as Edith. Overall the movie isn't overly flashy, but it's pretty exciting at times, especially the entire sequence with the crane and the water pipe. The soaring score composed by Basil Poledouris ("Conan the Barbarian", "RoboCop", etc.) is fine accompaniment.

Although Thomerson as Lester shows himself to be a serious psycho, this never gets too, too unpleasant, with director Steve De Jarnatt keeping the action moving and having fun with the offbeat little details provided by screenwriter Michael Almereyda (story credit goes to executive producer Lloyd Fonvielle). "Cherry 2000" does know how to send you away with a smile on your face. It may have gotten a limited release in theatres in the 1980s, but 26 years later it proves enjoyable enough to deserve a rediscovery.

Seven out of 10.

"Cherry 2000" was a huge commercial failure and it's hardly ever mentioned today, but I found it surprisingly entertaining. Sure, the script is unimaginative and the film has no real vision and the action scenes are strictly routine, but the two leads are enormously, effortlessly likable. They make a deeply sweet pair. Maybe the film should have concentrated more on their love story and less on the familiar action aspects of the story. And the violence of a couple of scenes seems rather out of place. But even with its weaknesses, this movie is, fitfully, absorbing and very entertaining.

This is the kind of film that gets under your skin. One of a small subgenre of Sci-Fi Westerns, its small flashes of inspired writing make it worth watching some night when there's nothing else to do. Cameron Milzer is particularly notable as a blackly comedic psycho-girlfriend, but Tim Thomerson and Melanie Griffith are no slouches themselves. Pleasant bleak visuals and an interesting score from Basil Poledouris (Robocop, Hunt For Red October, & the Conan films, as well as 60 other movies) make for a modest repeat viewability factor. Fun and stupid!