How does one escape a billion-dollar shadow? The first film to be directed by the Russo Brothers after their record-breaking superhero extravaganza Avengers: Endgame is something of a statement, a declaration that these filmmakers can also turn their hand to esoteric, grown-up material, without the use of magic stones. But while their scope has certainly narrowed here — the stakes only relate to one dude, rather than the entire universe — this is still ambitious material in a different way to Endgame, adapting a sprawling semi-autobiographical novel written (from prison) by former soldier Nico Walker.
There is a lot going on in this film. It runs at an Endgame-approaching two-and-a-half hours, cataloguing several turbulent years in a young man’s eventful life, from doe-eyed innocence to broken prospects. Divided into chapters, it feels like multiple movies in one: a college romance, a war film, an addiction drama, a heist thriller, and a prison movie. Each chapter is distinct, and different, but the structure gives proceedings a somewhat fidgety, unfocused feel. The script, too reliant on voiceover lifted from the source material, is not without flab. (The film opens with Cherry narrating how much he likes trees, for example.)
If the Russos are looking to break from the Marvel mould, Tom Holland seems ready to smash his.
That can’t-sit-still energy takes a little bit of adjusting to. But it makes sense for the character, a skittish student-turned-soldier doomed to make terrible choices at every turn, and played with total commitment by the Russos’ fellow Marvel graduate Tom Holland. This is a demanding, complex role, tracking an erratic character through constant rises-and-falls, and Holland has rarely had an opportunity to show such screen maturity. If the Russos are looking to break from the Marvel mould, Holland seems ready to smash his — one wonders what the innocent Spider-Man stans will make of the scene where he wanks in a portable loo.
If some sections come across as fuzzy or formulaic — this is hardly the first film to explore the bleak pitfalls of addiction and PTSD — the journey starts to feel more earned by the end of the film. We know how it’s going to play out, but Holland’s performance, well-matched by Ciara Bravo as his equally afflicted girlfriend Emily, sells it. “I have this noise in my head,” he says desperately, at his lowest ebb, “and I can’t make it stop.” You believe him.
Despite the gritty subject matter, the Russos lend the story a strange kind of fairy-tale quality, blending scuzzy realism with occasional whimsy (one of the banks Holland’s character robs is simply called ‘The Bank’). There’s a confidence behind the camera that recalls Danny Boyle’s more bravura work, even beyond the explicit scenes of young people shooting up, and while not every creative swing hits, it’s intriguing and refreshing to see directors come from the studio system and still choose risks over comfort. Or, as someone once put it: whatever it takes.
