No. 7: CHERRY 2000

Reviewed by Sam Hatch

AS THIS IS PART OF A RETRO NOSTALGIA BINGE AS OPPOSED TO A TRADITIONAL REVIEW, THERE MAY BE SPOILERS PRESENT IN THE TEXT.

This was one of those things I tripped across late night on cable and kind of dug to my surprise. No, it's not a softcore porn movie, though it does involve a futuristic society with robotic, ahem - 'companions' (tip of the hat to Mr. Whedon) so to speak. One fellow (David Andrews as Sam Treadwell) happens to fall in love with his robowhore, and somehow she fries her circuitry and he must travel out into the dusty apocalyptic outlands to get himself some robo-loving with another identical Cherry 2000 model.

Melanie Griffith plays Edith Johnson, the badass, tough-as-nails tracker who helps him on his journey, bombing around in a battle-worn classic Mustang that would do Max Rockatansky proud. But is Sam's quest for a robot lover a noble one, or should he be falling in love with the non-automaton he happens to be traveling with? If you weren't sure that you were in straight-to-video/cable territory, Trancers star Tim Thomerson steps in as a dangerous community leader to remind you.

I haven't seen this flick in a zillion years, but I know it came out on DVD recently and hope to revisit it soon. Obviously I doubt it would last on any top 20 list I could create nowadays, but I'm sure there was some mood or emotional wavelength (tip of the hat to Mr. Peart) I was tapping into at the time. Plus I was a sucker for low-budget sci-fi. I think I saw Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone two or three times in the theaters (in 3D, even!), if that tells you anything.

BACK/SAMLAND