Thursday, November 03, 2011

New Poster for Mark Wahlberg's 'Contraband'

Far better than the first effort, which was okay but a bit commercial and didn't really match the tone of the trailer.

This graphic has an indie vibe that lines up better with the style of cinematography and, as far as I can tell, plot.

Framing formed by the tape (a motif from the trailer) is imperfect and creates a visual tension, even a sense of conflicted character -- like how it comes too close to an eye or cuts across the head at an odd angle. For instance, the bit of tape that extends a tad too far into Kate Beckinsale's hair is sloppy but has a subtle peripheral edginess that's clearly not accidental.

No two characters look at each other or even in the same direction, which adds to the disconnect.

Elements are dynamic -- there's uneven negative space (in three of the corners, the fourth being perfectly conventional) which compliments the random placement of the images and yields a jangly harmony.

Very well put together poster.

Movie might draw a crowd at theaters. Will probably be popular as a rental with both general audiences and cinephiles.


Just FYI -- have you heard mention of Wahlberg's next project? 'Broken City' (love that title) in pre-production. Synopsis from IMDb:

An ex-cop trailing the wife of New York City's mayor finds himself immersed in a larger scandal.

Okay. Sounds good. The kind of plot that can blossom. But, it's the cast that caught my eye. Besides Wahlberg, there's Russell Crowe (presumably the mayor) and Catherine-Zeta Jones (and she would be the wife). Directed by Allen Hughes (From Hell, The Book of Eli, Dead Presidents) -- nice camera/editing from this guy. Lotta potential here...













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