F T I: Movie Posters

Some analysis

This simple but tantalizing image promises a kind of hardboiled spicy Euro exploit, a B-time killer with sex and intrigue. Of course, what the movie actually delivers is a rather complex character dilemma, but likewise succeeds equally as neo-noir entertainment. Yet the poster itself isn’t just romantic for the sake of romance, but thematically resonates as well. Miranda Richardson is not the main character, not even the leading man’s foil; but there’s something inherently cool in the way she’s assigned as the film’s visual selling pitch – the pivotal antagonist lurking in the narrative’s shadow. Interesting to note that her appearance here is subtly androgynous, hinting, almost subliminally, things to come. The black and white scheme indicates an issue, a world, with binary resolve, as if the story will be summed up either one way or the other, which, in and of itself, emphasizes the upper tagline “Nothing is what is seems to be”.

This poster is all about raw conviction. It may not seem like much in terms of design, and it isn’t. But the point is made with utmost clarity: this movie isn’t fucking around! What makes it work is the ambiguous wall/structure, an indefinite concrete barrier of OCP Detroit built to totalitarize in favor of the corporate corrupt; that is, until RoboCop shows up. He’s all but crashing through the poster into your theater lobby.

If the previous two are overly simple than this poster seems downright plain. At first, anyways. But there’s a ‘magic eye’ effect going on here. See it? Yeah, okay, maybe it’s obvious for some of you but there’s no denying how the rad graphic imagery is telling a story in a single still shot. I also dig the seemingly unreadable expression on RoboCop’s face. Sure, such can be attributed to the fact that said face is mostly obscured by immobile metal-wear, but in turn it actually reinforces his personality (in the same way we project our own expressions on Darth Vader’s mask). RoboCop is about to combat his most terrifying enemy, and his blank reaction conveys at once both a comically understated dread and an iron-willed determination.

Foreign posters at their best