As The Hurt Locker roll-out expands from a handful of theaters to several major cities across the country this weekend, two new one-sheets arrive to help it enter the mainstream. No, they’re nowhere near as graphically dynamic as the first teaser posters earlier this year. (after the cut) And yes, I hate to see a film this unique become standardized with cookie-cutter marketing formulas. But whatever it takes to make this movie more appealing to a broader audience is ok with me.
The first posters were all wires and sand. The new batch is more about personal camaraderie and the bigger picture. It’s good strategy to focus on five rugged faces, and nice to see you don’t have to be a superstar to get the stacked shiskabob-of-heads treatment. If these new posters suggest to females in theater lobbies that there might be some hunkiness served with the hurt, that’s not the least bit misleading. Guys can get off on the bombs, while their girlfriends get to choose who’s da bomb.