Film Preview: Wind River (2017)

Page Revisions:

(June 25, 2017) Original
(July 30, 2017) New Trailer (#2) / New Posters (#3-#5)
(August 27, 2017) New Trailer (#3) / New Poster (#6)

Release Date:

August 4, 2017

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “An FBI agent teams with the town’s veteran game tracker to investigate a murder that occurred on a Native American reservation.”

Poster Rating: C / C+ / B- / C / C / D+

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Review: (#1) There’s too much white in this poster. While it does accentuate the snow sniper at the top, the Jeremy Renner figure gives the absolute wrong impression of the film, at least based on the trailer itself. (#2) While the color scheme isn’t terribly different, the poster itself still has commonplace elements. It’s a better selling agent than the first poster, but not by too much.

(#3) Apart from the title font, there isn’t a lot that really pops in this poster. It’s better than all of the other designs in its modestly interesting background details, but that’s about it. (#4) A scene from the film that does invest the audience with a measure of curiosity, but isn’t ultimately that convincing. (#5) The big title tells the viewer this is a big movie. It doesn’t really, but that seems to be the purpose. Putting the two stars as the forefront might serve to create some interest in a passer-by, but not much of it.

(#6) It’s easy to get that the snow-blanketed setting of the film should be a key element to the poster design, but too much white, even if symbolic, just doesn’t improve an otherwise cheap poster design.

Trailer Rating: C / B / B-

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Review: (#1) The trailer looks like a police procedural that you might find on television. It has some vague similarities to Fargo (the series, not the original movie) in that regard. Where the film goes is unknown, but it doesn’t present itself as much more than a snowbound murder mystery that might border on offensive if it takes the wrong turns.

(#2) This looks a bit more driving and compelling than the predecessor, but there’s still a feeling that this is little more than a Native American reservation-set version of Witness than anything else and that’s not a film most potential audiences will be that familiar with.

(#3) Surprisingly, the producers have decided to strike most references to the Native American setting the film takes place in. That is a seriously questionable decision, but the rest of the design is fairly strong, though the choppy editing makes it seem far more exciting than the prior trailers and indeed premise makes it out to be.