Film Preview: The Apprentice (2024)

Film Poster

Page Revisions:

(September 15, 2024) Original
(October 6, 2024) New Posters (#2-#5)

Release Date:

October 11, 2024

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “The story of how a young Donald Trump started his real estate business in 1970s and 80s New York with the helping hand of infamous lawyer Roy Cohn.”

Poster Rating: B- / C- (3) / C+

SEE ALL POSTERS BELOW
Review: (#1, B-) The empty background detracts from the design but the “golden elements are a nice, interesting touch that speaks to the character though the figures are improperly posed and look wholly unrealistic. That might be the intended concept but it makes it difficult to look at for more than 5 seconds.

(#2-#4, C-) An unfortunately identical triptych that employs a terrible tagline and uninspired golden lettering for little value. (#5, C+) This speaks better to Trump’s opinion of himself being bigger than most anything else in New York but it doesn’t tell any part of the story and lacks genuine creative insight.

Trailer Rating: C

SEE ALL TRAILERS BELOW
Review: (#1, C) Sometimes, less is more. In this case, the idea of looking behind the curtain of why and how Donald Trump became who he was is the dullest potential thing possible. There’s some intriguing ideas about Roy Cohn’s involvement in young businessman Trump’s eventual success and downfall but it feels like it’s trying too hard to create tension where the images present none.

Oscar Prospects:

While it might be a timely exploration of what made Donald Trump who he is, the film struggled to find a distributor and is likely to be mired in lawsuits by Trump himself. That might make it struggle to get seen and build a following towards Oscar consideration. Its biggest selling point is Sebastian Stan in the lead but he’s got a better received film coming out that will propel him into the Oscar conversation so this film might be utterly ignored.