Thriller poster study

This Total Recall poster is supposed to give off a dystopian future kind of feel, by showing futuristic architecture in the background but with a grey sky and little colour to the structure shows clearly this is a sci-fi thriller about an alternate future. The text centred to the poster reads ‘what is real?’ combined with the pixel-like squares blowing away, almost like it is just drifting away in the wind.

Big Ben appears to be in the background so this signifies the film may be set in a futuristic London, or it may come to it at some point.

The sunlight contrasts with the unnatural industrial looking buildings, showing a connection between nature and man, linking to the ‘what is real?’ question on this poster. The person on the poster is holding a gun, not only that but he is the only person on the poster, meaning he is the main character clearly. Everything he has is black, from his clothes to his gun and he is stood facing sideways away from the camera looking as if he is deep in thought about something, like someone does when they zone out and contemplate on a tough situation.

The dark, dystopian theme could possibly signify the corruption occurring at this point in this future, as darkness and dullness are usually commonly associated with corruption. The fact he looks as if he is pondering something with such a stance that makes him look unsure of something, followed by the pixels blowing away from him not only shows that he is losing himself somehow, but that possibly he is corrupt, like his memory or his job.

The text saying ‘what is real?’ with the futuristic structure, and the sunlight shows how the contrast between the natural world and the manmade world are possibly going to clash, because these dull, futuristic buildings cast a grey sky, and the sun is clashing with it and lighting the place up, so the sun could possibly represent the protagonist, who will shed some light on the corruption in this future.

The gun signifies revolt, violence and backlash, and the way the character is holding it to his side shows that he isn’t trigger happy; this could also be a recurring thing that he will only revolt against corruption, in retaliation to any issues people present him with.

Both what is shown in the poster, and what each thing in the poster signifies are the same. They both show how dull and corrupt this dystopian future is, and how this character is trying to find out what is really going on in this futuristic city, and that he will find out who he is and the significance of himself in this plot. Both show that he is clueless and losing himself, which point towards the fact that he may have lost his memory, and that he is trying to figure out who is good and who is bad, but finding out that reality is easier said than done.