First impressions: It’s a pretty strong tagline, especially held up against the one that accompanied the 2003 South Korean original — ’15 years forced in a cell, only 5 days given to seek revenge’ — which is functional to the point of banality. And even in the wake of Gangster Squad, Josh Brolin’s name retains solid pop cultural capital. This is going to be ‘one to watch’.
Second impressions: Okay, so that ‘amateur calligraphy’ title treatment thing is starting to get a little old, and the words ‘a Spike Lee film’ are hardly the guarantee seal they once were (also: when did he stop using ‘joint’?) but all in all, this still looks like a classy product, worthy of the prestige conferred upon it by its cult source material.
Third impressions: That woman was definitely not photographed in that field. She looks like she’s been pasted in from a particularly slapdash Panini sticker album. And what’s with the makeshift, blood-red tally chart on her umbrella? Jeez, I hope this poster isn’t going the ‘symbolic’ route…
Fourth impressions: Josh Brolin is squatting in a treasure chest.