Wednesday, July 8, 2009

The opening sequence of The Hurt Locker...


Doing the 'watch the whole opening scene of a movie' marketing tool only works when said opening scene is a kind of prologue and/or is disconnected from the rest of the picture. Seeing the precredits sequence of Dawn of the Dead, the prologue of Taking Lives, or the opening bank robbery of The Dark Knight ruined nothing for what came next. This opening scene, from Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker, works well for this gimmick as it perfectly sets up the concept, the location, the tone, and the stakes. Obviously if you want to go in completely blind, don't watch this. But, having seen the film, I can vouch that it spoils nothing of what comes after and works as a perfect curtain raiser. The Hurt Locker expands to 59 theaters in 17 markets this Friday, and it goes wide on June 24th.

Scott Mendelson

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