‘Sinners’ Review

‘Sinners’, the new film from Ryan Coogler, is the kind of thrilling, original and bold filmmaking only possible when a director with mainstream genre success and a unique vision finds a studio willing to take a risk.

‘Sinners’ is a hard movie to explain. It’s a Southern crime drama, it’s a musical, with some truly stunning songs and dancing, it’s an elegy, reflecting on how death, inevitable or not, brings meaning to life and art. It’s a vampire movie where the vampires don’t appear until midway through the movie. Yet this is no ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’, as the film sets up the vampire angle very early on, with jump scares throughout the opening scene hinting at the evils to come. Even as that’s in the back of the viewer’s head, it’s easy to forget about vampires as the world is brought to life, the characters are made real, breathing human beings, and the music never stops. This movie is about so many things. Is music itself a sin, or a way to deal with the sinfulness of day to day life? What do we owe a world that forsakes us at every opportunity? What do we owe each other?

Coogler takes his time unraveling this world, with more than half of the film’s’ runtime spent setting the table, an extended way of getting the team together. We meet the twin brothers Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan), two gangsters returned home to Mississippi after some time working with Al Capone in Chicago. They are back to open up a juke joint, and they recruit their cousin Sammi (Miles Caton), also known as Preacher Boy, to play guitar. They then pick up Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo) to play piano, Smoke’s wife Annie (Wunmi Mosaku) to do the cooking, Cornbread (Omar Miller) to be the bouncer, and the Chows (Li Jun Li and Yao) to provide the food, the signs, and anything else that is needed. By taking this time, the emotional impact of the characters and their journeys are more pronounced when the mayhem ensues. We don’t want these characters to die, not only because people good and vampires bad, but because we’ve seen them, we’ve watched their lives, their relationships, their struggles to survive in a world that hates them.

Michael B. Jordan, the latest in a line of actors this year playing a set of twins – after Robert Pattinson (‘Mickey 17’), Theo James (‘The Monkey’) and Robert DeNiro (‘The Alto Knights’). Seriously, what’s the deal, Hollywood? – delivers a fantastic double performance. As Smoke and Stack, he does just enough to communicate their different personalities, without falling back on tacky facial tics, though credit to Ryan Coogler for the decision to give the twin brothers very different hats, in blue and red, to help differentiate them. Smoke is a little kinder, a little more mature, a little more buttoned up, while Stack is more of a renegade, quicker to explosive emotions. While Smoke and Stack are the engines of the film, driving all of the other characters into action, they are surrounded by vivid supporting turns delivered with beautifully nuanced acting. Delroy Lindo as Delta Slim, an alcoholic musician who keeps his pride and dignity in the face of all manner of hatefulness, steals every scene he is in, as Lindo has done throughout his career. Wunmi Mosaku brings strength and tenderness to the role of Annie, Smoke’s wife, while Li Jun Li and Yao are funny and quick witted as the Chows. In his first major film role, Miles Caton brings soulfulness and power to the role of Sammie. At one point, Delta Slim looks at this kid and laughs, asking what somebody like this could know about the blues. But in his performance and his singing, Caton makes clear that deep wells of pain, and a desire for life in all its passions, is not saved for the older generation alone.

If there is a weak link in the cast, it would be Hailee Steinfeld in the role of Mary, Stack’s ex girlfriend. Her performance isn’t bad necessarily, but her subplot was the only part of the film that felt a little trite, even as I see the effort here to make Mary an embedded member of this community who has her own hopes and hurts, even as she helps deepen Stack’s interior life, all while pushing the plot. This is less a demerit for Steinfeld’s acting, and more a testament to the power of the rest of the cast in their roles.

Then there’s Jack O’Connell as the lead vampire, Remmick, a charming Irish man who is introduced close to an hour into the film. O’Connell brings to life one of the more unique vampire characters I can remember seeing. He can play menacing, yes, but his true danger is in his charm. He won’t resort to violence when he thinks persuasion will do just as well. Remmick plays on the racial realities of the Jim Crow South to make an argument that Smoke, Stack and all the patrons of this juke joint are better off becoming vampires, embracing eternal life and rejecting the world that has rejected them again and again. It’s a seductive vision that plays on the doubts, hopes and fears of all of these characters, and O’Connell brings charisma and personality to spare. Even as the blood starts pouring, it’s hard to get past just how fun O’Connell makes the vampire life look.

Ryan Coogler has, throughout his career, brought a unique vision and personality to franchise filmmaking, delivering both critical and commercial crowd pleasers with the ‘Creed’ and ‘Black Panther’ franchises. Here he is given the opportunity to make the film of his wildest dreams and he has filled it to the brim with all of the ideas and genres imaginable. The resulting film is endlessly entertaining with enough big questions and ideas to reward repeat viewings. ‘Sinners’ is proof that original ideas, when encouraged and rewarded by Hollywood, can be more creative, challenging and thrilling than the cookie cutter blockbusters that have filled the Summer calendars of recent years. In its unique blend of horror, musical, drama, period piece, and racial reckoning, ‘Sinners’ is a one of a kind stunner that can appeal to everybody, regardless of genre preference.

Sinners
Rated R for strong bloody violence, sexual content and language.
Running Time: 2 hours and 17 minutes

Director Ryan Coogler
Writers Ryan Coogler
Stars Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Jack O’Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, Jayme Lawson, Omar Miller, Delroy Lindo
Rating R
Running Time 137 Minutes
Genres Action, Drama, Horror