Sinners - Review

It's been a hot minute, eh? Life's been catching up to me with punch after punch, and I'm not feeling great. That and trying to monetize this blog has been nothing but a nightmare for me. But those are stories for another day. 

    So, I desperately needed some cheering up. What better way to do that than to go to the movies? Gathered a few friends and went to go see Sinners a couple weeks ago. Yeah, not on the ball of getting this review out. Shoot me. Sinners is the recent output by director Ryan Coogler (Creed, Black Panther) with his first original, non-IP film since 2013’s Fruitvale Station. To me, Coogler is one of those MCU director’s that can have a career outside of superhero films because the guy just knows how to make a well made film, regardless of budget. Which is why Warner Brothers put their neck on the line for an original horror period piece set in the 1930’s in Mississippi that costed around $90 million to make. 

Was it those the investment? Absolutely. 

While I’m a sucker for horror films in general, period pieces have a special place in my heart. Sinners definitely scratches that itch that Nosferatu last scratched. One film dealth with 1800’s Germany, now we have a film in 1930’s Mississippi where the delta blues was popping off. I’m a casual fan of the blues, so with mentions of Robert Johnson and Tommy Johnson (unrelated, but that’s beside the point) I had a vague idea of what the supernatural implications could be. Spoilers: Not quite down the route of selling souls to the devil. No, even better. Vampires, babyyyy. 

This film made me happy. Like, really happy. It was a project made with passion and purpose. Not that should be extraordinary, but it kind of seems like it in today’s flooded market of rehashed IP’s, requels, reboots, franchises, etc. And here is a film about vampires terrorizing a juke joint in Mississippi because they were playing some good music. Supernatural music in fact. As one of the protagonists, Sammie “Preacher Boy”, can summon the spirits of the past and future whilst the people of the present dance to the music of the blues. 

The film follows the Smoke Stack twins (nicknamed Smoke and Stack, both played by Michael B. Jordan, respectively) that are WWI veterans turned Chicago gangsters who aspire to open up a juke joint in the South where the KKK still threaten black communities. They recruit musicians and their old friends to celebrate the grand opening. Then a lil’ Irish man named Remmick who’s a vampire and has been alive for many, many years hears the music of old and believes we can see his old ancestors once again and will find a way to get in after he’s not invited in.  If you want more plot details… just watch the damn film. You ain’t paying me, so I ain’t typing more of the synopsis. 

What the film does wonderfully is… basically everything. The scope is great as the shots here are MASSIVE and you really feel the heat of Mississippi here. The music by composer Ludwig Goransson fires on all cylinders as he explores the blues genre extensively. The acting is top notch with in tandem with the writing has me appreciating essentially all the characters here. The film takes about 40 minutes or so to get to the actual horror elements and I didn’t even notice. I was too enthralled by Sammie, the twins, and all the side characters that all ooze with unique personalities and vibe off of each other really well. What a feat of magic that felt like! 

Sinners is a film that makes me excited about films and life in general. We’re all in an entanglement of our lives like this web, emphasizing on connectivity and are united by various things, and in this film what unites us is our aspirations to climb out of the problems that set us back whether that be societally or personally, to connect socially, emotionally, sexually, through music, through love, through art to ultimately free us and to live in the moment, and to live for today. 

That’s a pretty damn good feeling to have nowadays. 

I only have minor issues with the film. The biggest one being that when the vampires actually show up, the pace starts to pick up faster than it should’ve. Especially the third act. Sinners definitely could’ve used another 30 minutes or so to me to even out what was rushed, but that’s just me. They could’ve made this a six hour movie with more depth on the origins of Remmick, following the Native vampire hunters, and war stories of the Smoke Stack twins and I still wouldn’t complain. I’m a film lover who doesn’t really get bothered by a film’s runtime if it deserves it. Three hour film? No problem. Six hour Coogler Cut? Hell yes, sign me up. Probably would’ve gotten another Coke Zero, though.

    Also, did you know Lars Ulrich from Metallica is on the soundtrack for some reason? "Bury That Guitar," give it a listen. I brought that up for no other reason other than the fact that it's so strange and random. 

With those lines, that’s one thing I noticed about the online commentary about this movie: How so many people would like an expansion of the ideas from Sinners, i.e, Remmick coming to America, following that Native vampire hunters, what the characters would do following the events of the movie. And I think that’s all unnecessary. It would be cool, but unneeded. Can’t we just enjoy a one-and-done movie? But that goes to show the excitement there is about the story, the characters, and the movie brilliantly made by a director with love and dedication to his craft. 

It’s a fun time, check it out. Also, how many songs can you put in a film before it HAS to be classified as a musical? Did this film reach that threshold? A horror period piece musical. Fuck yes.