'Sinners' review: Michael B. Jordan hopes that Ryan Coogler's supernatural horror doesn't suck

Warner Bros. Pictures

If you've got the case of the blues, there might be a movie out there that will excite you, just saying. Allegedly, this said source of excitement is Sinners, writer-director Ryan Coogler's new supernatural horror. We're turning back the clock all the way to the 1930s and landing in Mississippi where we meet our main characters, twin brothers "Smoke" and "Stack" (Michael B. Jordan pulling double duty), who are returning to their home turf to do business and open a juke joint after having worked for the mafia in Chicago and "gaining" some capital.

They hire local musician Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo) and their cousin "Preacher Boy" Sammie (Miles Caton), a talented blues singer and guitarist, to perform at the venue which was purchased from a local (alleged) KKK member Hogwood (David Maldonado). Present at the grand opening are also Stack's partly black but mostly white ex-lover Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), Smoke's ex-wife Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), bouncer Cornbread (Omar Miller), Sammie's crush and singer Pearline (Jayme Lawson) as well as Asian shopkeepers and goods suppliers Grace (Li Jun Li) and Bo Chow (Yao). Everyone's having a good time until the party invites the presence of Remmick (Jack O'Connell), an Irish vampire who has turned two KKK members (Lola Kirke as Joan, Peter Dreimanis as Bert) into vampires as well. And as you'd expect, madness ensues.

First of all, what Sinners nails with his vision is the time and place, but in ways you might not expect. Yes, there's great period detail (thanks to Hannah Beachler's production design and Ruth E. Carter's costumes) but something about this place feels both lively and doomsday-like at the same time right from the get-go. Coogler's writing mixes (perhaps personal) history with fantasy, exploring karma, love, the meaning of art, fear of the other and heritage in the process. The filmmaker has found plenty of fascinating story elements that work superbly in the horror space, like the notion of having to invite a vampire into a space that is supposed to be a safe haven for black Americans because they aren't invited into other places and the country as a whole as human beings with equal human rights. These elements work not only as a tense, confrontational thrill ride, but also as metaphors for something more personal.

That's all well and good, but it quickly becomes apparent that Coogler's style and direction are the aspects that keep pushing the film forward. There's real energy in every single scene, from blocking to movement and from fast-paced dialogue to Michael P. Shawver's editing, almost as if every scene was going to be the last that Coogler ever directs. The end result resembles a dynamic rock concert, exemplified by one distinct musical sequence that acts as the film's centrepiece with its virtuoso cinematography (by Autumn Durald Arkapaw) and performance by the movie's breakout Caton who somehow emerges as the supernova from an all-around wonderful cast, including Jordan who's quite electric in his dual role. Sinners' intensity can't be divorced from composer Ludwig Göransson score either as the sombre blues guitars, fierce percussion and Swedish death metal-esque build-ups make for an unpredictable, stimulating symphony.

After that showstopping sequence and the initial showdown between juke joint attendees and Remmick's crew, Coogler's script bites off more than it can chew as it tries to balance all the character arcs with vampiric mayhem, to a point that it gets hard to grasp what the film wants to say about freedom or consequences of "sins"—the venue offers the devilish temptation of alcohol (gluttony), adultery (lust), gambling (greed) and jealousy (envy), for example—when they can give you a sense of freedom for a moment and there are bigger sinners, like the KKK, lurking around. Even so, Sinners' sheer ambition and grandeur demand admiration, and the fact that it pursues true greatness and sometimes gets there is a sight to behold. It's a shot in the arm, delivered with a singular vision, great music and acting as well as high-quality filmmaking.

Smileys: Directing, score, story, Miles Caton

Frowneys: Screenplay

Man, this Remmick guy is a real pain in the neck.

4.5/5

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