REVIEW: Sinners – would you let your family in?

There comes a time every now and then when a movie seems to pop up out of nowhere and establish itself as a classic of a particular genre. Sometimes they are movies that manage to do the impossible and reinvent the wheel, or at least play around with conventions. And other times, they find the way to connect with audiences in a way that sticks with them past their runtime. The new Ryan Coogler film Sinners appears to be the latter.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t entirely the case with me.

Now don’t get me wrong, as you can see by my rating, I really liked this movie. I found very interesting the way it used music as a tool to evoke the spirit not only in a figurative way but literally. Which is true. I mean, in one way or another, through various forms of worship, people aim to evoke something, particularly in those more animistic religions. And blues has always been linked to that realm, especially its connection with darkness and the devil. So I really dug the way they mixed the two. Ludwig’s score didn’t blow me away as it did with many, but I loved the way he played around with the genre in a way where it became another character within the movie. Or at least an object. A catalyst, like I said a few sentences ago. Plus that scene before things hit the fan and we get this amalgamation of sounds was great.

As many have pointed out, Sinners is in a way a tale of two stories that sort of come together. There’s this whole theme about “home” and “unity” that rings true on both sides. I liked how the whole pitch by the vampires wasn’t so much to destroy but to create a single “family.” Though the ways they went around it and the almost “brainwashing” or “exploitation of the mind” turn them more into a cult run by a literal demonic figure. One could say O’Connell represented the devil and as a wolf in sheep’s clothing, all his “Kumbaya” was just a gimmick, a deception? In which case….

…AND KIND OF A SPOILER…..

…but those that mean Stack and Mary managed to break free from his mind control? Maybe with his passing now they are free to be themselves. Or maybe the bond between the two brothers was so strong that it could pass the possession. That whole promise thing at the end left me with more questions than answers….

…END OF SPOILERS…

As for the vampire stuff. It was cool. So many people sold it as this batshit, crazy, carnage or whatever. It’s clear From Dusk Till Dawn was an influence, so with that in mind and what everyone was raving about, I was hoping for some bonkers stuff akin to the Robert Rodriguez/Tarantino joint. And it was cool. It was creepy. I was both scared and also wanted to join that Irish dance (the song has to be my favorite of the whole movie). It was creepy. It was tense. That scene with him peeking through the hole, knowing this dude had a pointing thing, had me on the edge. But like, again, I was expecting pure carnage based on many of the reviews, and I ain’t got none of that.

Performance-wise, everyone delivers. I’d say in that regard, the hype for about everyone was true. Lindo was wisecracking fun; he mostly serves as the comic relief of the film and he brings on the game. The moment he pops up (and whenever he does throughout the film) on screen, he is dynamite. Caton (in his apparent film debut) was a show stealer both as a vocalist and also in his performance. He oozes so much charm, you root for him almost instantly. Michael B. Jordan in his double role was fantastic; he did a great job making these twins feel like two different individuals and with the technology and direction, you truly felt you were watching double. He also got to show off many of his dramatic skills, having great chemistry with everyone else and himself. I believed every tear, every sense of joy and so on. And Jack, glad to see he’s slowly breaking through after delivering awesome performances for a while now, whether it is as a sociopathic hooligan or a fighter, he was so wickedly fun and magnetic, part of me wanted to join his cult, not gonna lie. And the rest of the cast was great too.

All in all, while it’s not that wonderful film I was expecting based on everyone else’s rave reviews, this was nonetheless a pretty entertaining film that’s just not fun but actually has some good things to say. The second half was a bit stronger than the first, but I liked the build-up; it made you establish a connection with these characters. But yeah, if you are a fan of horror and vampires, give this one a watch.