Sinners

Review by Mark Woodring

While we didn’t get to screen this one in advance, we were both able to see it opening weekend. Ryan Coogler re-teams with one of his favorite actors, Michael B. Jordan, in a period horror film.

People are raving, so what did I think about Sinners?

**NOTE: You can read Mark’s review below, then listen as he and Ryan discuss the film in more depth. Remember, though, you can listen to all our discussions of this and every other movie directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**

Sinners - Review
Sinners (WB)

137 Minutes, Rated R
Written and Directed by Ryan Coogler

Synopsis:

Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.

[TAGS: movies, movie review, Ryan Coogler, michael B Jordan, hailee steinfeld, miles caton, wunmi mosaku, Jack O’Connell]

 

And man, were we not disappointed. Coogler puts a great period piece together with a supernatural storyline and adds just a dash of societal disfunction (aka racism) to cook up a steamy hot concoction.

And it is, in fact, steamy.

Michael B. Jordan gives a great performance (or two) as brothers Smoke and Stack, born into trouble and happily swimming in it ever since. Returning to their hometown after years away in Chicago working for various criminal elements (Capone’s name get dropped at one point), they plan to open a Juke Joint for the sharecroppers they grew up amongst.

Sure, their motives aren’t altruistic: it’s about the almighty dollar, and there are many of those to be made if they can avoid taking company money instead of real dollars.

Smoke reunites with his ex (a great Wunmi Mosaku), as they fight and commiserate over their lost child.

Smoke has his own romantic entanglement in the form of Mary, played with, ugh… fervor… by Hailee Steinfeld, as mixed-race woman “passing” with a rich white husband Smoke found for her a few years back.

Jack O’Connell’s Remmick, the Irish vampire, is deceptively passive, until he isn’t, at which point the blood flows thick and fast.

But the breakout star of Sinners is Miles Caton as Smoke/Stack’s cousin Sammie, a gifted guitar player and son of a preacher, hence the stage name his cousins give him: “Preacher Boy.”

Then the music takes center stage as Sammie, Piano Man/Harmonica playing Delta Slim (the unfathomably underappreciated Delroy Lindo) entertain the crowd at the club on opening night… before everything goes to Hell. Literally.

Built similarly to From Dusk Till Dawn, that comparison is overly simplistic and used to degrade the quality of Sinners by some folks.

Sure, there’s two halves of the story, but that’s about it. The motives of the vampires are completely different, as Remmick continually espouses the familial nature and community inherent in the vampire clan, which is a far cry from the denizens of the Titty Twister simply killing the unfortunate truckers which roll through their club.

Yes, Remmick is full of crap; he simply wants to increase his following, but the sincerity with which he makes his appeals (before converting by force) is captivating to watch on screen.

Don’t miss this exceptional entry in the horror genre in theaters. Is it perfect? No, but it’s pretty darned good.

Sinners is in theaters now and stars Michael B Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Wunmi Mosaku, and Jack O’Connell.

And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.

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