Sinners is the latest film from one of my personal favorite directors, Ryan Coogler. Ryan Coogler is known for directing box office hits such as Black Panther and Creed. Three out of his five movies have been franchise movies with Sinners being an original idea from Ryan, with sooooooo much hype behind this movie. So, as someone who praises Ryan Coogler’s movies, I wanted to stay away from the hype and the history already made with this movie. Does it live up to all the praise?
Starting off, Sinners is about these twins, both played by Michael B. Jordan, named Smoke and Stack, they come back to the south after some trouble in Chicago to open a juke joint. After opening the juke joint, they become the target of vampires. Which isn’t a spoiler because it was in the trailer. The concept hooked me in as Ryan Coogler doing a horror movie with Micheal B. Jordan in it was like getting Christmas early. Surprisingly its more than a horror movie as it’s a genre blend of gangster movies with horror movies and a bit of a musical element.
Starting with the positives, I can’t name an actor or actress that doesn’t kill their role. Michael B. Jordan shows how great of an actor he is with his two roles, as Smoke is a more serious character and Stack being a character I got excited seeing on screen due to how funny he can be. Another great acting performance is from Miles Canton with this being his acting debut. I also think others like Hailee Steinfeld, Delroy Lindo and Omar Benson Miller do great jobs too.
Keeping up with positives, Coogler does a great job of blending all these genres together to make none of them feel out of place. There’s also a scene in this movie where his mixes many styles and time periods of music and people to represent the future and past of the culture, and while on paper that scene wouldn’t work in a million years, somehow it gets pulled off in the best possible way. I also really love how Ryan Coogler can make such a prestige movie while also having the movie have such a mainstream appeal. I would also like to point out while there are main characters, this movie gives enough story to the side characters to where you feel like they’re main characters too.
The only negative I have with this movie is the marketing as the vampires would be amazing to have as a surprise. But when you have a movie that blends so many things together, it’s hard to market and vampires is probably the easiest way to make money. But overall, this movie is getting a 5/5 from me as I loved it from beginning to end. I have no complaints and I can’t wait to see what Ryan Coogler does in the future.
