Image courtesy of IMDb
Hello, everyone.
For this review, we’re sticking with horror, but for a very special occasion (and not just the obvious one).
Much like the subject of the previous review, it deals with a type of infection. Thankfully, it’s not a real one, so it’s a threat people are long familiar with, and it’s one that can more easily be handled.
We’re going from viruses to vampires, as I present my review of what is currently my favorite film of the year, which is Ryan Coogler’s Sinners.
Set in 1932, the story follows the Smokestack Twins (aptly named Smoke and Stack), who, upon serving in the mob for seven years in Chicago, come home to Mississippi to establish a juke joint (basically a blues club) for their community.
While they manage to do so, it isn’t long before their big night is put in jeopardy.
What Worked: The cast is phenomenal. It goes without saying that’s how you can describe Michael B. Jordan’s performances in this movie. No, that wasn’t a typo. He plays both twins in the movie, and not once does it feel like novelty being phoned in*. They each have their own distinct personality: Smoke is cautious, whereas Stack is confident.
The same can be said for Hailee Steinfeld, and while she is among a predominantly Black cast, she does not feel out of place, nor does her character Mary.
Before getting back to the established actors, I’m going to take a moment to address the other standout in the movie, and that is newcomer Miles Caton as the Twins’ cousin Sammie. He is so excellent in his debut performance that right off the bat (no pun intended), you’ll be eager to see him in more projects.
The best performance for me other than him and of course Michael B. Jordan was Delroy Lindo as Delta Slim, who they recruit as their pianist. There are times where he is hilarious.
There are three others worth noting here.
The first is Wunmi Mosaku (Deadpool & Wolverine) as Annie, Smoke’s ex-wife, and the second is Jayme Lawson (The Batman**) as Pearline, a singer who Sammie falls in love with. They each get at least one brilliant moment in this, but I can’t really go into them.
The last one worth noting is Jack O’Connell as the main vampire Remmick. He is easily the best villain so far this year, because not only is he intimidating, but he has an understandable motivation.
Now for the technical aspects, which can also each be viewed as characters in their own right, even down to a compelling story.
This is one of the most gorgeously shot movies I have seen all year, if not the most. There are even sequences that were done in IMAX, and you can tell watching it (especially now that it’s on home media, as they did retain those aspect ratio changes). You actually see the screen expand at least twice, but it mainly changes from one ratio to the other.
What is easily the best part of the movie is a sequence where Sammie is on stage, and he does this one particular song. This moment is so impactful it transcends time (both figuratively and literally). It’s so powerful that if there’s one part that really sticks with you, it’s that. What’s even better is that it’s done in one shot.
Speaking of the music, it’s not just the songs that are great.
Ludwig Göransson’s score is excellent, and it’s probably the best since he won his Oscar for Oppenheimer.
It gets even greater once the third act kicks in, and that’s when the vampire lore really comes into play, even if you noticed hints at it prior to that.
The biggest thing that makes this whole movie work is the pacing. It takes the first 40 minutes to establish all the characters, and not one moment of it feels wasted. You grow to care about these people, and so you feel the impact when one of them doesn’t make it out alive.
You also feel the tension, like in one scene reminiscent of a certain John Carpenter movie.
Needless to say, this feels like Ryan Coogler’s most personal project yet, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a crowd-pleaser, it absolutely is, with one of the most satisfying third acts ever.
Overall: Sinners is a perfect example of a “Lightning in a Bottle” movie, as I like to call it, where it has so many things in one movie, and yet all of them work and feel completely organic.
From a perfect cast to a compelling story, and everything in between, this proves that original movies can draw crowds to see them, as long as every part of it is on point, both in front of the camera and behind the scenes.
It accomplished something that very rarely happens even now: Even the word of mouth was there to give it staying power, and it was a huge hit, when not everyone thought it would be.
I’m not the only one who would take vampire twins over a Chicken Jockey any day, I’ll tell you that***.
One more thing: Be sure to stay through the credits.
Next time, we’ll be from a comic book movie director’s latest project to a movie where its main character sounds like he belongs in one.
Happy Halloween, everyone!
*As for how they pulled this off, I’m not going to go into it here to preserve the experience for the readers. Trust me, folks, you’ll want to look it up later, and it’ll blow your mind. In fact, you’d likely want to immediately watch it again, and I wouldn’t blame you.
**Another Halloween choice, ironically enough. I’ll get to that and The Penguin before Part II comes out, don’t worry.
***Yes, folks. You heard me right. It even beat Minecraft in that movie’s third weekend. Everyone thought it would be in first place again, and yet this still beat it.