Warner Bros. Pictures
Director and Writer Ryan Coogler reunites with his Creed and Black Panther star Michael B. Jordan for Sinners, a movie that is much more than what it appears to be on the surface. And, yes, if you aren’t aware by now this is a rip-roaring, balls to the wall horror film disguised as a drama about sketchy twin brothers.
Those twins, in fact, are played by Jordan. Nicknamed Smoke and Stack — with everyone referring to them as the Smokestack Brothers — their story begins as they return home to Deep South Mississippi of 1932 following a stint in Chicago, their time in the Windy City couched in mystery. They return with pockets full of cash, and a truck filled with Irish beer and Italian wine, with some suggesting the brothers were in the employ of Al Capone … but no one really knows what their story is (and it seems likely, as is hinted at later in the film, that they stole the booze to perhaps start a gang war between the Irish and Italians). All they do know is they have money, and they are waving it around town to employ some of their local friends in their new venture — a juke joint, which they are creating in an old mill that they purchased from a White man (who isn’t as altruistic as he seems).
Drawing their cousin Sammie (newcomer Miles Caton) into their scheme — and learning that not only is he a mean Blues guitar player but a damn good singer as well — they enlist musician Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo), local merchants Bo Chow (Yao) and Grace Chow (Li Jun Li), and Smoke’s baby mama Annie (Wunmi Mosaku) — who knows how to fry some fish and dabbles in the occult with her charms and potions — to get the place set up for a grand opening that same night. Getting drawn in to the mix are a young woman named Pearline (Jayme Lawson), who Sammie takes a shine to and proves she can belt a tune with the best of them, and Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), who had a relationship with Stack but was jilted when he and Smoke left for Chicago (she’s also of mixed race but passes as White, and was set up to marry a White man to keep her safe even though that’s not what she wanted). While everyone is preparing to open Club Juke, a young couple down the road a bit are visited by a mysterious man, apparently suffering some severe burns, who seems to fall out of the sky. He tells them the Indians had captured and tortured him and beg to be let into their home. He is, and when the Indians do arrive, they warn the woman to not let him in their house because he’s not what he seems … which she learns rather quickly. That night as the juke joint is jumping, Sammie begins to play his guitar and sing, demonstrating what the film’s prologue describes about those who have the ability to use music to pierce the veil between the past … and the future (in a scene that becomes a sensory overload fever dream for the audience), figuratively burning the place to the ground. But the music attracts the attention of that mysterious man, Remmick (Jack O’Connell), and the couple from the cabin, who beg for an invitation in. Annie seems to sense something is off and tells doorman Cornbread and the brothers to not let them in. Mary decides to go check out the trio and finds them to be harmless, and when she returns she asks Cornbread to let her in, which he does. After Cornbread leaves his post to take a leak, things become much more serious and terrifying when he asks to be let back in as well. He’s been there all night, so why now all of a sudden does he need an invitation? Things take a horrific turn with Mary and Stack, setting the scene for a terrifying siege at the juke joint.
Sinners starts out as what appears to be a Depression-era drama about two brothers mixed up with big city gangsters, possibly on the run to dispose of the liquor they stole, but also delves into family, the brotherly bond, the pain of losing a child (Smoke and Annie’s baby) and how that changes the dynamic of a relationship, the dynamic of race in the Deep South of that era (which, sadly, is just as pertinent today), religion and the power of music (for all intents and purposes, this is a ‘movie with music’, though not a full-blown musical, where the music is integral to the story) to unite folks of all walks of life. And Coogler just gets is all right, lulling you into the story of not only the twins, but cousin Sammie (aka Preacher Boy because his father is a preacher who warns him ‘if you dance with the Devil, he gonna follow you home’) and his journey as well. And he learns that his father was not just trying to scare him into being a ‘good Christian’. Coogler’s story is mesmerizing in the first half, only giving that one small hint that something terrible is coming, building this world, these characters and these relationships so that when all hell does break loose, we as an audience are invested in the survival of the core group (and this is one of those movies where it’s okay to yell at the screen things like ‘don’t open that door!’ and ‘don’t let him in!’). Each and every member of that core group has a personality and is engaging so that we don’t want to see any of them befall a tragic fate. In addition to his words, Coogler uses his camera — and his film, using actual film and different film stocks instead of shooting digitally — to fully immerse the audience in this world he’s created. The production design is absolute perfection, from the small Southern town to the sprawling cotton fields, to the juke joint itself. Coogler also employs the IMAX aspect ratio at key moments of the film to really make you feel as part of the film, sometimes using quick edits between the widescreen and IMAX aspect ratios to make you gasp, other times allowing the black bars of the widescreen image to slowly open up to the full IMAX frame. It is dizzying at times, but oh so satisfying. During the magical musical number in the club, Coogler combines the visuals with the sound, the music thumping hard enough to make you feel it in your chest, creating a true multi-sensory experience. This is a movie that demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible with an outstanding sound system.
Warner Bros. Pictures
While Coogler’s words and visuals are impactful, neither would be worth a damn if he didn’t have a stellar cast to say those words and deliver the emotions that are required. Coogler has crafted two distinct roles for Jordan and he pulls them off with the greatest skill. Stack is the more hot-headed of the twins, the real brains and driving force behind the operation, the one who brings everything into alignment, but also has to deal with his feelings for Mary after she shows up and then invites herself to the club. He also has a deep love for his brother, and the two share a bond that cannot be broken. On the other side is Smoke, the more soft-spoken of the two, the one who takes Sammie under his wing, and the one who is deeply emotionally damaged by the death of his baby. That pain is put on full display when he pays a visit to the small grave outside Annie’s front door, also showing how those feelings complicate their relationship, even though there is still some deep love between them. Jordan’s performances are masterful, two distinct personalities, deftly acted and skillfully directed by Coogler, with a wonderful assist from the costumers who have created similar but different color-coded outfits for each of them.
The rest of the major cast members are also outstanding. Wunmi Mosaku is the movie’s true heart and soul, the spiritual center of the story whose experience with magic and the supernatural aids the group in fighting the forces that are trying to destroy them all. Her first moments with Jordan’s Smoke when they first reunite are tender and heartaching, but she becomes a force to reckoned with once the terror arrives. Jayme Lawson brings a sultry, sexy innocence to the character of Pearline, fierce enough to shut down Sammie when he’s obviously putting the moves on her in town, cutting loose in the club with a powerful musical performance, letting her guard down with Sammie in the club, and finding herself completely out of her depth as things go off the rails. Delroy Lindo is a bit of comic relief as Delta Slim, easily stealing any scene he’s in. Jack O’Connell is also riveting as Remmick, the Irishman with a not-so-secret secret, easily seducing anyone who will listen to him, unwittingly becoming his prey. And he can dance a mean Irish jig in another of the movie’s feverish musical numbers.
But all of those wonderful actors aside, Coogler has found a star in now 20-year-old newcomer Miles Caton, who draws the audience in with his slow, Southern drawl, the innocent young man who wants to follow in his cousins’ footsteps, who wants to play his music without his father’s judgment bearing down on him, who unleashes not just some ferocious Blues guitar skills (yes, he is actually playing, having learned for the movie), but lets loose a powerful voice that awakens all the ancestors (and yes, he is singing). Caton is just a magnetic presence, and by the end you realize that Sammie has actually been on a hero’s journey from the moment he’s introduced (which is actually almost the end of the story as the movie flashes back a day earlier to lay out all of the groundwork). Hollywood and Broadway should be banging on this young man’s door from this moment forward. (Fact: Caton is a musical prodigy, having attracted the attention of gospel greats, and was invited to join H.E.R. on her tour — before he finished high school — his performance on that tour spotted by someone casting for this film, which was a top secret project at the time.)
Like all of Ryan Coogler’s films, Sinners is multi-layered, an onion that you have to peel back to get to its core — which is a vampire movie. While it definitely has shades of From Dusk ’til Dawn to it — a movie that starts out as one thing and becomes another — it is still wholly original, not based on some other IP, delivering something new and exciting for movie audiences thirsting for something different. It’s very interesting that this film from Warner Bros. is coming out at a time when the studio has proclaimed it is more focused on franchises and commercially viable IPs like Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings (and, in fact, has a new Peter Jackson-fronted LOTR trilogy in the works). Early word for Sinners has been about as good as you can get, with a 99% score on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of this publication, Coogler is proving original films can work if the studios trust their filmmakers, and the early reaction to the film proves that audiences can be energized by a film that has no attachment to anything else, willing to buy tickets to see something new even if they don’t know what it is. A great director and a great cast working from a competently written screenplay can draw in audiences tired of the same old thing. Sinners deserves to be seen by as wide an audience as possible to quell the naysayers (and those who have concerns about the film’s budget and need to hit $300 million to turn a profit, a daunting task considering Marvel’s Thunderbolts* is coming right on its heels). So, movie-goers, this is your chance to show Hollywood that original projects can be a success. Buy tickets to Sinners and fill the cinemas. You will be rewarded in the end.
Sinners has a run time of 2 hours 17 minutes, and is rated R for strong bloody violence, sexual content and language.
Warner Bros. Pictures