There's no doubt that Ryan Coogler is the king of the summer blockbuster.
The director (Creed, Black Panther) returns to theaters with an original vampire period piece, Sinners, and once again shows why he is one of the best and most exciting filmmakers working today.
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Sinners takes place over one hot day and night in the Mississippi Delta in 1932. Two twin brothers, Smoke and Stack Moore (both played by Michael B. Jordan), round up a group of old friends to help open up a juke joint in their community after returning from working in Chicago for Al Capone.
The twins recruit their cousin, Sammie (Miles Caton), to come play guitar alongside local music legend Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo), while Smoke's ex-wife Annie (Wunmi Mosaku) cooks, local Chinese grocers Grace and Bo supply the party, and fieldworker Cronbread (Omar Miller) works as a bouncer. Stacks' ex-girlfriend, Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), who can pass as white, also joins, as does Pearline (Jayme Lawson), a married woman who sings and flirts with Sammie.
Unfortunately, these reunions are cut short when Remmick, a powerful Irish vampire played by a menacingly charming Jack O'Connell, hears the music, and knowing it can summon spirits of the past and future, wants to make Sammie a member of his coven.
Soon, the celebration is turned into a slaughter, as members of the party are slowly turned into vampires and start to kill off the other party-goers.
The first half of the film is a slow burn sizzle like a smooth southern drawl, but then, with one sentence shouted by Grace, the film picks up like a firework show on the Fourth of July.
Perhaps the most satisfying scene in the film doesn't even involve vampires, though, as Smoke and Stack bought their new juke joint from a member of the Ku Klux Klan who plans on showing up at the end of the party and slaughtering every Black person still there.
Instead, he and his cronies are met by bullets from Michael B. Jordan's guns, in a shootout that will have audiences hooting and hollering in theaters.
There's always been something inherently queer about vampires. That doesn't go away in Sinners, as Remmick tries to seduce Sammie into his coven — offering him power, immortality, and freedom from racism.
These vampires also have a mind connection, where they learn language, skills, feelings, and details from others who have been recently turned, making the coven into one big connected family.
Sinners is a beautiful tribute to community, music, and culture, and there's a stunning musical scene in the middle that brings together African music, Jim Crow era Blues, hip-hop, rock, and a dozen other musical genres spanning hundreds of years into one sexy, scintillating, and staggeringly brilliant performance.
Sinners also puts a new, interesting spin on the vampire mythos, connecting it to race and ethnicity. Remmick is an Irish immigrant, so like the Black stars of the movie, he also feels a strong connection to his culture and has faced discrimination because of his ethnicity. He even uses this connection to try to convince people to let him turn them.
However, he is still white, and he's not above using his whiteness and the color of his enemies to his advantage. In the end, he's just another white man trying to force people of color into his way of life.
Michael B. Jordan is a double powerhouse, demanding attention in every scene and making two murderous criminals into some of the most charming men on the silver screen. The rest of the cast is also terrific, with Steinfeld clearly having a great time getting to play a Black character for the first time in her career (her grandfather was Black and Filipino), and Mosaku and Lawson making the film ten times sexier than it already would have been.
Sinners is a special movie. It's not only one of the most fun and inventive blockbusters in a while, but it also has real meat on its bones. This is a movie packed with both entertainment value and messages.
We give Sinners a seductive, sultry, and explosive five out of five stars.
Sinners is now playing in theaters.
