Review: ‘Sinners’ delivers salvation

Evil comes in all shapes and sizes, concealed in human form or radiating from genuinely wicked people. No one asks to confront the monsters that enter their lives, but defeating them can serve as a rite of passage — even if the path revealed varies for each individual. Whether by chance or circumstance, the unlucky ones are tested more than once by different malevolent forces and each time they emerge, they’re faced with the choice of walking away stronger or more afraid. Sinners depicts the clash between humans and monsters seeking escape from a cruel world.

The Smoke-Stack twins (Michael B. Jordan in dual roles) have returned to Mississippi after trying their hands at life in Chicago. But they’ve come back with the means to make their dream of opening a juke joint come true. Flashing rolls of cash, Smoke and Stack recruit old friends for a grand opening the same night they secure the location. The entertainment will be provided by their younger, blues-strumming cousin Sammie (Miles Caton) and local music legend, Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo). Of course, returning after such a long absence has its complications, including reunions with the women they left behind (Wunmi Mosaku and Hailee Steinfeld) and quick-spreading gossip, but there’s one hitch they couldn’t account for that will turn their ambitions into a nightmare.

It’s telling that writer-director Ryan Coogler’s first original story has two significantly different acts, but still ekes out a recognizable level of cohesion. The way the narrative unfolds recalls the split felt in Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s From Dusk till Dawn, which adopts a wholly different mood the moment they arrive at the isolated Mexican bar. Based on the opening half, this film could have just as easily been about small-time gangsters crossing the wrong people and getting their comeuppance during their club’s opening night.

Instead, the juke joint is turned into a slaughterhouse as the revellers’ enjoyment is cut short by a vampire attracted to Sammie’s transcendent talent. It’s at this time that the movie enters Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight territory with the walls of the old saw mill becoming the only things that stand between the survivors and the monsters compelling them to join the eternally blissful hive.

This is not the movie most people will expect. The torn flesh and ghastly amounts of blood confirm it is most definitely a horror movie, but the first half of the picture focuses on building the characters, and establishing a connection between them and the audience. The bond between the twin brothers is central to the narrative and Coogler clearly wanted to test their connection as it’s first strained by real-world disagreements then monstrously exasperated by the vampires.

He does not serve up a group of soulless victims to simply spill their blood and rack up the body count. Coogler ensures viewers know these people, their histories, their struggles and their loves before any of them become casualties, even using previously unseen flashbacks to underscore their loses. Audiences will feel connected to these characters not only through their stories but their songs, which are stirring and overflowing with emotion, amounting to an enthralling soundtrack.

Music is at the film’s heart and is the basis of an old folktale that serves as the narrative’s foundation, telling of generations of musicians whose songs can breach the veil. Set in the South, blues is obviously prominent throughout the picture, but there’s also folk music and breathtaking choreography that draws viewers into the screen with its rhythmic movements. Even Caton’s first performance at the juke is goosebump-inducing.

The cast is brimming with talent from seasoned Jordan playing the identical twins and providing each with a distinct personality to the newcomer Caton whose musical prowess takes scenes to the next level. Jack O’Connell portrays the vampire leader, saying all the right things to convince people to lower their defences, while also contributing to the soundtrack with more traditional folk songs and an enchanting bonfire ritual that impresses his character’s unnaturally advanced age and insatiable longing.

There are clearly increased tensions as the white vampires attempt to infiltrate the black establishment, which is an inescapable characteristic of the 1930s American South. But those hostilities inspire a secondary ending that, while appropriate, was not essential to the story. Conversely, audiences should be sure to stay for not only the amorally heartwarming mid-credit sequence, but also a post-credit performance.

Director: Ryan Coogler
Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Miles Caton and Wunmi Mosaku