‘Sinners’: A vampire wants to crash Michael B. Jordan’s party
Cornbread (Omar Miller) isn’t acting like his old self when trying to re-enter the party in Ryan Coogler’s period horror movie “Sinners.”
Give Ryan Coogler a niche movie genre and he’s undoubtedly going to reinvent the thing.
He reinvigorated the boxing drama with “Creed.” He put a signature stamp (twice) on the superhero film with his “Black Panther” outings. So it’s not a surprise that the writer and director does the same with “Sinners” (★★★½ out of four; rated R; in theaters April 18), making vampire movies, gangster flicks and even musical spectaculars his own.
Add in a double dose of Michael B. Jordan, a fabulous debut from Miles Caton, plus sex and gore, and Coogler’s got something devilishly special.
In 1930s Mississippi, twin brothers Smoke and Stack (both Jordan) have returned home from Chicago to buy a sawmill and set up their own juke joint, wanting to fill it with whiskey and Irish beer, paying customers, and plenty of blues. For the latter, they recruit their young cousin Sammie (Caton), sharecropping son of a local preacher, to grab the exquisite resonator guitar they gifted him and entertain the masses. Yet even Stack – the sly and cunning counterpart to the more stoic and serious Smoke – is gobsmacked at just how good Sammie is.
So good, in fact, that he taps into a whole other plane of existence. On the juke’s opening night, Sammie performs a mind-blowing number that transcends space and time: Literally, he’s joined by ancient drummers, a ballerina, a DJ with a turntable and a guitarist with a flying V axe in the film’s wildest, most mystical scene. But it also catches the attention of the red-eyed, impressively fanged Remmick (Jack O’Connell).
Remmick and his fellow bloodsucking Irish musicians want an invite to the party, and unlucky souls, including some of our heroes, are turned into vamps while the rest fight for survival over one very bloody night.
Those just coming for the scary-movie finery need to temper expectations. (It’s way more “Porgy and Bess” than “Lost Boys,” at least early on.) Coogler takes a methodical approach to his world building as well as his dramatis personae. We slowly get to know the Smokestack twins, Sammie, Smoke’s rootworking ex Annie (a great Wunmi Mosaku), Stack’s jilted former lover Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), local bluesman Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo) and others before all hell breaks loose. It’s an excellent mindset for this kind of story: These friends and family grow on us, which makes the later carnage cut that much deeper.
No one mines every inch of Jordan’s considerable talent like his frequent collaborator Coogler. As iconic as Adonis Creed and Erik Killmonger were, the Smokestack twins might have them beat. A lot of urban legend comes with the brothers – from their war record to their dealings with iconic mobsters – and while each rocks their own style, Jordan strongly cements their close connection essentially acting opposite himself. His chemistry with both Mosaku and Steinfeld does wonders fleshing out key backstories for all four characters.
O’Connell is a charismatic menace as the movie’s lead vampire. Coogler in his own stylish way tackles the racism of the time as well as cultural appropriation, and he draws an intriguing contrast between the Black characters’ penchant for the blues and the vamps’ love for a catchy jig. The biggest revelation is Caton, a young musician with a gifted voice and some serious acting chops in his first film role. “Sinners” opens on a scarred, traumatized Sammie, desperately holding on to the remnants of his guitar, and it sets the mood for the next two hours and change.
There’s a lot of movie to be had here, and even when you think it’s over, Coogler is nowhere near done. With “Sinners,” an inimitable auteur makes the most of every surrealist detail and crafts a fright fest that’s musical and meaningful, mesmerizing and memorable.
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