‘Sinners’ review: A new ‘dawn’ for Ryan Coogler

The writer/director re-teams with Michael B. Jordan for a simmering, gory thriller about different kinds of demons in Sinners.

You might remember Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn. The 1996 flick is best known for starting as an edgy crime thriller before making an abrupt turn into a horror movie about vampires. To get to those fanged freaks, you first have to sit through George Clooney (then a charming TV doctor on ER) trying hard to play a loose-canon criminal before he found his true onscreen swagger and Quentin Tarantino (who also wrote the screenplay) gnaw your ear off every time he has dialogue. Though not a terrible movie, From Dusk Till Dawn is unfocused, tonally askew, a bit sloppy, and very immature. Now if any of those traits would steer you away from a movie about brothers fighting off vampires in a nightclub, fear not, because Ryan Coogler (Creed, Black Panther) made a much better version of it called Sinners.

It’s 1932 in Clarksdale, Mississippi, home of twin brothers Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan in both roles). After doing dirty deeds for big cash in Chicago, the brothers want to open their own club with imported booze and swinging blues for all the townsfolk picking cotton and trading wooden nickels. They recruit their cousin, preacher’s son/budding bluesman Sammie (Miles Caton), aging piano player Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo), spiritualist Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), and local shopkeepers Bo and Grace (Yao and Li Jun Li) to help their opening night run smooth. Despite a run-in with Stack’s ex, Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), the juke joint comes alive as a safe haven for the Delta’s disenfranchised. That is until three mysterious white travelers (Peter Dreimanis, Lola Kirke, and Jack O’Connell) want to be let in for a little fun. And by fun, they mean chomping at everyone until they all turn into bloodsucking monsters.

The devil is in the details.

Let’s get the From Dusk Till Dawn comparisons out of the way. While not a one-to-0ne copy, Coogler’s main framework is very similar to Tarantino’s: two ne’er-do-well brothers go to a bar off the beaten path with booze and music swelling through the night when suddenly, vampires appear and wreak havoc. That’s not the only influence in Sinners, as Coogler’s patient pacing and smooth camera movement harken back to John Carpenter’s best work in Halloween, The Fog, and The Thing (but not Vampires, thank God).

Sinners has the pulpy premise (and the gore) of a fun B-movie that Coogler and his team elevate to a slick, spooky, and occasionally gorgeous level. Much of the daytime scenes feature the crisp Mississippi sky captured by cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever). When night rolls around, editor Michael P. Shawver (A Quiet Place: Part II) kicks the horror into high gear with sharp cuts between vampire attacks that make for effective jump scares. Selling the scares and softer moments is another excellent score from Ludwig Göransson (Oppenheimer) mixing southern blues with his usual sweeping orchestral work. In a crowd-pleasing and storytelling sense, Coogler and crew are firing on all cylinders.

Coogler’s time doing blockbusters didn’t weaken his penchant for characters with rich emotional backstory. The Smoke-Stack twins are a perfect yin and yang with story arcs that stay engaging before the sight of sharp teeth. Coogler doesn’t skimp on supporting characters, with Sammie and Annie as the grounding human elements that further illustrate the twins. What makes Sinners smarter than the average fright fest is history. Coogler mixes everything from the mythic folklore of musicians singing to the beyond, to the degradation of minorities in the Delta to show people in a constant battle for freedom. Sometimes that’s on Earth, other times it’s from the demons below. There are moments of true liberation, especially in a transcendent scene with Sammie singing while Black (and Asian) cultural elements from the past, and future swirl around him. Sinners is exceptional entertainment, but there’s plenty more if you look (and listen) closer.

Sinners and swingers.

Not every director needs a singular star to make their movie soar, but it helps to have one like Jordan. You can tell Coogler and Jordan work closely, with the writer/director mapping out specific tics for each twin and the actor giving each of them real energy. Whether it’s Smoke’s stern poise hiding a deep pain in his heart or Stack’s silver tongue that can close any deal (besides his one with Mary), Jordan nails both personas and somehow splits himself into two electric performances. He brings a bulletproof screen presence and knows exactly when to let his guard down to show how even double the amount of machismo can still have soft spots. 

Despite Jordan’s beaming star power, Smoke and Stack may not actually be the center of Sinners. That distinction goes to Sammie via an exceptional debut performance from Caton. The newcomer is the first face we see in the movie, providing an innocence and conflict that sets the tone for the rest of the show. Caton’s performance brings true human light to the horror and dark undertones throughout Sinners, along with an incredibly soulful voice during the musical segments. If Jordan is the movie’s beating heart that gives it true propulsion, Caton is the soul that makes sure the audience never forgets its hopeful humanity.

The rest of the supporting cast is more than capable. Even in a minor role, Lindo remains a captivating personality in his towering stance and gritty cadence. Mosaku is another grounding force for the story and has a very warm chemistry with Jordan as Smoke’s former lover. O’Connell makes for a seething villain, especially when he sprouts the ghoulish vampire teeth and claws (props to the makeup team, as well). Surprisingly, the only one who doesn’t work here is Steinfeld as the Southern belle trying to remind Stack where he came from. Steinfeld is a capable actress, no doubt, but she looks slightly out of place in both the early human drama and when she dons fangs. No matter how confident she sounds in her flimsy Southern accent, Steinfeld looks like a kid that got dragged to a grown-up’s swingers party.

The bottom line.

Sinners is a near-perfect synthesis of B-movie thrills and layered character drama. Coogler is at the top of his game both as a writer and a filmmaker in an environment without the restraints of IP management and CGI dependency. Sinners feels real, which is crazy to say about a movie with vampires, but everyone in front of and behind the camera put their emotions at the forefront. Even if there are hints of other movies in this one’s DNA, Coogler doesn’t imitate, but learns from their mistakes and fixes them by making a more human experience. Sinners represents what Hollywood blockbusters could (and should) be. Hopefully Hollywood catches up before the sun sets on smart show business. 

Sinners is now playing in theaters everywhere. Watch the trailer here.

Images courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. Read more articles by Jon Winkler here.