I love Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan, and it really goes back to their collaboration on CREED. No movie has stirred my emotions in the past decade as much as CREED. I laughed, I cried, and I got pumped up even though I watched the film in the theater by myself. I would go on to tell every person I knew that they had to see the film. I couldn’t imagine that any other combination of writer, director or actor could have created a better continuation of the world that began with Stallone’s original story. CREED is a classic of its own as far as I’m concerned. 

I had not heard about SINNERS until Arleigh shared the trailer here on The Shattered Lens a couple of weeks ago. That’s when I saw that it was a Ryan Coogler film starring Michael B. Jordan. That caught my interest even though I didn’t stop and actually watch the trailer as I was in the crunch of tax season. And then Leonard dropped a review of the film on April 17th.

I don’t go to the theater often these days but I decided that I just had to see the film over the Easter weekend. I talked Sierra into going with me on Saturday morning, and all I told her was that it is a vampire movie from the guy who did CREED. I purposely read nothing else about the film because I know that Coogler and Jordan make magic on the screen when they work together. I didn’t want anything else influencing my initial experience with the film in any way. 

Rather than spend any time on the plot of the film, I just wanted to spend a little time talking about how the movie made me feel. First, watching Michael B. Jordan interpret the Smoke-Stack characters in such different ways was pure joy for me. Any person who has read my articles knows that I have a tendency to obsess over the actors I really like. I don’t believe there is an actor under 40 years of age that enjoy watching perform more than Jordan. I’ll watch anything he does throughout his career. Second, there is something so interesting about Miles Caton in the part of the singer and guitarist Sammie Moore, aka Preacher Boy. That deep voice of his almost didn’t seem to go with those fresh face features. I can see why the other characters reacted to his singing and playing the way they did because the man has real talent. I was surprised that this was his first film based on the confidence he carried throughout. Third, it’s always fun to see Delroy Lindo in any role. Fourth, I liked the relationship between Smoke and Annie (Wunmi Mosaku). When I first saw Annie standing in the doorway and looking at him by the small grave, my first inclination would not have been that those two had been in a relationship together and that he was at the grave of their child. To me it was a nice surprise that the painful history being shown was shared between those two and that they still loved each other. I also really wished I could try her fried catfish. I also liked certain aspects of some of the other characters including Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), the Chow family and Cornbread. 

The music is incredible in SINNERS. I won’t pretend to be an expert on the blues, but I know what I like, and I liked what I heard. I’ve always been a fan of the movie CROSSROADS with Ralph Macchio and Joe Seneca. Both movies are in awe of the power of the blues, and I was somewhat surprised that Ryan Coogler’s “vampire movie” was showing such an interest in the music as a character and not just a soundtrack. I liked the scene where Stack introduces Miles to Lindo’s character Delta Slim. I like the music at the juke joint, and the out of left field trip through the musical decades was a unique and powerful choice that showed a director not afraid to go wherever his intuition takes him. My “joint” would probably feature country music, but I’ve always said I can like any music as long as it’s good. The music in SINNERS is great. 

I will say that the things that interested me the most, mainly the development of the characters, took a back seat once the vampires were revealed. I wanted to get to know these characters even more. The action was well filmed and there were some surprises along the way, but once the vampires emerged, I felt like I was watching a movie I had seen before. Even though it was extremely well done, the film’s special quality seemed a little less. With that said, Smoke’s late stand against the Klan was exciting and emotionally satisfying.

Overall, I would give SINNERS a solid 4 stars out of 5 based on my initial viewing. I will revisit the movie at some point, but I’m letting the film seep into my bones at the moment. Coogler seems to be a filmmaking genius and I haven’t stopped thinking about his latest movie over the last few days. I have a feeling this movie will continue to grow on me with repeated viewings.