Welcome back movie club members! This week, I saw Ryan Coogler’s Sinners starring Michael B. Jordan and Hailee Steinfeld. One of the higher rated original projects I’ve seen in a few years, it certainly had a lot of hype. In my opinion, it was deserved, and this was excellent. Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan are on a Scorsese/De Niro run right now. Creed,Black Panther, now Sinners all in the last ten years as box office hits. They’re both young too, there’s a good chance we get projects featuring those two for decades to come. Let’s dive into it!

This is a horror/thriller featuring two black twin brothers coming back to their rural Mississippi hometown after spending years working for Capone’s gang in Chicago. Both are played by Michael B. Jordan. Smoke is the alpha of the two, and Stack is usually the follower. This is an eerie movie, tension always kept high, but the action doesn’t start for an hour or so. The two brothers buy an abandoned cotton mill from a KKK leader with the hopes of opening up a juke bar.  They recruit their old friends and family and invite everyone from town. Stack’s ex-girlfriend, Mary, is played by Hailee Steinfeld and shows up uninvited. She ends up being welcomed anyways since she is close with most of the patrons.

A wounded man approaches a couple at nearby house, they welcome him in and help him. A group of native American law enforcement officers show up looking for the man, telling the woman that he is dangerous. When they leave, the man’s eyes go red, and he “kills” the two people of the house. The party starts up, and the dangerous man along with the two people he killed show up to the Juke looking for entry. Mary goes out to vet them and is attacked. She shows back up to the party as if normal but kills Stack while they hook up in a side room. Smoke empties his pistol into her, and she flies away unharmed. They mourn Smoke until he re-incarnates and tries to kill them. Smoke’s old girlfriend throws pickled garlic on Stack as he flees. Turns out, the bad guys are vampires.

Most of the party is attacked and turned, leaving a group of 6 or 7 to defend the juke. A massive battle ensues, with only Smoke and his cousin Sammie surviving. As day breaks, they kill the remaining vampires. Sammie goes back to his family and sets off on a jazz career in Chicago. Smoke waits as the KKK who sold him the property come back with an army to kill him. Smoke kills them all and the movie ends as he dies as well. Sammie is the only survivor, they flashforward to an older version of him playing Jazz in a sold-out club.

This movie was some high-level filmmaking. I don’t really enjoy horror movies, I think scaring people for an emotional response is a cheap trick. However, when they stay more in the “thriller” genre, it is incredibly captivating. The cinematography here was excellent, the film looked great and used the scenery to tell more of a story than words could. The sound was elite as well. Maybe I just like jazz, but this sounded great, and the soundtrack was awesome. I didn’t even see the vampire twist coming, that was fun. The acting was superb, this was incredibly tense and didn’t feel like a 2+ hour movie. 

I’m glad I gave this a chance, and the reviews seem to hold up in my opinion. Anyone who is a fan of horror or thrillers will love this, even those who aren’t will appreciate the art of a movie like this. I can’t wait for whatever Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan do next, they’ve become appointment cinema. My score for Sinnersis 8.6/10, this Is currently the highest rated movie I’ve seen his year.  Thanks for reading, see you next time!