Director and actor duo Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan have given audiences a new thrilling cinematic experience with their latest film Sinners.
Coogler is one of the most popular directors in Hollywood and rightfully deserves all of his notoriety but it did feel like his filmography was missing a film like this; a film that truly allows us to see what he can work with from the ground up and without restraint.
While Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever are enjoyable films, the potential of those stories was somewhat limited, due to them having to fit into the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe.
A similar concept can be applied to Coogler’s boxing drama Creed, which is a fantastic film that took influence from the previous films in the Rocky series when it came to telling its story.
Seeing Coogler’s unrestricted vision on the screen in Sinners felt so refreshing as you can feel how much he poured his heart into the film. It’s impossible to not feel immersed in this film’s 1930s Clarksdale, Mississippi setting and while the set design is great, the performances are what make this world so captivating.
Michael B. Jordan delivers what might be a career-best performance in this film, playing the two brothers Smoke and Stack. The writing gives these twins distinctly different personalities but Jordan’s performance really helps the viewer buy into these characters and not just see the Hollywood superstar playing them.
His performance could easily have been unintentionally funny or awkward but he stepped up to the task and put something truly special on the screen.
Ludwig göransson, another one of Coogler’s frequent collaborators, really ties this world together with his score for this film. The music gives this film a warm but simultaneously haunting atmosphere.
The horror genre has been known to be used for social commentary and Sinners is another brilliant example of how it can be used to speak on social issues in an engrossing fashion.
Kennedy Parker, a second-year animal science student at N.C. A&T shared her thoughts on the story in Sinners.
“You can pull so much from this movie and that’s kind of rare with movies nowadays,” Parker said.
This film’s messaging can be interpreted in a variety of ways but one of the widely agreed-upon interpretations of the plot is that Coogler uses vampires in this film to symbolize non-black people who seek to be in primary black spaces to exploit or dilute the cultural richness within those communities.
Sinners portrays this idea in a very compelling way as it keeps it entertaining but doesn’t give the audience the option to ignore the cultural aspects of the narrative.
The portrayal of black culture in this film is some of the most powerful that I’ve seen in recent memory. In its first half, Sinners wants the audience to know how valuable black culture is and then the film goes on to show why it must be protected.
The latter half of the film, while still having some great moments, is somewhat messy compared to the first as certain character moments aren’t given enough time to have a fulfilling emotional effect.
“I like the first half more than the second half… I like the build up more” said N.C. A&T second- year journalism student Tre Lucky.
That being said, the film’s more disjointed aspects does work in its favor at times, as it adds to the chaotic nature of the film’s second half.
Sinners is one of the best blockbusters to be released this decade and a spectacle that should be seen in a theater. It’s a gripping and atmospheric labor of love that stands out amongst its horror and IMAX blockbuster contemporaries.
