In a year in which very few movies have done well at the theaters, one genre has proven to be resilient and reliable when it comes to making a profit at the box office. Horror movies tend to be relatively cheap to make, and those that get popular often make back the costs very quickly; just ask the Terrifier filmmakers how profitable those have been. Sinners had a much bigger budget than any of the Terrifier films, but it still made a substantial profit at the box office this year due to being extremely popular with the general public, and it managed to stay number 1 for several weekends while it competed with other films that were expected to do well. I, as usual, was more than willing to wait for it to come to home streaming before I jumped on board.

Pros

First half has solid dialogue with a lot of “show, don’t tell” characterization
Many scenes are shot well and are visually interesting; the scene involving dancing and music from different cultures and time periods is the centerpiece example
Good acting from the cast
Soundtrack matches the quality one would expect of a movie that has music as its focus in its story

Cons

Gets less interesting when the horror hits; messy, with contrived moments that require a lot of suspension of disbelief
Strange editing choices that undercut the tension or don’t necessarily justify their existence
Could have been shorter

Plot & Thoughts

Sinners opens with a short narration over some animation that suggests the musical bards of various cultures throughout history had an important role in their societies, because they had a mystical power to protect the people from forms of evil. It then cuts to Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1932, focusing on a young man named Sammie (Miles Caton), driving a car up to a church. He’s got torn clothes that are covered in blood and the broken neck of a guitar. He walks into the church and is met by his pastor father (Saul Williams), who tells him to repent and reject the music of the Blues. This is a completely superfluous scene that could have been cut because it adds nothing and could have just been told later when the scene makes sense chronologically, without sacrificing the tension regarding Sammie’s survival of the previous night.

Moving on, it jumps back to a day earlier to a secluded meeting between a white businessman, Hogwood (Dave Maldonado), and well-dressed twin brothers, Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan). After a bit of a back and forth, suggesting the presence of the Ku Klux Klan, the brothers purchase the old millhouse with the intent to transform it into a nightclub. The brothers then pick up their cousin, Sammie, and set forth to gather various people from Clarksdale to work at the nightclub, including old friends, ex-lovers, and local businesses. Oh, by the way, there’s a vampire on the loose, recruiting his own group of followers.

My pun for the review name is meant to suggest two things. We’ll get to the “yawn” part later, but the main point is that Sinners is, structurally, very comparable to the 1996 vampire action film directed by Robert Rodriguez, From Dusk Till Dawn. If you haven’t seen it, From Dusk Till Dawn is a wild ride of a vampire film. It starts with a relatively serious tone, following two criminals who kidnap a family to get across the US/Mexico border. It’s all very grounded and has nothing to do with the undead in the first half. Then, the tone completely shifts into over-the-top horror when they arrive at a Mexican bar and have to fend off hordes of vampires. While there is some tongue-in-cheek humor and random funny moments, the movie’s tone is relatively solemn in the first half, and then goofy and fun horror later. Sinners is similar in how the first half has a certain artistic tone, and then the vampire freight train hits, and the tone completely shifts.

Despite being a horror fan, I definitely prefer the first half of Sinners before the vampires start interfering with the plot. Why? The first two acts are much more structurally sound, with some good dialogue and characterization. There are numerous instances in which things are left unsaid for the audience to infer, or actors are allowed to convey ideas in a way that is more effective than words. A lot of praise can be leveled at Michael B. Jordan’s performance for this because of how he effectively plays two identical characters with distinct personalities, which forces him to emote a lot more.

Smoke is the more serious brother who is determined to get his business going and isn’t afraid to cross the law in the process. When he goes into town with the truck full of liquor he plans to serve at the club, and he visits the store to supply food and paint a sign for the venue, he notices some men stealing from his truck. Without hesitation, he shoots one in the leg and then the other individual in the leg to quickly let them know he is not messing around. He knows these guys, too! It’s a scene that is somewhat playful with Smoke’s actions, but it establishes that he is a violent man, which is juxtaposed with his next scene. He visits his old lover, Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), with whom he had a child who passed away. His main goal is to get her to cook at the venue, but that doesn’t stop them from reigniting their love for each other in that moment.

Meanwhile, Stack is the less serious brother who is more than happy to jive with the local townsfolk, playfully insulting them or complimenting them in a way that best suits the moment. There’s a friendlier camaraderie between him and Sammie, especially when Sammie plays some music in front of him. Stack’s expression of surprise and excitement at the prospect of such talent at his club is immediately understood and simply priceless. While the two of them are out recruiting people to work at the club, an old fling of Stack’s shows up and gives him an earful about how he left her and what her life has been like since he was gone, yet you can tell that there is still something stirring between them through how they share certain looks.

A lot of effort is made to establish the twin brothers and how they’re distinct from each other without losing the similarities they’re supposed to have. Through dialogue, we vaguely learn of their criminal past in Chicago and the motivations each one has. Smoke is focused on starting a successful business, while Stack is more concerned with creating a long-lasting establishment that the community wants, which is demonstrated in how Stack accepts the wooden coins of a plantation worker against Smoke’s protests. The movie is trying to tell a story between these characters while also establishing a focus on the culture of Black people living in the South in the 1930s, and I think it’s relatively successful.

Part of what makes the first half work so well in terms of establishing that cultural tone is the focus on music. The origin of the Blues genre of music is deep within the Southern Black community of America, and it’s used to great effect in Sinners to highlight the importance of music in a culture. It’s even suggested to be a competing force with faith in the scenes in which Sammie interacts with his pastor father. This is only a small element of Sinners, as it chooses to focus more on the music side, especially when the nightclub opens. When the lights go on, the aspect ratio of the film changes, and the music picks up, leading into a scene that many have pointed out as a big highlight of the film, in which different dancers and musicians throughout history dynamically come in and out of the long shot. While the musicians and dancers are not physically there, the influence of their style is a visual and auditory metaphor for what the movie is showcasing. It’s a great artistic scene and serves as the peak moment of the film.

Now it’s time to get to the “yawn” part of the review. While the first half of Sinners is an interesting and visually impressive character drama/period piece, the latter portion, in which it becomes a horror movie, is where the film takes a nosedive. It’s not abysmal, as the makeup effects and acting are still good, but all the charm of the first two acts is lost as characters die off and a vampire horde quickly grows from the various patrons of the club being killed as they leave. Following the rule of a vampire being unable to enter without an invitation (most of the time), the survivors could easily last through the night till dawn, but that would be boring! Rather than come up with a real, legitimate reason to put everyone at risk, the filmmakers decided a character should do something stupid, at which point I rolled my eyes and said, “Come on!” When the vampires start attacking the remaining survivors, all of the seemingly normal citizens of the small community become rather effective vampire killers for a little while as well. Some of them just happen to understand what a vampire is and the rules regarding them, which is something I wouldn’t expect random people in the South in 1932 to know with such certainty, but maybe they all saw the Bela Lugosi film the previous year.

The final act is just all very clunky and convenient for the sake of tension, making it feel rushed and almost pointless. As the important characters die off or become vampires, not enough time is given to many of the scenes to breathe and absorb the emotions of the moment. The characters that become vampires also lose the personalities that made them stand out, so they become part of the horde figuratively and literally. It might be intentional, but that’s the downside to a movie like this. It works a little better in From Dusk Till Dawn because when the horror hits, things get sillier and less serious; the lack of the bitter moments in which characters mourn each other is less noticeable. Sinners gets more serious with the arrival of the vampires and, surprisingly, ends up being less interesting as a result. I may be in the minority with my opinion, but if I were to watch it again, I’d probably turn it off after the song and dance scene.

TL;DR

While Sinners starts out strong, it doesn’t quite stick the landing, with the opening acts of the film being far stronger. It’s got a great artistic style, a strong soundtrack, compelling dialogue, a solid cast, and a memorable scene that is visually impressive. The characters and their stories are interesting, and they could have worked in a film that wasn’t compelled to include a vampire storyline. Sinners is worth a watch, but not necessarily a rewatch.

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