Sinners (2025)
I am so torn over this movie. It’s full of life and unabashedly horny. It’s paced amazingly well for the first 90 minutes and is an incredible period piece up until it blows its load. I was completely looped into the town drama and the gang getting back together. I cared immensely about all the tidbits of backstory I was being fed and seriously could have just watched this as a drama instead of a grindhouse movie.
This thing just completely folds with every piece of vampire foreshadowing and the eventual vampire load busting. It’s hard to even compare it to dusk till dawn due to the framing device of the movie, paired with how Coogler straight up shows the vampires an hour before the reveal. It looms over the whole movie and is so distracting when you’re trying to get lost in this period and all these characters. Once the action starts, the expert pacing is completely thrown out the window and it felt like I was watching a John Carpenter movie condensed into a 20 minute tiktok.
Thematically I think it’s very messy. Coogler has important things to say about cultural assimilation, the loss of individual cultures when forced into the American melting pot. But this is a really complicated issue in the movie and real life and I don’t think they stick the landing in making anything poignant from it. It’s hard to even see this as an issue when the literal KKK rolls up to non metaphorically murder and steal from these people. Even more so with sharecroppers doing the same thing on a systematic level in the background of the film. By the time the movie hits its 3rd ending in a row the message has become completely muddled. I can give some credit to the constant setbacks establishing the idea that these numerous antagonists really hammered in that there was no possible way for Black men to succeed when the cards were stacked against them.
I do think this movie sticks the landing on being an insanely heartfelt love letter to blues music and the influences it had on American culture. The standout scene of the movie clearly being preacherboy’s first show. Bridging the gap between the cultural origins of the music, blues legends like Buddy Guy, and the music we have today.
All in all I wish this had just been a solid period piece. Focusing on the musical themes that were the strongest parts of the film. It has a good heart to it and I loved spending time with the characters. I only gripe because I think this 2.5/5 could have easily been 5/5 with some focus.