Though highly praised and filled to the brim with intrigue, “Sinners” does not realize its full potential as a film.
Ryan Coogler’s filmography has been one of the most consistently interesting ones in recent years. While not all of his films have been inherent successes, he does an excellent job of bringing larger than life characters and intellectual properties as a whole down to a more nuanced level. There is a universality present in each of his films that highlights the humanity of what would otherwise be rather drab and derivative. His latest film, “Sinners,” while flawed, is no exception.
“Sinners” follows twin brothers Smoke and Stack, both brought to life by a dual Michael B. Jordan performance, as they return to their home in 1930s Mississippi. They attempt to establish a juke joint, and amidst their collective efforts to throw an all-timer celebration, the night is cut short by evil forces.
Shot with 70 millimeter IMAX film cameras, the coverage of “Sinners,” while visually appealing, felt underserved. There are numerous scenes where I was impressed by the visuals themselves but struggled to realize how they related to the plot or themes. While I was astonished on some level, I never found myself getting swept up emotionally.
The most notable aspect of the film was the score composed by Ludwig Goransson. Music plays a huge part in the lives of these characters and within the story as a whole, and Goransson does an excellent job in relaying this impact.
Despite the disappointment of the film format’s execution, there are undeniably a handful of deeply inspired moments that impressed me but nothing quite to the level of what the masses on the internet had led me to believe.
My biggest issue with the film was the narrative structure itself. Throughout the film’s nearly two and a half hour runtime, I could not shake the feeling that what was presented on the screen felt like a shell of a better film. Coogler spends an exceedingly long amount of time setting up the characters and their backstories at the expense of meaningfully connected storylines.
While the performances are solid across the board, with newcomer Miles Canton and seasoned actor Delroy Lindo as the standouts, I found myself feeling rather distant from them and their journeys. The screenplay often treats them as archetypes instead of characters with depth.
Above all else, Coogler does a great job at building tension and setting the stage for exciting moments, despite some of the film’s other shortcomings. I only wish that the moments he built toward were more notable. The film builds towards what it believes to be a truly epic standoff between good and evil, but the eventual culmination of these ideas is ultimately resolved rather quickly. While filled to the brim with thematically rich ideas, the film is pulled in too many different directions for any of those ideas to be effectively expanded upon.
It wasn’t until the film’s final moments where many of the themes present suddenly clicked into place for me. At that point, however, it was nearly too late to have much of an effect. Perhaps this could make for a more interesting rewatch, but for now, the message felt a bit hollow.
While “Sinners” is a technically proficient thriller in many ways, the film clearly strives for something deeper and the final result does not live up to its own expectations. Regardless, I believe the film is worth viewing, and I look forward to seeing what Coogler and his team produce next.
“Sinners” is now playing in theaters worldwide.
