Is it a mystical origin story about the Delta Blues a la Robert Johnson selling his soul at a crossroads? Unfortunately, no.
How about a diabolical feud between African American spirituals and Irish folksongs and their evolutionary ties to the Devil? Nope.
Think From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) disguised in Jim Crow Mississippi—45 minutes of promising setup to nothing more than vampires and the same rules, gore, and predictability that come with them.
Despite Michael B. Jordan’s impressive double performance and the haunting score that drives the anticipatory dread, this genre-jamboree has too much to say without saying much. I immediately thought of Babylon (2022) in which a period piece, musical, satire, and fedora’d gangsters converge in a drunken orgy, and all you get out of it is a hangover. Director Ryan Coogler’s hangover simply adds fangs.
There is a stunning dance scene that echoes Climax (2018) but with a mosaic of African American musicology, myth, and trend. It’s a trip—so out of place and refreshing at the same time. But, where’s Robert Johnson? And, why not just go all the way with the Jimi Hendrix reference? Most importantly, why aren’t we delving further into the seduction and evolution of the blues?
Too soon, the vamp trope enters, and Ryan Coogler’s pet project gets dull. Bad guys are bad, and there is a lot of melee combat. At this point, a statement about racism, music, and American folklore gets lost.
There is always such a thing as too much, including audacity.
Sinners (2025) ** out of *****
Reely Bernie 
I thought Sinners was really well done on a filmmaking level. It’s just the story that I’m still trying to come to terms with. Not because of the vampire twist. Because I wasn’t sure what kind of statement it was trying to make about sin. It’s possible that I just got swept up in the hype and ignored any flaws that I would’ve noticed otherwise. I saw it in IMAX with a predominantly black audience that made the experience much more enjoyable.
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Thanks, MM. If anything, this is a good water cooler convo movie, and I’ve enjoyed hearing younger and older viewer perspectives. For the most part, we agree the film is visually striking with intriguing characters, but any theme, message, or angle gets skewed at the halfway point—not by the redundant vamp trope, but by not following up on the introductory words that music either “brought communities together or conjured evil.” My favorite scene (the juke hall dance scene) tapped into this with a tribute to the blues and its influence, but it didn’t go anywhere else with it. If you think about it, sub-themes in racism, sin, exploitation, drugs and alcohol, and music’s allure all get erased when the “From Dusk Till Dawn” madness arrives. It’s too bad. I thought the movie had a lot more going for it.
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Like you I thought it had an interesting premise, but once the vamps showed up they lost me … annnd, never been a big fan of Michael B Jordan anyway, so no loss there. 😀
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It’s as if it didn’t know what it wanted to be and made itself up through style. The first premise stated that music could create community or be evil, but then you just get vampires who are white and sing Irish music, so is it assumed they are more evil? Or, doesn’t being a vamp kinda void it all because, well, you’re just a vamp? It gets dumber the more I think of it.
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Don’t you find it so damn disappointing when an initially really cool premise then devolves into coasting along the easy way. “Barbarian” did that for me.
Great take as ever, our friend.
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Totally agree, John. And, to make it worse, the younger generations think it’s a masterpiece! It’s all been done before—just costumed in a 30s Mississippi. The movie ticket cinema could do better…
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