ABC News
[ Source: ABC ]
Sinners, the latest film from Ryan Coogler (Black Panther), is a lot of things: a scorching southern gothic, an irresistible vampire tale and a ravishing period drama. But at its most electrifying — and unexpected — it is also, arguably, a musical.
Detractors of that genre shouldn’t let that keep them away. It’s but one element of a giddily ambitious, boundary-defying film with ideas to burn. Characters don’t spontaneously break out into song and dance; rather, the film’s themes of temptation and assimilation (stalwarts of the vampire genre) are expressed through the lilting rhythms of the blues, with musical performances silkily threaded through the narrative.
As the first entirely original film written and directed by Ryan Coogler, Sinners thrums with the unruly spirit of someone finally bursting free of the franchise blockbuster death spiral.
After stealing the show as revolutionary Erik Killmonger in Black Panther (and a brief cameo in its sequel), Michael B. Jordan’s fifth collaboration with Coogler sees him finally return to the centre of the frame, pulling double duty as gangster twins, Smoke and Stack.
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