[Sinners | New Trailer Coming Soon clip]
Written and directed by Black Panther and Creed director Ryan Coogler, Sinners is taking the box office by storm. Raking in $42.6 million opening weekend—and now well above $70 million and climbing—the film is an undeniable success.
[Sinners | Tickets On Sale | In Theaters April 18 clip]
Set in the 1930s south during the Jim Crow era, Sinners involves everything from guitar riffs to vampires to the KKK. In the film, Michael B. Jordan stars as a pair of twins named Smoke and Stack, who return to their hometown in the delta after an unsuccessful stint in Chicago. Their goal: set up a lively juke joint the night of their return and make bank. But, the plan goes awry when vampires begin to lay siege to the establishment.
[Sinners | Official Trailer clip]
One might assume: “A film involving vampires and guitar riffs cannot possibly take itself that seriously.” Wrong. Sinners knows exactly how to ride the line—or, lines, I guess—of comedy, drama, action, horror, and fantasy. It has the reviews to prove it. Its Rotten Tomatoes rating currently sits at 98% Fresh. I went to the theater this week to get a firsthand account.
[Robby] Um, I’ve liked all of Ryan Coogler’s movies in the past. I…I’m a vampire fan. I heard that there was blues music, and I’m also a big blues music fan. And, so, yeah. Seemed like a pretty—it was the perfect middle of a Venn diagram of stuff I like.
[Genesis] Honestly, so I’m not a big TV person. So honestly, I didn’t even see the previews. On social media, so many people were talking about it over the weekend. And so, I kept hearing about it. So today, I went to YouTube and watched the trailer and I was like, “Oh, it looks pretty good.”
I interviewed Robby and Genesis, two moviegoers here in Evanston, about their opinion on the film.
[Robby] I loved it. It was actually a lot more than—I was kind of just expecting a vampire movie—and then I got a lot more than what I expected. I thought it was really good…It’s like the From Dusk Till Dawn element is just to get people in. There’s a lot more once you’re in there. And it delivers on that promise and gives you so much more.
Genesis was less of a fan.
[Genesis] Okay so, you know, even though I watched the trailer, I didn’t catch that it was about vampires—so I’m not really into that. So, I thought that it was going really well—until that part. Which, I mean I was able to sit through it. Like, I would still recommend it and tell people that it’s worth seeing, but that wasn’t really my cup of tea. I don’t know what else I would’ve wanted them to be or turn into, but I didn’t really like the vampires.
Regardless of their experience during the film both agreed on the importance of original films.
[Robby] Yes, I mean yes. Make more original movies, more movies like this. I would watch twenty of these before I’d watch the millionth Jurassic Park movie. Not that those can’t be good—I’ve seen plenty that I really enjoyed, but I would much prefer original films from original filmmakers. Just give them lots of money to make movies like this!
Something particularly of note regarding Sinners: the director Ryan Coogler struck a rare deal with Warner Brothers. After twenty-five years, Coogler will receive the rights to the film. Typically, directors working with big studios do not receive any ownership rights.
[Genesis] I do appreciate when it’s more original. And it seems like whenever they remake movies it never lives up to the original so I feel like they should stop trying. So, I do appreciate something fresh.
Coogler seems to have the right idea, as this audience appreciates novelty over remakes in the movies they watch. Time will only tell how successful this film becomes. Already a smash hit, Sinners, is certainly paving the way for more creativity and more directorial ownership.
For WNUR News, I’m Max Milo.
