They don’t make ‘em like they used to.
Where the highest grossing films of the ‘80s and ‘90s were filled with original ideas across a range of genres — romance, action, comedy, sci-fi — the Top 10 lists of the past decade are virtually all sequels or remakes.
So when a little pebble makes waves in that pool, people stand up and take notice.
Which brings us to this month’s “Sinners.”
Helmed by “Black Panther” and “Creed” director Ryan Coogler, the horror film darling blew past box office expectations and became the perennial low budget David against Hollywood’s Goliaths.
The question then becomes: why? What was the secret sauce this movie had to bring in the masses?
Obviously, part of the phenomenon is that it eventually becomes cool to see the movie just for the sake of seeing it.
But that just gives me the chance to say believe the hype: “Sinners” really is that fun.
Obviously, it’s not going to be a movie for everyone. It’s an R-rated horror flick for good reason.
But for those who can stomach it, what it does bring in is some very refreshing originality.
The film follows twin brothers Smoke and Stack — both played by the always immaculate Michael B. Jordan — returning home to Mississippi in 1932 after a stint in Chicago.
The pair — both suave and ambitious — buy up a local sawmill with a dream of turning it into a bustling dance hall juke joint.
Their journey to round up staff for the joint leads the brothers on a reunion tour with locals surprised to see them both back home and alive.
But as the party kicks off and the night starts bumping, the boys’ luck might have finally just run out.
I won’t say more than that to avoid giving too much away, but fans of the fight scenes in “Black Panther” and “Creed” won’t be disappointed when the action kicks off in the film’s third act.
And while the “good times brought low” set-up is a familiar one, there are two details that stick out for me that make “Sinners” rise above the rest.
The first is that the film is packed with colorful and memorable characters and not one is wasted on screen without you wanting to know more about them.
Jordan continues to prove his leading man bonafides with his ‘Parent Trap’ performance of both brothers, brought together on screen with digital and practical tricks.
But it’s characters like Wunmi Mosaku as Smoke’s estranged wife Annie and Miles Caton as the brothers’ cousin Sammie that catch your heart. Like much of the cast, the pair get caught up in the brothers’ charisma and ambition, even knowing the danger that comes with that, and as the bodies start dropping you feel genuinely protective of them.
The other factor for me is the film’s time period. So many films on Black history land in either slavery or the Civil Rights era, leaving the century in between ripe for visiting.
By 1932, the Ku Klux Klan was still a very real threat and share-cropping was practically trading one form of cotton picking for another.
So there’s a gripping and fascinating unease that hangs over the characters just as much as anything that goes bump in the night.
But that makes the joy in the film all the more tender as the characters dance the night away to the film’s incredible blues-tinged soundtrack before it all goes south.
That being said, again, the plot is pretty straight-forward despite its depth. It’s the kind of strange-looking movie you find randomly on HBO, give it a try and you’re totally invested 20 minutes in.
And, by God, we need more of those movies.
I give “Sinners” 5 stars out of 5.