Sinners

A film that adds nothing from an artistic and cinematographic point of view.

First part of a deadly boredom, second based on clichés, derivative and poorly used narrative elements.

A less than mediocre blockbuster.

Yet another case of a film exalted by obsolete criticism and an audience poorly educated to the true refinement of the seventh art.

The fact that in May it's considered the best film of the year would make one believe in a mass hallucination but unfortunately the acclaim and success it has had is only the mirror of the times: a lack of truly worthy creativity and an increasingly poor and faded appreciation index.

I challenge you all claiming it to be a masterpiece to give me another example of a masterpiece movie you are comparing it with.

Are you all really that shallow and bored you will give any movie that title.

As a drama movie I will give it a 7.

As a horror not more than a 6.

There are maybe 2-3 jump scares. And the story is half decent. It. Could have been used to build a great movie. But there is none of that. Maybe the blues fans will enjoy a song or two but that's it. Too many characters introduced, very little development on each front. Sets are decent.

Don't listen to all bought reviews online.

I love it when movies mix different genres and create a fresh spin on old themes. In this case however the different elements didn't mix well in my opinion: I would describe sinners as a mix between period gangster drama, musical and trashy B-movie horror. This sounds super exciting on paper, but in reality it threw me off completely. I feel like the movie tries to do everything at the same time but doesn't deliver on many of those aspects: It wants to hit the viewer on an emotional level but left me personally completely cold - I didn't care who died or who lived; The movie kinda wants to be scary but the "enemies" in the film feel like a complete joke from the first scene they are shown and it takes away all the tension; It wants to be action-packed and explosive, but the fight scenes are kinda boring and left me wanting to move on to more serious scenes again, even though those serious scenes are kind of a slow burn; The film wants to be funny and even though it made me chuckle a bit it never really took it far enough to justify sacrificing the big threat in the film for laughs.

In conclusion: This movie is too boring and slow to be an entertaining action-comedy and doesn't take the humor and fight scenes far enough to really have an impact. At the same time this movie is far too ridiculous to be a serious scary and emotional movie that reaches you on any kind of emotional level.

I would have liked it, if they would have sacrificed the humor for building a serious threat that feels genuinely scary and terrifying. The cinematography, costumes and music are fantastic but this is just not enough for me to make it a good film, when the story is not hitting. There are single parts of the movie that I absolutely loved and I would have really appreciated those scenes as standalone music videos, but it just doesn't mix well with the rest in my personal opinion.

In addition to my previous criticisms I spotted some typical clichés in the dialogue writing that made me roll my eyes and there were some moments where I found it extremely hard to believe that certain characters survived. I could go in to detail here but I want to keep my review vague to avoid spoilers.

To me watching this movie felt a bit like eating chocolate on a burger - Both elements are nice by themselves but together they don't make for a nice meal.

Sinners has some issues. This movie is trying so hard to be From Dusk Till Dawn, but it just comes up short in comparison. The first act involves Michael B. Jordan playing a set of twins as they set up for a party, it's slow and not very interesting. I get technology is getting better, but I don't like one actor playing two sides of a conversation. It's not the Nutty Professor, it never feels fluid, and it's probably why the two main characters spend most of the movie apart. Sinners struggles to get going but once the party starts you think you're in store for some cool vampire fight scenes, but you are mistaken. Instead, vampires dance an Irish Jig that caused the person I was watching the movie with to lean over and say to me "this is the dumbest thing I've ever seen." what it didn't have was some cool vampire fights. The action scenes are weak and for a movie that's also weak on character development and plot, you can't afford to also be lackluster with the action. This movie would probably be more fun if you went in blind and didn't know about the genre switch coming your way, but it ruins that with too much foreshadowing early on. Overall, I don't get what all the hype is about 6/10.

For years I've been emphasizing the importance of music in movies; how an amazing musical score can significantly elevate a movie. It shouldn't just be background dressing. It should be brought to the forefront. It should drive the story. It should be a character in itself. It should give you goosebumps in the big moments. Sinners is one of the best examples of this.

Aside from the music, I could tell I was watching high-quality filmmaking within five minutes. The directing, camerawork, editing, and sound design are pristine. The entire cast does a great job, but Michael B. Jordan shines. He is a superstar.

Sinners is also surprisingly funny, without taking away from the seriousness. And the horror elements are... satisfying. This movie goes hard.

Advice: Certain scenes have an expanded aspect ratio that will only be shown in IMAX. If you can't go to an IMAX, any premium screen will do (Dolby Cinema, UltraScreen, EMX, etc). This movie benefits more than most from the larger screen and louder speakers.

Also, I missed A LOT of the dialogue, you may want to ask for a closed caption device.

(1 viewing, opening night IMAX 4/17/2025)