Rated R

Ryan Coogler directs SINNERS, a drama about a pair of criminal twins who return home to the deep South of the 1930s to start up a juke joint. They have to reconcile their past relationships and build a new business with dirty money… oh, and there’s also a bunch of vampires out to get them.

At its heart, SINNERS is a serious drama about the lives and struggles of Black Americans in the early 20th century. The vampire angle is more secondary… or rather, symbolic in many ways.

This leads to a deeper, richer story with complex characters in shades of gray, taking a hard look at human struggles… at least until the film goes all FROM DUSK TILL DOWN on the audience.

The biggest sin that SINNERS commits is its running time. Coogler loves to breathe in his films, but that makes them drag in many points, which happens throughout this movie.

Still, Coogler delivers a solid film that is impeccably made.

SINNERS gets three blues guitars out of five. I’m Kevin Carr, and that’s the way I see it.

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