Blood & Sinners

Went to see this because I like vampire movies, and Tom Cruise endorsed it. Never saw him endorsing any movies so I got more curious.

Production, costume, make up, visuals are very good.

Story is meh. Standard vampire look and behavior. Another movie implying some faith doesn't work in fighting demons but a voodoo mojo does, nothing new there.

I dislike musicals so its musical parts added nothing for me. The past and future music evoked could have been more abstract, but they were real people in different eras costumes mingling in, kinda ruined the believability of the 1930s vibe for me. Looked like a silly company dinner and dance instead.

Can totally see certain demographic overhyping this. Again, nothing new.

An okay watch overall, fun at times.

You came in expecting fangs, stakes, blood, smoking crucifixes and girls screaming. You imagined an arty version of Blade, with Michael B. Jordan staking vampires between sets of push-ups.

Well, guess what, buddy? Surprise: you walked into a Ryan Coogler film that serves you blues, poetry, and Black pain like a sacred offering.

The film plays like The Legend of 1900 remixed by Robert Johnson mid-satanic pact. The horror? It's a metaphor. The monsters? Symbols. And you, the viewer? A willing victim who realizes twenty minutes in that you're not watching a slasher... you're deep in a mystical odyssey shot like a fever dream on opium.

Twins. One actor. Zero missteps. No crappy green screen, no clunky split-screen from The Parent Trap. Nah-this is clean, surgical, fluid. You'd swear the guy was cloned in a cave by a Shaolin monk.

And the wildest part? He plays both brothers with completely different energies. One radiates light, the other broods darkness, and both exude elegance and pain in equal measure. This isn't acting-it's black magic. At this level, it's no longer performance-it's full-blown demonic possession captured in 4K.

Want originality? You got it. No looped rap tracks like in 99% of U. S. films about Black characters. Here, it's the blues. The real stuff. The kind that comes from guts, chains, cotton fields, and dust. And believe me-it cuts deeper than a Slash guitar solo strung with prison wire.

Every note haunts you. Every chord summons ghosts. The music is a doorway between worlds, a call to the Old Ones, a ritual that raises goosebumps. Ryan Coogler delivers a film where the score isn't just background-it's a damn hex. You don't listen-you endure it. And you want more.

There's one scene. Just one. But my God. Straight into the cinematic hall of fame.

The party scene.

At once orgiastic, sacred, primal and cosmic. It's Eyes Wide Shut in the bayou. There's voodoo, groove, bodies melting together, lurking entities, and a one-take shot that knocks the wind out of you like three shots of mezcal and a bad peyote trip.

It's not just well-made-it's divine. Filmed from the gut, edited with fire and silence, it grabs your stomach and wrings out your spine. The kind of scene that makes you believe God listens to the blues in a sweaty Louisiana basement.

We love Coogler. But someone needs to tell him: bro, your intro plays like an episode of Murder, She Wrote. You wanna build atmosphere? Fine. But don't make us wait an hour with "Twins Return to the Village and Do Mystical Gardening."

It drags. It stretches. You wait for the film to kick in like you're waiting for meaningful reform in France. Meanwhile, flashbacks hit every ten minutes, reminding you that pain is apparently a damn art form.

It's noble, it's deep-but man, it's long. This needed some trimming, less Terrence Malick meditation, and a bit more fang in this occult fable.

You came for chills, you got a full-on spiritual initiation drilled into your spinal cord.

Sinners promises the Devil, delivers the blues, and implants visions in your mind. It's slow to start, yeah.

But when it hits... it hits like a sermon from Hell.

It's not a slap. It's an incantation. A trance. A film that doesn't scare you-but follows you into your dreams like a damned old bluesman whispering in your ear with B. B. King's voice and the stare of a demon.

And that's when you get it: When you dance with the Devil long enough... It's not him coming to you- It's you who opens the door.

I saw the ratings for this film and I watched really looking forward to watching it. Even the people who work the counters in the cinema assured us of how good it was.

The first half of the film have the makings of an 8/10 film, and it seems like it's going to go that way, especially with such a good cast. But as with most films these days, it takes a turn and gets quite daft in the second half. Somewhat like Dusk til Dawn, but not half as good...But that's just my opinion.

Go watch it, but at least give it an honest review. It's not an 8/10 movie as iMDB has it scored. I scored it a 6, which I think is fair.

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)

Set in 1930s Mississippi, Ryan Coogler's film combines vampire lore, racial drama and musical western to create an ambitious hybrid. The story serves as a metaphor for structural racism and cultural exploitation, with the blues functioning not only as a soundtrack but also as a symbol of collective resistance. Shot on 65mm and visually stunning, the film is characterised by a stylised aesthetic and dense, eerie atmospheres. However, despite a strong cast and some compelling moments, the accumulation of themes - from historical trauma to redemption and black identity - ultimately overwhelms the narrative, which becomes muddled and inconsistent. Violence and horror come too late to really make an impact, and some symbolic ideas, like the "inclusive" white vampires or the presence of the Choctaws, feel underdeveloped. Coogler aims high, but doesn't always hit the mark: the film stands out more for what it hints at than what it has to say. The result is a bold but uneven work that favors discourse rather than suspense and focuses more on thesis than emotional resonance.