To say that last year was a good year for horror film would be a huge understatement as we got alot of really good and sometimes even great horror films last year. With the film that i'm going to talking to you all about today being one of my favorite films of the year not just in the world of horror but just in general as it was just that good in the first place and while some people might say that this film was over hyped i'd argue differently then that as there are more films that hot more hype then this film did just look at K-Pop Demon Hunters as proof of that and then join me as I review the film that is basically just a remake of From Dusk Till Dawn with the film in question being called simply just "Sinners" enjoy.
The plot of this film is when two identical twin brothers open up a Juke Joint on opening night they really have to fend for there lives when the place and it's patrons really are attacked and turned into vampires. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good with the plot of this film not really being fresh in a certain sense as it does copy the idea of From Dusk Till Dawn but it is original in the way that it tells that same idea as here the whole film is told from the point of view of African Americans in the early 1930's which is something that does open itself up to alot of story potential which to be fair to this film is something that the film does take full advantage by having several other stories all take place as well and by having alot of the characters deal with the kind of racism that is still around to this very day and that is something that does help to make to make this film repeated plot line seem new and original again with the thing that lets the films plot down also being one of the biggest strengths that being the fact that the film does spend a whopping forty minuets just on having the brothers set up the place and hire all of the staff and that's it which is something that could be seen as being dull and boring as nothing new is added to the plot but it also works as it sets up all of the key characters in the film as well with the plot of this film being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring inn this film is Michael B. Jordan as Elijah "Smoke" Moore and Elias "Stack" Moore and Miles Caton as Samuel "Sammie" Moore. Also starring in this film is Wunmi Mosaku as Annie , Jayme Lawson as Pearline , Omar Benson Miller as Cornbread , Delroy Lindo as Delta Slim , Peter Dreimanis as Bert , Lola Kirke as Joan , Li Jun Li as Grace Chow , Saul Williams as Jedidiah Moore , Yao as Bo Chow , David Maldonado as Hogwood , Helena Hu as Lisa Chow , Andrene Ward-Hammond as Ruthie , Nathaniel Arcand as Chayton , Emonie Ellison as Therise , Hailee Steinfeld as Mary and Jack O'Connell as Remmick.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With the fact that this films acting being so good not really being something that's all that surprising as alot of this films actors are a bunch of really good actors in their own right and even alot of the films more lesser known actors turn out good because of the fact that there acting opposite some really good actors with the fact that this films acting is so good being helped by the fact that this films writer , producer and director Ryan Coogler really does know how to get a good performance out of all of his actors a skill that he has shown of in all of his movies and pulls of again here in this film as all of this films actors are just simply a joy to watch in this film with the films best actor being none other then Michael B. Jordan as he has to play two completely different characters in the same scene as each other and yet make both characters feel completely different from each other something that would have been a hard enough task for any actor to do and yet he pulls it off tremendously with Smoke really being the more careful one of the two who is always quick to fire his gun where as Stack is the more lighthearted easy going one who would rather charm you then shoot you with the acting that's in this film really being helped by the fact that the script for this film is just so good that all this films actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.
Doing the CGI for this film is Storm Studios , Rising Sun Pictures , Industrial Light & Magic , Base FX , Outpost VFX , Light VFX and Baraboom! Studios. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good with the film not really having that much VFX in it and yet what little VFX are in this film work so well as it's blended in with the films live action effects with really the only VFX shot in the whole film being the flames that engulf the vampires at the end of the film and that's really it as nine times out of ten VFX is only used to extend things that were on the day or in the case of Michael B. Jordan make it look like that he's talking to himself when in actuality he's talking to a body double which is a really convincing effect as it is something that does make you wonder how they managed to pull of the shots with both of the twins in the same shot and yet it's something that does work really well in the context of the film as this is how VFX should be used as all there doing is enhancing what was already there on the day of filming and that's really it and that is something that will all of this films VFX age alot more slowly as it is hard to tell what it is they did for real and what was done inside of a computer outside of the fact that they light the vampires on hire as your obviously not going to light a real human actor on fire but even then the effect is so convincing that it does end up working really well in the film.
When this film came out it got alot of praise for being original and while yes granted there are some original elements in this film one of those elements is sadly not the films plot. As you can tell right from when the vampires first enter the film that this film is going to be nothing more then a redo version of From Dusk Till Dawn and yeah it plays out in the exact same way that that film played out and heck even both films have alot of the films action take place in a bar with the only difference being that this film uses mostly African Americans and that's really it and heck even both films have one of the brothers get turned into a vampire fortunately people have started to catch on that this is another version of another movie but it is something that makes you wonder why the makers of this film tried to borrow elements from that film and then pass it off as there own idea and heck even several reviews on the films DVD call this film an original idea and while yes the film does have alot of original ideas in it that's fair enough but the central idea for the film was one that was already done in the mid nineties and yet movie critics both in America and over her in the UK are trying to pass this film of as an original idea now granted this is Ryan Cooglers first original film as alot of the films that he's directed and wrote the script for are based off of pre-existing IP's but even this film can't be called fully original as it's just not granted he might he might have been inspired from From Dusk Till Dawn and wanted to tip his hat to that film in which case fair enough but there's tipping your hat then there's outright copying it and this is something that this film just barely does.
There's no way to get around this as one of the films central themes is racism which given when this film takes place in is something that does make sense. As we see not only the brothers but also Grace and her family expirence it as well and it is something that should be talked about due to the fact that all of the vampire characters at first are not only all white people but some of them are even members of the KKK that actively abuse both of the brothers with this theme being handled alot more subtly then what you might thing it would as he film doesn't outright say that this is what there talking about rather they'll have just a few characters say something to one one of the other characters and that's it with the rest of it being told through visual storytelling which is something that does make this arguably more effective but to be fair to this film tho it is something that really wasn't needed in this film as while yes back then people were alot more openly racist to people we go to the movies to escape real life issues and while yes people have the right to talk about whatever it is that they want to talk about in their own movies it is something that should be down with caution as this is something that very easily could come across as being very heavy handed with this being something that does almost happen to this film as like was mentioned alot of the films white characters are racists and those that aren't get turned into vampires with there being no middle ground as all of the African American characters are all presented as being the good guys with there being no middle ground for them ether and yet if the film did show characters from both sides being either evil or good then it would have given them some wiggle room when it comes to the films main theme.
There was one shot in particular that really did blow alot of people myself included away that being the oner where they have the characters dancing in the bar and the camera just keeps going incorporating not only different styles of music like rock and jazz but also adding in modern characters to show how music can touch people of different generations. With the one long take lasting about five minuets of screen time as it ends when the camera pans up to the sky with the bar in fire and the people still dancing and then ends on a close up of Remmick which was just such a cool shot and it's one of those shots where it does make you how they did it due to the fact that there's so much that goes into pulling of a shot like that not only from a practical point of view but also an effects point of view as well and yet the makers of this film did pull of so well with it really being the best shot in the whole entire movie just due to how much things that it has to incorporate in to it with the fact that they add in people from more generations being something that you might notice upon a first viewing but it is something that you notice a second time around as it is something that does highlight how music can touch people of any generation and while yes the whole shot might be seen as being a dream just due to the fact that the bar isn't really burning down it is something that does help the sequence look all the more visually impressive then what it already is in the first place and the fact that it ends up on a close upshot of the films main villain is a subtle way of telling us the audience that the characters have had there fun and that it's time for them all to suffer.
Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly two hours and seventeen minuets and thirty eight seconds. Which for a horror film is a bit on the long side as the film really didn't need to spend as long as it does in just showing us how the brothers got there bar in the first place as you very easily could have dine all of that in just the first ten minuets of this film but to be fair tho this film really does have more then plot there to really cover that amount of running time in the first place with the film using it's running time as the film does fully develop it's plot with alot of the films plot development coming from the scenes prior to the vampires attacking the bar as we get to see just what music means to these characters and how it could possibly come into play in the rest of the film with the film even giving it's characters alot of character development as well with alot of their character development oddly enough coming in the films opening forty minuets which show us just all of the characters relationships to each other and how much they mean to each other something that would have been lost if the film did loose those opening forty minuets as while the seem pointless on the surface as nothing happens plot wise what we get in those scenes are these smaller character moments that help to fully flesh out all of the films characters and that is something that is key to making both the film and it's characters work as without those scenes we the audience wouldn't have a reason to care for it's characters and want to see them make it out of the film alive and well but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a horror film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual kills that are actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual kills that are actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With the film not really having alot of kills in it the ones that it does have work so well s the film does give us time to let us get to know there characters and therefor when they are killed of we do feel something for them with this being something that this film does do kind of well as while the film does have alot of pointless scenes before the kills take place it's those pointless scenes that give us a chance to get this films characters in the first place with the best kill in the whole film being when Remmick and his crew of vampires start to attack Smock and Stacks's bar in the first place as while Stacks has already been killed at this point seeing him go toe to toe with his brother while the rest of their friends are quite literally fighting for their lives which is something that does make that sequence really worth watching and heck we do get some really impressive looking gore effects in that sequence as well and while yes granted the film does have some really impressive kills in it as well they just can't top the pure madness that is that one sequence as it really just so good with the film worth watching just for that one sequence as that's when we get to see all of the vampire carnage that a film like this should deliver with it doing so in spectacular fashion in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall both this film and Weapons have proven that not only can original films be good but so can original films in general as all you need is the right creative team behind them to make them as good as they could have been and that's exactly what this film had as this creative team made this films as could as it really could have been in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad thigs that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly an 8 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Tenor , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images from this film being Google Images simply because Google Images actually has images from this film really are up and on Google Images and plus pretty much much all of the images that I personally found on Google Images were all really very fairly high quality and as well as being as really very fairly high definition as well and so then horror fans we end this review as we always do with really our one and true goddess Elvira wishing us all some really very unpleasant dreams.
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