AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Filmmaker Ryan Coogler and his frequent leading man Michael B. Jordan have made some remarkably successful movies together. They first teamed up for "Fruitvale Station," an explosive drama about a police shooting. Then came "Creed," the boxing movie that revitalized the "Rocky" franchise. Coogler tapped Jordan to play a supervillain in Marvel's "Black Panther." And now critic Bob Mondello says he's doubled down on Jordan in a blues-inflected supernatural thriller called "Sinners."
BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: We meet the Smoke-Stack brothers - their names are Smoke and Stack - as they're returning to their dirt-poor Mississippi hometown in 1932 after seven years away.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SINNERS")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) You twins?
MICHAEL B JORDAN: (As character) Nah, we cousins.
MONDELLO: Oh, they're twins so identical they're both played by Michael B. Jordan. Smoke and Stack have seen Al Capone's Chicago, the trenches of World War I, and now they want to make some money by bringing a taste of that world to their pals in Clarksdale, Mississippi. They stop by the local church to pick up their guitar-playing cousin Sammie, whose dad isn't pleased...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SINNERS")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) You keep dancing with the devil, one day he's going to follow you home.
MONDELLO: ...Then to town to let people know that that very night they will open a juke joint. They aim to harness the power of the blues, a power Smoke's ex Annie, a spiritual healer, says they should be careful with.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SINNERS")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As Annie) There are legends of people with a gift of making music so true it can conjure spirits from the past and the future. This gift can bring fame and fortune...
MONDELLO: And Sammie's got the gift.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SINNERS")
MILES CATON: (As Sammie, singing) Somebody take me...
JORDAN: (As character) Woo.
CATON: (As Sammie, singing) ...In your arms.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As Annie) ...But it also can pierce the veil between life and death.
MONDELLO: Smoke says he's not overconcerned.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SINNERS")
JORDAN: (As Smoke) I seen men die in ways I ain't even know was possible. But all the things that I seen, I ain't ever seen no demons, no ghosts, no magic.
MONDELLO: That will change in a few hours. But before it does, Director Ryan Coogler will unleash a blues spectacle for the ages.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SINNERS")
CATON: (As Sammie, singing) Well, I was just a boy about 8 years old. You threw me a Bible on that Mississippi road.
MONDELLO: Sammie, played by stunning newcomer Miles Caton, begins what will turn into a stomping, soaring, shiver-inducing set in which he summons all those spirits from the past and future Annie was talking about - one glorious sequence, one sweeping shot, in fact, as he and the jitterbugging sharecroppers are joined by West African ceremonial dancers, hip-hoppers, funk guitarists. It's as if he's conjured all of this music's ancestors and descendants and summoned them to this juke joint this night. It's mesmerizing, a literal barnburner of a number. And as Annie predicted, it also pierces that veil and attracts some folks who shouldn't be here.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SINNERS")
JORDAN: (As character) The hell going on?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character) Oh, we heard tell of a party.
MONDELLO: These folks have eyes that glow red, skin that's unnaturally pale. And once they're turned away, they wait for anyone who wanders outside. The juke joint's bouncer wanders at one point, and on his return, the others sense he's changed.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SINNERS")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #5: (As character) Just step aside and let me on in now.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As Annie) Why you need him to do that? You big and strong enough to push past us.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #5: (As character) Well, that wouldn't be too polite now, would it, Miss Annie?
JORDAN: (As character) You've been in and out of here all day. Ain't never needed an invite then. Yeah, something ain't adding up.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #5: (As character) Can I at least get my money?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As Annie) Careful.
MONDELLO: We've shifted genres here, clearly, and Coogler proves just as adept with horror tropes as he's been with music ones. At times in "Sinners," he seems to be simultaneously channeling Jordan Peele and Quentin Tarantino to come up with something uniquely his own, something that's blood-drenched and music-besotted that's about performance, sure, but also about power and prejudice. "Sinners" is concerned with saving not just a man's soul, but a community's - and with a cast this diverse and spellbinding in IMAX, maybe about saving Hollywood's, too. I'm Bob Mondello.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SINNERS")
CATON: (As Sammie, singing) Somebody take me in your arms tonight. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
