Sinners

Directed by Ryan Coogler, Sinners follows circa 1930s twin brothers (Michael B. Jordan’s Smoke and Stack) as their efforts at opening a middle-of-nowhere juke joint are complicated by menacing outside forces. Coogler, armed with his own screenplay, delivers a sprawling, palpably overlong endeavor that fares best within its deliberate yet promising opening stretch, as the filmmaker does an effective job of establishing the depression era atmosphere and raft of periphery characters – with, in terms of the latter, Coogler eliciting solid work out of a supporting cast that includes Hailee Steinfeld, Jack O’Connell, and Miles Caton. (Jordan’s inability to offer up noticeably different figures proves an ongoing distraction, however, although Delroy Lindo offers up a scene-stealing, standout turn turn as a drunk bluesman remains an obvious highlight within the proceedings.) And while Coogler admittedly has littered the narrative with memorable digressions and set-pieces (eg an unexpectedly epic musical number), Sinners builds towards a padded-out and increasingly claustrophobic second half that’s capped off with a violent but entirely uninvolving (and kind of interminable) action-oriented climax – which, when coupled with a rather endless coda, does cement the picture’s place as an ambitious, distinct failure.

*1/2 out of ****