It’s gotta be something in the water. How else to explain the plethora of A-list twins on Hollywood screens lately?
In the last few months alone, we’ve had Robert Pattinson, Theo James and the great Robert De Niro playing opposite each other on screen. But now we have by far the most creatively ambitious, culturally layered, artistically bold twin-led cinematic outing yet — if this sentence feels like a lot, get ready for the movie! — with Michael B. Jordan on double duty in “Sinners.”
And while the Jordan-Jordan pairing is front and center and full of charisma, Jordan himself would probably agree the most important pairing here is the one between him and Ryan Coogler. The supremely talented writer-director turns once again to Jordan — star of all four of his previous films — for his first completely original movie. Both men are firing on all cylinders.
So what exactly is “Sinners,” shot on large-format film (including IMAX 65 mm and Ultra Panavision 70) befitting the size of its vision, about? Depends which layer you’re looking at.
And even more, to feel. With a crowd you don’t know, as Coogler intends it. At my screening there was frequent laughter, both joyous and nervous, some screams and not a few jumps, including one where I felt my own self leaving my seat, pens and notepad tumbling. Coogler grew up loving the jumpy moments in movies like “Jurassic Park,” and wanted to recreate the feeling.
We begin our 24 hours in Clarksdale, Mississippi, with skinny Preacher Boy, aka Sammie (exciting 19-year-old newcomer Miles Caton), bloody and barely alive, staggering into a church. His father, the pastor, urges him to drop the twisted vestige of a guitar he carries. We see lightning-quick flashbacks to scenes of horror — way too quick to settle in our brains. Coogler will take his time. You got somewhere you need to be?