Review: "Sinners" Stands Tall in 7OMM

Mark Lyndon in the movie at the BFI IMAX, London, UK. Picture: Tim Collins

Be prepared for a Memorable, Magnificent, Multi-Culture Shock.

The hype surrounding the movie "Sinners" is that it is a vampire movie; it is indeed, but it is far more. The principal action takes place over a 24-hour period and has vibes of "Assault on Precinct 13" and the movie that inspired it ie "Rio Bravo", plus there’s a nod to "The Alamo" as the main story is that of a community under siege.

"Sinners" follows some of the established vampire lore and sets the scene for the arrival of a potential vampire by including the line “can I come in?” as used in "The Lost Boys". We also see a red glow in the eyes, fireflies in the darkness (or are they vampires), reflected red and embers. The suspense within the movie has echoes of Hitchcock and Kubrick with an anticipation of something is about to happen.

One of the strap lines on the poster is ‘we are all’ indicating we are all sinners. This is clever as many of the characters in the movie fall to temptation with twists and turns from alcohol, vampires, and the devil’s music. The mid-credit and end credit scenes, in part, close the loop on the story arc but they also open the story to a potential pre-quel or a sequel.

In "Sinners", a leading character is summed up in three words: “He lacks vision”. Sadly this was true of even the greatest Hollywood Directors such as William Wyler who directed the first great box office triumph to be filmed and presented in Ultra Panavison 70 - "Ben Hur". He moaned that:

"Nothing is out of the picture, and you can't fill it. You either have a lot of empty space, or you have two people talking and a flock of others surrounding them who have nothing to do with the scene. Your eye just wanders out of curiosity.”

He lacked the vision to see what was possible on the recently created giant screen, what it was that was bringing tens of millions of film goers flocking back to the Cinema. His fellow old school film makers such as Fritz Lang and John Ford were equally scathing:

“Only good for snakes and funerals” Lang sneered. “Cinerama crap” John Ford, grumbled.

I was given a stern lecture by André De Toth of Wax Museum renown about how awful Cinerama was. These old masters have long since departed to the great studio in the sky. Luckily, we have new masters of cinema who have the vision and commitment and a clear love and understanding of the technology needed to create cinematic glory. Ryan Googler has written and directed a true masterpiece in "Sinners". His crew and cast are the best and most dedicated working in Cinema today.

Like "Oklahoma!", seventy years ago, two formats were used simultaneously to film "Sinners". With "Oklahoma!", Todd-AO was used for premium Roadshow engagements and CinemaScope for general release. With "Sinners", this arrangement greatly facilitated the editing process for smoothness of transition between the formats and highlighting the more violent and dramatic scenes.