"Sinners" has been overblown into a god-like status it doesn't really deserve.
First off, it doesn't delve deep into anythingโit just skims the surface enough to attract your attention, then leaves you hanging. It tells stories of people who can heal just by singing or call out spirits, yet at the same time, evil spirits rise from there too. In the case of the movie, vampires are summoned. You don't even see the healing in the movie. Just evil and the cheating wife.
To its credit, it incorporates multiculturalism, since many different cultures make appearances. For example, Native Americans ("Injuns") chase a vampire, who later kills and turns two KKK members. After that, we never hear from the Native Americans again. I half expected them to reappear and cause some damageโit would have been interesting to see how they explain the vampire angle from their side.
People have been saying the movie is rich with African culture and spiritualism. But honestly, the only things it's really full of are Jim Crow-era themes, blues culture, Black people singing in a barn, and a sprinkle of half-baked voodooโtopped off with vampires who just want to integrate into society. Coogler didn't even tell us where the vampire came from, we just saw him being chased by Native Americans.
If the story had actually explored those themes deeply, it could have told a meaningful tale about the Black man's experience through the vampire metaphor. But then again, Hollywood is Hollywood. What can we say?