This movie was fantastic. It was an unapologetically black movie. I'm so proud to see a movie like this doing so well. Gives me a glimmer of hope for the future as this "anti-DEI" bullshit takes a hold and manifests itself in my country. I've been thinking about this movie for days before I finally got it together and put this out.
Anyways, lemme get to my new format to let me get my thoughts out better.
The GOOD (or what I loved)
- I want to start with the music. Music plays a very important part in this movie and it is all really good. I forgot that I liked Blues until I heard good blues music in this movie. The music in many scenes is purposeful and fits the moment in the story. I'm going to buy this soundtrack. I felt it in my soul.
- This is a gorgeous movie in the way that it's shot. Coogler had a very specific visual narrative and style to this movie that I appreciated. It made it feel classic, but also new. There is a beautiful scene in the movie where Sammie is playing his guitar and the shot swirls in and out of the dance floor. You'll know it when you see it.
- The cast is spectacular and there were no weaknesses here. I will give my flowers to Michael B. Jordan (pulling double duty), Miles Caton, Hailee Steinfeld, Wunmi Mosaku, Delroy Lindo and so many others I didn't name. There was a chemistry between the cast members.
- While the main antagonist, Remmick, is a vampire and technically the bad guy, he wasn't mustache twirling evil. He was kind of charming and he was kind of winning me over with his logic. I liked that his motivation was mostly animal instinct outside of trying to capture Sammie.
- While we're talking about Remmick, this movie dared to pose something interesting. The setting is the 1930's Jim Crow South and when Remmick poses to our main characters that they'd be better off in the post racial society of the Vampires, it made me pause. His reasoning was, humanity is not treating you well, black people, two of my new flock were actively plotting against you, so why not join us. I mean, given that offer, I might have taken him up on it.
- I Love that this took place all in one day and the stakes were just with our characters. There wasn't some grand save the world plot. Let's just make it through the night.
- I also loved that Vampires are a thing, no one spends time asking about it and they just roll with it. There wasn't some big lore dump about them. The movie doesn't treat us like we're stupid.
- As the story unfolds, Smoke and Stack have equally tragic stories and I was caught up in both of them. Yes, they wanted to make money, but they also wanted to take care of their own. As this movie showed and history taught us, no way that was going to be allowed to last.
- This movie had a slow burn with it's tension and that made for true horror. In the way that Get Out built to something, you feel that here. You're just waiting for the other shoe to drop and this movie makes you wait for it.
- I guess Riverdancing is the dance that is used for a post racial society, huh? You know what, I'm down with that. If you've seen the movie, you'll know the scene I'm talking about.
The BAD (what I didn't like)
- This is so nitpicky. I wanted to see more of the magical herbs and spices play out in Wunmi Mosaku's character, Annie get a little more time. I was hoping she was a witch that would help fight the vampires, but it wasn't meant to be.
Don't be like me and wait too long on this movie. It is an experience and I don't use that term lightly.
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