Extremely cool, and loved all the music and the dancing and the blues. Buddy Guy! So friggin cool. Probably the coolest movie of the year.
But also very messy and overly long, with little subplots that don’t meaningfully add to the film and a final shootout that doesn’t feel earned in any meaningful way.
On one hand, Coogler is unbelievably talented. He’s proven that time and time again. But every artist needs a great editor for their ideas, and I don’t think he’s found his yet. The comparisons he invites you to draw to Peele’s Get Out (or even the lesser Us) and Tarantino’s Django don’t do him any favours.
Coogler is making excellent B horror here. It’s fun. It’s authentic. It’s original. I just think he can do better. I think he can elevate the genre. Because right now he’s mashing things up, but he’s not lifting anything up to a new level.
It’s too bad, because the script was written so quickly I’m pretty confident another couple passes would have gotten him there.