Blu-ray Review: Sinners and Saints
Review by Marc Patterson
I feel like I have a lot of confessions lately. Perhaps it’s all in my head, but dammit, I feel like I do. Okay, here goes… So the number one reason I watched Sinners and Saints was because in the preview it showed a particularly tough looking Kim Coates, which if you’re as big a fan of Sons of Anarchy as I am you’ll know he plays Tig – the slightly off kilter, crazy sonovabitch Sergeant at Arms. So yeah, I kinda have a man crush on Kim Coates. Tig is my favorite SOA character and when you put him in a shoot-em-up action flick alongside Sean Patrick Flanery and Johnny Strong, well you have my undivided attention.
From the opening testosterone fueled moments Sinners and Saints comes out with bullets flying. Sean Riley (Strong) is a New Orleans special “street crime” unit cop with a bit of bloodlust. That or a serious death wish. The guy is intimately familiar with the streets he grew up in and his special forces background, from a stint in the Marines, has only honed his voracious appetite for destruction. Let’s just say that when Sean Riley storms the drug house he literally storms the drug house. Toss tactics out the window, it’s all guns a blazing. Obviously this kind of reckless behavior doesn’t go unnoticed by either the city or the press and with crime on a steady rise, Riley finds himself hanging onto his career by a thread.
In a last ditch effort to keep Riley out of trouble and have him do some good for the community his superior officer, Captain Trahan (Tom Berenger) teams him up with the homicide unit, hoping he can help them in cracking a growing gang related serial killing streak. Seems some sadistic gangbangers think it’s fun to kill their victims by dousing them with gasoline, lighting them on fire, extinguishing the fire and repeating. During the investigation Riley picks up on clues that bring to the surface dark secrets from his past, and the past of those he served overseas in the military with. So much for staying out of trouble. The streets of New Orleans explode with bullets and pure mayhem. Lock up your wife and kids. It’s going to get messy.
I have to be completely honest, I really enjoyed this flick. It’s unapologetic, brash, and shockingly brutal in parts. The action comes on fast and furious and doesn’t ever really let up. New Orleans looks appropriately gritty and the gangsters are a perfect mix of old school Dolph Lundgren goons mixed with modern day mercenaries. The Blu-ray case states that this is “an action packed thriller about loss and redemption”. I don’t know if I’d go that far, but it makes for good copy. There’s nothing going on here of any real depth, but who cares? Nobody is watching this for a Kleenex moment. We’re watching this because it’s got Method Man and Costas Mandylor as a couple of real badasses and because Johnny Strong is amazing looking with his muscle bound and tattooed frame, blowing the fuck up out of N’awlins. Yeah, c’mon – there’s no shame in man love.
As far as packaging goes on this Blu-ray it’s pretty bare bones. But don’t let that deter you. You’re not coming here for extensive behind the scenes footage, etc. You want action and that’s all wrapped in the feature. Presentation wise, this looks as good as they come. It’s designed to be seen in Blu, on your big ass Hi-Def television with your surround sound cranked as loud as your neighbors will allow without calling the cops. Of course, if the cops do show up, just toss em a beer and invite ‘em inside. I’m sure they’ll dig the film too.
Sinners and Saints is a guy’s guy movie and if you’re into balls to the wall action cinema, while you’re downing a few beers and chomping on a rack of ribs then you’re going to want to check this one out.
Sinners and Saints hits DVD and Blu-ray on January 10th, from Anchor Bay Entertainment.
