SINNERS (2025)
- phillipsdavis136
- May 12
- 4 min read
Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan Sink Their Teeth into The Vampire Genre.
Grade: A-
By now, Ryan Coogler’s vampire epic Sinners has broken multiple box office records and become beloved by both critics and audiences alike. To be clear, it is a very good movie. It is beautifully photographed, well-directed and produced, and features incredible acting spearheaded by an amazing double performance by longtime Coogler collaborator Michael B. Jordan. That said, its long, drawn-out and somewhat uneven story holds it back from being the revolutionary masterpiece of horror most viewers seem to think it is.
The film has more or less the same story as Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk till Dawn (1995). Like that film, it follows two criminal brothers fleeing from their past and ending up in a place of entertainment in a fairly isolated location. Well into the second act, they and their companions are plagued by vampires, resulting in an insane final battle drenched in fire and blood.
Jordan plays the criminal twins, Smoke and Stack, who have returned to the Mississippi town they grew up in. The year is 1936, and the brothers have finished some shady business in Chicago after serving in World War I. Now they want to open their own juke joint for the entire black community to enjoy. The first half of the film shows the two brothers recruiting helpers, including their cousin and blues musician “Preacher Boy” Sammy (Miles Caton in his film debut), piano player Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo), and Smoke’s estranged wife Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), a cook. There is a huge turnout for the grand opening of Club Juke, as singer Pearline (Jayme Lawson) and Stack’s jilted former lover Mary (Hailee Steinfeld) join the festivities.
Late into the night, Sammy’s music attracts a trio of strange figures, headed by Remmick (Jack O’Connell), who ask to be let into the joint. They are refused and, as patrons leave, they return with a different personality. Things gradually turn creepy and tragic, and soon those who remain are battling a horde of undead.
One of the film’s strongest aspects is the acting. Smoke and Stack are both played to perfection by Jordan, and the illusion of there being two of him in the same shot is seamless, courtesy of some impressive CGI technology. Indeed, the first act does an amazing job of introducing the characters, letting us learn their stories and personalities before we see their blood drained. It is a strong testament to both the talents of the performers and the skill of director Coogler that most of the characters are entertaining to watch as both humans and vampires. Steinfeld’s Mary is a prime example of this, as we see her go effortlessly from embittered ex-girlfriend of Stack’s to cheerful and deadly bloodsucker.
On a technical level, Sinners is also excellent. Cinematographer Autumn Durald uses IMAX cameras to showcase the vast cottonfields in the opening sequence, and later a bizarre and somewhat humorous one-take sequence where Sammy’s music at the joint summons musicians and figures “from the past and future,” according to narration by Annie. We see dancers and singers in garb from different genres among the patrons of the joint. The vampires, when they are revealed, are a slick combination of makeup and optical effects; their eyes glow in the dark (usually red), and they are often covered with the blood of their victims. At one point, the lead vampire Remmick’s fingers grow abnormally long, and his final fate is nothing if not visually insane.
All these virtues-and more-serve the movie well. Where it stumbles, unfortunately, is with the screenplay. It does provide the two brothers with snappy and at times funny dialogue as they use money and booze to attract workers and entertainers for their joint. It also introduces a wholly original reason why someone might want to become a vampire, as they claim that everyone is truly equal among them. It also caps off the movie with an emotionally satisfying moment that ties everything together.
But the story is drawn out to a degree that may put off more casual viewers. It takes more than an hour before the vampires reveal themselves to the protagonists. This in and of itself is not a bad thing, as it allows the characters to be properly introduced. But when the action starts, it features more or less the same things seen in many vampire movies before, including a character who is the only one with knowledge about the monsters, another character hesitant to kill a loved one who’s been turned and, of course, fiery death by sunlight. It is all well-made, as is the traditional vampire carnage, which is quite terrifying. But the transition is somehow both so gradual and yet so sudden at the same time (the moment Annie deduces they’re vampires, she immediately starts listing their weaknesses) that it doesn’t quite gel with what came before. Even the aforementioned one-shot sequence, well-made as it is, feels somewhat out of place; in a movie with vampires, the sight of all the past and future figures is one step too far in the strangeness department.
To this reviewer, Sinners is very good, but not entirely great, especially on second viewing (maybe it will change on a third). Had the story been more compact and cohesive, it would have ranked even higher. Obviously, not everyone feels the same way, as the movie has earned over $280 million worldwide on a $90 million budget. Despite the narrative faults, Sinners still earned its accolades. In an industry that is jam-packed with sequels and reboots (of which there are to be several this summer), Coogler and company have dared to make a high-quality original work which paid off big-time. Hopefully the success of Sinners will inspire other visionary directors to take similar risks in the near future.
Director: Ryan Coogler
Screenplay: Ryan Coogler
Producers: Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian, Ryan Coogler
Cast: Michael B. Jordan (Elijah "Smoke" Moore, Elias "Stack" Moore), Hailee Steinfeld (Mary), Miles Caton (Sammie "Preacher Boy" Moore), Jack O'Connell (Remmick), Wunmi Mosaku (Annie), Jayme Lawson (Pearline), Oscar Miller (Cornbread), Delroy Lindo (Delta Slim), Li Jun Li (Grace Chow), Saul Williams (Jedidiah Moore), Buddy Guy (Older Sammie)
Rated: R (strong bloody violence, sexual content, and language)
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