Sinners (2025) – Hellishly Great

Released: 17th April
Seen: 10th May

Ryan Coogler is one of the most surprising directors in recent years. After breaking onto the scene with Fruitvale Station, Ryan was handed the keys to two important pieces of cinematic IP. The first was Creed, a spin-off from the Rocky franchise that absolutely made him into a mainstream figure, which he then was able to use to helm Black Panther and Wakanda Forever, cementing him as a masterful blockbuster director that should not be underestimated. Of course most of his work is in known IP, in franchises people previously knew but hadn’t yet been able to actually go for broke with something original… until now, thanks to his absolute barn burner of a horror film Sinners which should cement Ryan Coogler as one of the best directors of this generation.

Sinners takes place in 1932 Clarksdale, Mississippi, where twin brothers Smoke and Stack Moore (Michael B Jordan pulling double duty) have returned from Chicago to open up a juke joint in the town to cater to the local community. They spend their day preparing, wrangling blues musicians Sammie “Preacher Boy” Moore (Miles Caton) and Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo) to perform for their patrons, some of whom include Smoke’s wife Annie (Wunmi Mosaku) and Stack’s ex Mary (Hailee Steinfeld) along with the local storekeepers Bo Chow (Yao) and Grace Chow (Li Jun Li). The opening of the juke joint starts well, everyone’s having fun dancing to good blues music, drinking, allowing the problems of the outside world to remain outside… At least, until a trio of white banjo players turn up and while it might be bad enough that they play the banjo, they also happen to be a little bit bloodthirsty, which is not going to make for a fun night.

Sinners is probably going to be one of the most beloved movies of the year for just how truly captivating it is from start to finish. Within seconds of the film starting it sets the tone perfectly with a single shot of a church where glorious music rings out only to be silenced by a dishevelled, blood-soaked man walking in. It’s simple but it tells you everything you need to know, you’re going to experience true musical bliss with this film but it’s going to be all pulled apart thanks to the brutality that’s on the way. Once the tone is set, the film slows down and spends the better part of an hour just letting you get to know the characters and that’s really where this film shines.

While the advertising might try to sell the film on its scares and on just how damn sexy it is (and oh boy, is it both of those things), Sinners is a masterclass in creating fascinating characters that you get to know within seconds of meeting them. This is true for every character but powerfully so for the twins, Michael B Jordan finds several ways to make each twin feel unique enough that when they’re not sharing the screen you can pretty easily keep up with who is who. Everyone from Preacher Boy to Mary gets a moment right as they come in where you are shown everything about who they are and it makes it so easy to root for them or to feel bad when they meet an unfortunate demise. Even the trio of banjo-playing racists, Remmick (Jack O’Connell), Bert (Peter Dreimanis) and Joan (Lola Kirke) are given plenty of characterisation that makes them more than just a force of evil. Every single character is just deliciously rich and fascinating to the point where you want to spend even more time with them.

It also helps that the time we spend with these characters is beautifully presented; it’s fair to say Sinners might be one of the best-looking films that Coogler has ever made. The period setting is absolutely perfect, every single nail in every building feels real and lived in and when the film has its moments of breaking out of the period setting (the big dance sequence at the midpoint of the film is genius on so many levels) it never feels like it sacrifices the reality that has been established. Considering how much of the film is spent during the night, it’s stunning that they’re able to make everything visually easy to follow even while shooting in almost complete darkness. 

Then there’s the soundtrack, an all-time best from composer Ludwig Göransson who makes the film come alive with his incredible score, seriously he should be clearing space on his shelves for another Oscar because this should get him his third. The Blues music feels truly authentic, even in the fantasy sequence where other genres of music are blended in it all just feels like it came from the soul, it feels like it belongs in this little town where people are just barely getting by and dealing with the reality of Jim Crow laws.

Sure enough, Sinners does not shy away from the harsh racial reality of the era, if anything, it leans into it. Every major issue can be traced back to either a straight-up Klansman or a white-passing person pushing their way through and leaving devastation in their wake and it’s brutal watching these people we’ve come to love having to deal with it all. Obviously there is a ton of subtext here, stuff that a black reviewer is probably better at discussing than I ever will be but you can feel it there bubbling under the surface and it helps kick everything up to a whole other level of great filmmaking.

Sinners is sexy, scary, soulful, smart and sensational as all hell. It pulls you in slowly but once it has its teeth in you, it rips and tears and goes to town. Admittedly, it can feel a little bit like it took Dusk Til Dawn and threw a can of 1930s Southern paint on top of it but even with a similar framework the tones are completely different. This isn’t campy, this is dark and brutal and wants to entertain you but also just fuck with you a little. It doesn’t shock me at all that this film has made as big a splash as it has, I just hope that we get a lot more horror films out of Ryan Coogler because he’s fucking fantastic at them.