Sinners review

SINNERS: 

RYAN COOGLER’S BLOODY AND BADASS VAMPIRE FLICK! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

WARNER BROS. PICTURES

Michael B. Jordan in Sinners

 

            Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station, Creed trilogy, Black Panther) goes from boxing champion to Marvelvillain to vampire slayer in Sinners, the new film from director Ryan Coogler (Every single movie I just mentioned for Michael B. Jordan!). This was one of my most anticipated films of the year, I’ve been very impressed by both Coogler and Jordan’s work in the past and the hype surrounding this film was crazy especially with the MCU’s Blade reboot being stuck in development hell. 

            So, does Sinners live up to the hype and praise it’s been getting? The answer is YES! This movie is awesome and must be seen in a theater to get the full experience (Preferably IMAX if you have one of those near you). This is a large-scale blockbuster with masterful craftsmanship, brilliant visual storytelling, and amazing uses of practical gore effects that a lot of the biggest modern film releases should thrive to be like. 

            The film is set in 1932 and follows two World War I veterans and identical twins, Smoke and Stack (Both played by Jordan) returning from Chicago to their hometown of the Mississippi Delta after years of working for the mob in hopes to start again via purchasing a sawmill and turning it into a juke joint. However, as they’re trying to leave their troubled lives behind, they soon discover there is an even greater evil waiting to welcome them back… Fucking Vampires! 

            The film also stars Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit (2010), Spider-Verse trilogy, Hawkeye) as Mary, Miles Caton (Little Big Shots) as Sammie “Preacher Boy” Moore, Jack O’Connell (Harry Brown, 300: Rise of an Empire, 28 Years Later) as Remmick, Wunmi Mosaku (Vera, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Marvel Cinematic Universe) as Annie, Jayme Lawson (The Batman, The Woman King, Till) as Pearline, Omar Benson Miller (CSI: Miami, Homefront, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) as Cornbread, Delroy Lindo (Clockers, Get Shorty, Da 5 Bloods) as Delta Slim, Li Jun Li (Quantico, The Exorcist, Babylon) as Grace Chow, Lola Kirke (Mozart in the Jungle, Gone Girl, Gemini) as Joan, July Talk’s Peter Dreimanis as Bert, and Saul Williams (K-PAX, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2017), Blink Twice) as Jedidiah Moore.

            Overall, Sinners is a phenomenally crafted, thoroughly suspenseful, and at times comical vampire flick that takes Ryan Coogler’s filmmaking to exhilarating new heights. Don’t get me wrong, the two Black Panther movies he directed are great, but you can definitely tell those are studio movies where he was hired on to direct, THIS is raw, unhinged Coogler directing through and through and it might actually be my favorite film of his that I’ve seen. 

            I often thought about Christopher Nolan (And not just because he shoots his films in IMAX) and Jordan Peele’s filmmaking styles as I was watching it and was marveling at the production design, cinematography, and large scope of what I was looking at. The movie looks incredible especially on the big screen and can easily see getting awards attention for production design and cinematography. 

            There’s also this incredible sequence in the juke joint where Miles Caton’s Sammie is performing his music and the camera pans around the room showing the song being performed in different styles and eras of music and is it a feast for the eyes and ears. Forget the gory vampire action, this is the best scene in the movie in my opinion. 

            I’m sure most people are seeing it to see Michael B. Jordan slaughter some vampires and yes, there is plenty of that here, but I love how this movie takes its time in terms of the pacing and storytelling. The first half of the film establishes the characters and gives the audience a window into these people’s lives and what they’re like before the supernatural terror begins and even if it’s just a minor character, you legit care for every single person in the film. 

            Michael B. Jordan is great in the dual performance with one being more restrained and levelheaded while the other is eccentric and crazy. He does an incredible job making both roles unique has great chemistry with himself (I’m convinced Sonic the Hedgehog 3 re-popularized this trend for the 2020s). 

            Miles Caton in his first film role is a massive standout and the emotional anchor of the movie as an aspiring guitarist who joins Jordans 1 and 2 despite opposition from his pastor father who warns him that blues music is supernatural. He adds a lot of levity to the movie and given his complicated relationship with his father, you want to see him make it through the terror and pursue his dream, I very much look forward to seeing him again in the future because he is great here. 

            The vampire action and gore are amazing and a lot of fun to watch with the best part being practical blood effects. It isn’t as chaotic as From Dusk till Dawn or even the first two Wesley Snipes Blade movies, but the action scenes and kills are very fast paced with a lot of energy, blood spurting out of people, getting incinerated by sunlight, and hammy performances by the actors portraying said vampires; good shit! 

            Sinners was one of my most anticipated films of 2025 and it went far beyond my expectations, it’s a gripping and suspenseful vampire movie, a love letter to blues music, and an effective period piece with relevant social commentary on racism anchored by great performances by the cast and Coogler directing the hell out of it. See it on the biggest screen you can and sink your teeth into one of the best modern vampire films ever made. 

            By the way, if you leave the theater before the mid-credits scene then you did NOT see the end of the movie so, don’t do that!