Movie Review ~ Sinners

Some filmmakers will spend their entire careers attempting to transcend standard genre constraints, but few manage it with the kind of fearless vision Ryan Coogler displays in Sinners. His fifth feature isn’t content to merely blend supernatural horror with period gangster drama—it forges something entirely fresh from fusing the two, delivering a cinematic experience (and what an experience!) that defies expectations at every turn.

Set in the early 1930s but bristling with contemporary urgency, Sinners follows twin brothers Smoke and Stack (both played, with impressive detail and separation, by Michael B. Jordan, Creed) as they return to their Southern hometown to escape their criminal past and open a “juke joint” that they call all the shots on. But peace is not what awaits. As the sun goes down and the barrelhouse comes to life with local workers ready to kick back and enjoy a night of drinking, dancing, and old-fashioned fun, a malevolent force that has taken root in the town wakes up and decides to crash the party.

Theirs is a town haunted by more than just memories of horrific racism and oppression. Something sinister lurks under the surface, but Coogler takes his time letting it bubble up, mixing the classic elements of slow-burn supernatural horror with a gritty redemption arc for several key characters. What begins as a brooding blood-and-bullets drama morphs into something stranger and far more unsettling—ancestral echos soaked in shadow. It’s mythic, spiritual, and terrifying.

Jordan’s dual performance is a triumph, both in his technique as one of the best actors of his generation and his onscreen presence as a reliable leading man…two of them, actually. He doesn’t just act opposite himself; he inhabits two people with the same face but wildly different souls. Stack is coiled, violent, and wary. Smoke is softer, burdened by guilt and longing. The film lets them share the screen in seamless, tactile ways and the digital trickery is flawless. However, Jordan’s physicality and voice work sell the illusion more than anything. You stop looking for seams and start believing you’re watching two separate men battle demons, literal and metaphorical.

But Sinners isn’t a one-man show. The supporting cast might just be the strongest Coogler’s assembled. Wunmi Mosaku (Deadpool & Wolverine) and Hailee Steinfeld (Pitch Perfect) are terrific as women tied to the twins, not as anchors or obstacles to work around, but as sharp forces in full control of their own destinies. Newcomer Miles Caton, as their cousin Sammie, starts soft and ends scorched, as his faith is tested in brutal, heart-wrenching ways. He sings and plays guitar like a dream, and it’s a good thing Coogler calls on him to use his talents so often throughout the film.

Jack O’Connell (Unbroken) plays the menacing Remmick as unapologetically evil and without salvation; every scene with him crackles with dread. Then there’s Delroy Lindo (They Harder They Fall) playing Delta Slim, a whiskey-soaked, harmonica-wielding musician offering his best work in years.  I haven’t even touched on the excellent small turns from Yao and Li Jun Li as grocers pulled into the fray and Jayme Lawson (The Batman) as a belty blues singer who catches Sammie’s eye.

Reteaming with his trusted collaborators, this is Coogler’s most dazzling and ambitious film yet. The blueprints of his previous works are all here—the intimacy amidst spectacle, grief woven within hope—but Sinners feels like a leap forward into deeper and darker territory. Autumn Durald Arkapaw’s cinematography weaponizes the IMAX format, capturing cotton fields haunted by the midday sun and production designer Hannah Beachler’s well-appointed lantern-lit interiors that squeeze your chest with fear. The legendary Ruth E. Carter’s costume work is storytelling in fabric, threading cultural history into every garment. Ludwig Göransson’s blues-tinged score shifts from soaring gospel to Irish folksong in one chilling breath, and he’s attentive to a critical soundtrack of tunes that complement the action on screen.

Technically, it’s near-perfect. Emotionally, it’s bracing. While some may feel the film lingers too long in its closing beats, I saw those final moments as a needed come-down after the hallucinatory fever pitch of what came before. Because Sinners isn’t just style. There’s a lot to digest about legacy—what we’ve inherited, what’s been buried, what refuses to stay dead. You don’t leave a movie like Sinners and go straight to Applebee’s for Happy Hour. You sit, you reflect, you exhale. I’ve seen it twice now. Once at a packed press screening where you could hear audible gasps, hissed warnings fed to the screen, and shrill screams at the right moments. The crowd was more muted the second time but just as wrapped up in the storytelling. And nearly the entire audience stayed both times until the final credit ran. (There are two post-credit scenes you’ll want to stay for)

If you’re lucky enough to live near an IMAX theater, don’t miss your chance to see Sinners how it’s meant to be seen. Coogler filmed the movie in the premium format and uses it wisely, especially in a scene midway through that will blow your mind. It’s bold and risky and likely wouldn’t have worked with anyone else but Coogler orchestrating it. Coogler’s crafted a modern classic, a genre-blending, expectation-defying stunner that doesn’t just entertain; it commands your attention.

This is what big-screen filmmaking is for, why you pay for original entertainment. Sinners isn’t just a must-see of 2025—it’s the kind of movie that rewires your moviegoing expectations.