Sinners Review (2025): Redemption, Rage, and Raw Emotion

Last updated on 2025-06-30

Genre(s) – Drama, Horror, Thriller
Director – Ryan Coogler
Writer – Ryan Coogler
Cast – Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Jack O’Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, Jayme Lawson, Omar Miller, and Delroy Lindo
Runtime – 138 Minutes
My Rating – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Where To Watch/Stream Sinners

Sinners slaps you in the face halfway through and whispers, ‘Surprise, it’s a vampire movie now.’

Sinners is a rare beast. It manages to be a slow-burn character drama, a metaphor-heavy horror film, and a pretty intense historical commentary, and I walked away thinking, “Well, that was something special.”

Plot Summary of Sinners (Spoiler-Free)

Set in 1930s Mississippi, Sinners follows twin brothers Smoke and Stack, both played brilliantly by Michael B. Jordan. After years in Chicago trying to leave their past behind, they return home with dreams of opening a juke joint – a space for music, dancing, and freedom. They’re not just trying to build a business. They’re trying to build a life. A future. Something that doesn’t end in violence or chains.

At first, the film feels like a well-shot, carefully layered Southern drama. There’s tension in the air, weight in every glance, and the kind of slow storytelling that feels like it actually respects your brain. We get to know the town, the people, the ghosts in the brothers’ past. Then this odd man shows up. Remmick, who is polite in the way only a guy who might murder you politely can be.

Then people start vanishing. And coming back… different.

That’s when you realize you’re not watching just another historical drama. You’re in vampire territory now. But not the sparkly kind. The blood-sucking, slow-talking, power-dealing kind that feels like it was ripped out of Southern folklore.

Sinners Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Strap in, because Sinners isn’t your average vampire movie, and it also isn’t your average Southern drama, either. It’s both, and somehow more, like if Get Out, There Will Be Blood, and From Dusk Till Dawn had a messy, brilliant, blues-infused lovechild and raised it on gospel music, racial tension, and bootlegged whiskey.

Let’s get this out of the way: 9 out of 10. That’s my score. That’s my verdict. That’s the number I’m giving Sinners, because it does exactly what it sets out to do, and then some. It aims high, swings big, and actually lands those punches – most of them square in the jaw.

Ryan Coogler’s not here to make schlocky B-movie horror or Oscar-bait melodrama. He’s here to blur the line between the two, grab you by the collar, and say, “You think you know what this is? You don’t.” And he’s right.

The film never feel like a mash-up or a gimmick, though. The horror and the drama aren’t slapped together like oil and vinegar, hoping the audience won’t notice. They’re fused, like old scars and fresh wounds, inseparable. The supernatural element isn’t pasted onto the plot – it’s woven through the fabric of it, from the first frame to the last.

The first hour is deceptively straightforward. We meet Smoke and Stack – Michael B. Jordan doing the cinematic version of a high-wire act without a net. He plays both brothers with such nuance that it honestly feels like the kind of performance that makes you forget digital effects even exist. Stack’s the smooth talker, always thinking a few steps ahead. Smoke’s more quiet, more burdened, but not weaker. They’re both deeply scarred, deeply human, and most importantly, believable as family.

They’ve come back to Mississippi from Chicago with plans and dreams: build a juke joint, make some money, make some noise, and maybe, just maybe, carve out a space for themselves in a world that’s constantly trying to erase them. The juke joint is more than a club. It’s freedom in wood and brick. It’s rebellion dressed in saxophones and stomping feet.

But then the weirdness creeps in. A stranger shows up – Remmick. And you think, “Wait… are we doing vampires now?” And yeah. Yeah, we are.

But here’s where the film does something kind of genius. It doesn’t make a big deal out of it. There’s no moment where someone screams “He’s a vampire!” and throws a cross in his face. The film just shifts. Quietly. Naturally. And suddenly you realize that the story hasn’t changed – it’s just taken its coat off and shown you what it was hiding the whole time.

The horror in Sinners is not there to give you cheap scares. It’s there to make a point. Remmick isn’t just a monster – he’s the monster. He represents power structures. He represents temptation. He represents everything the brothers are trying to escape, dressed up in charm and promises.

He offers them immortality. Power. Revenge. He says, “They’re coming for you tomorrow. You know they are. But I can make you stronger than them.” And in that moment, the film stops being about vampires and starts being about the choices you make when the world has its boot on your neck.

That’s the brilliance of this thing. It uses genre to amplify reality. You don’t have to stretch to see the symbolism. But it also doesn’t bash you over the head with it. It lets the horror settle in slowly, like humidity. Before you know it, you’re sweating and you don’t know why.

Now, this genre shift is not easy to pull off. Most movies that try to jump tracks halfway through end up derailing. But Coogler guides the film through it like he’s conducting an orchestra. The pacing is tight, the tone never wobbles, and the story never loses sight of what it’s really about: two men trying to take back their future.

The cinematography, production design, lighting – all of it comes together to build a world that feels absolutely real. Not stylized. Not sepia-toned. Real. You feel the heat, the dirt, the ache in people’s bones. I have read a lot of complaints about the film being too dark, but its intentional, and I thought it worked really well within the style of the film.

And of course, we also have the music in the film.

The music is not just used as background noise, nor as a filler It’s the actual heart, the pulse, the spine, and maybe even the soul of the whole damn film.

And thank God Ryan Coogler brought back Ludwig Göransson to do the score, because the man clearly made some kind of blood pact with the music gods. Every note feels deliberate, every cue perfectly placed, and somehow it still doesn’t feel overproduced or polished to the point of sterility. It’s alive. Raw, but cinematic. Spiritual, but grounded.

From the very first scene, music is baked into the story. The brothers aren’t just trying to open a juke joint for fun or for profit – they want to build a place where people can escape, even just for a night. A place where sweat and rhythm are holy. It’s rebellion set to a beat. And you feel that, not just because the characters say it, but because the music makes you believe it.

The songs themselves are a mix of Delta blues, early soul, gospel, and pure Southern grit. It feels historically rooted but still fresh, like it could exist in 1932 or 2025 and still hit the same way. It’s the kind of soundtrack you actually want to listen to on its own – not just to relive scenes from the movie, but because it genuinely slaps. And I do not say “slaps” lightly.

Coogler also knows when to pull the music back – like in that garlic test scene. The club goes quiet. The rhythm dies. And suddenly, people who were dancing together five minutes ago are staring each other down like they might bite each other’s throats out. That’s how well the film understands tension. The absence of music hits just as hard as the music itself.

It’s all about what the music means. The blues in this film isn’t decoration. It’s history. It’s survival. And Coogler gets that. There’s a brutal truth in one line from Delta Slim: “White folks like the blues just fine, they just don’t like the people who make it.” That’s not just a clever line – that’s the entire dynamic the film explores. Black creativity being mined, sold, stolen, and stripped of its meaning.

It reclaims the music. It centers Black voices, Black joy, Black pain. The music becomes a form of protest. A way to hold on to dignity when the world wants to crush you. That juke joint becomes more than a building — it becomes a temple. The music played inside it? Gospel for the godless. Medicine for the damned.

And that’s why the music matters so much. It could have just been used as window dressing, but it doesn’t. It’s resistance. It’s culture. It’s the sound of people refusing to disappear, and this soundtrack is going to win awards. And if it doesn’t, that says more about the awards than the music.

Sinners is a film that takes a lot of risks, it trusts its audience, and delivers something that sticks with you. It doesn’t wrap everything up in a neat little bow. It doesn’t tell you what to think. It just lays everything out and says, “This is the world. Now what?”

If you like your movies safe, neat, and emotionally shallow, this isn’t for you. But if you like your stories complex, bold, and a little bit messy – in the best way – Sinners is one of the best films of the year, and one of the best films I have seen in a long time.

Just go and watch it, OK?

What I Liked (And What I Didn’t Like)

Pros

Michael B. Jordan x2

Look, playing twins is hard. Most actors can barely play one convincing character without looking like they’re just reading the script off someone’s forehead. But Jordan brings Stack and Smoke to life with totally different body language, tone, and presence. You forget you’re watching the same actor, which is wild considering they share scenes.

That Genre Switch

Midway through, the film changes its entire shape. This is usually the part where most movies start gasping for air. Not here. Coogler pulls it off like he’s done it ten times before. You go from historical drama to supernatural horror without a single scene feeling out of place. That’s hard.

The Score is the Soul

Ludwig Göransson needs to be banned from scoring movies so other composers can catch up. His work here isn’t just background- it drives the film. The music tells you things before the script does. It carries tension, memory, even rebellion.

The Setting Feels Lived-In

You can feel the Mississippi heat. You can see the dust on the floorboards. Every location feels like it has a backstory. And not the kind someone wrote out in a production binder- the kind that just seeps into the frame because the world-building is that good.

Symbolism Without Being a Lecture

The vampire element is clearly metaphorical, but the film never smacks you in the face with it. It just lets the idea sit there. Remmick offering power in exchange for your soul? That’s American history in a nutshell. But the movie trusts you to get it.

It Respects the Audience

No hand-holding. No over-explaining. Sinners trusts you to keep up. If you don’t, tough. The film doesn’t spoon-feed you.

Cons

The Second Half is a Bit Rushed

Once the horror kicks in, the pacing goes from a slow burn to a sprint. I get it – it’s exciting – but I missed the quieter moments from earlier on. Things start exploding before some characters get the closure or screen time they deserve.

Some Side Characters Get Sidelined

There’s a rich world here, but not everyone gets their due. A few interesting characters disappear (figuratively, not just vampire-style) before we get to really know them.

Stack’s Arc Deserved One More Scene

His story is powerful, but we could’ve used just one more beat to drive his inner conflict home. Especially when he’s weighing Remmick’s offer.

Where’s the Third Act Monologue?

This might be a me thing, but I was waiting for a full, cathartic monologue from Smoke. Something that laid bare everything they’d been through. We got emotional moments, but that final gut-punch speech never arrived.

Who Might Like Sinners

If you like slow-burn dramas that gradually build the tension before delivering a satisfying payoff, Sinners will be right up your alley. The film takes its time with character development and atmosphere, with a story that gradually unravels, you’ll appreciate how it all comes together.

Horror fans who want more substance than just scares will also find something to enjoy here. The film blends the supernatural with real-world themesand of course the music, if you’re into blues or jazz, you’ll love it and also how it ties into the story.

Who Might Not Like Sinners

If you crave fast pacing, Sinners might not be for you. The film takes its time, and if you prefer all the quick thrills, you might get impatient and find it dull (How dare you). Also, if you don’t like when genres mix, this one might feel a bit all over the place. But honestly, I am struggling to see how anyone wouldn’t like this one.

Final Verdict: Did I Enjoy Watching Sinners?

Absolutely. And I’ll be watching it again many, many times.

Sinners is the kind of movie that just stays with you, because it actually means something. It’s a story about two brothers trying to find hope in a world that keeps stealing it. About how power works. About what survival costs. And it wraps all of that up in a genre movie with actual teeth. Literal and metaphorical.

Coogler swung big here. And he connected.

Sinners Trailer

Sinners Film Facts

• The production utilized both IMAX 15-perf 70 mm and Ultra Panavision 70mm cameras, creating alternating aspect ratios of 1.43:1 and 2.76:1
• The film’s budget was approximately $100 million, with $67.6 million spent on location in Louisiana.
• Göransson performed much of the score on a 1932 Dobro Cyclops resonator guitar.
• Hailee Steinfeld wrote and recorded the original song “Dangerous” for the film.
• The film features performances by blues musicians such as Buddy Guy, Alvin Youngblood Hart, and Brittany Howard.
• The film has grossed over $287 million worldwide, as of writing.
• The film was secretly shot under the working title Grilled Cheese to maintain secrecy during production.
• Many music scenes were recorded live on set, with actors actually playing and singing.

Simon Leasher

A lover of cinema for over 35 years, I try and look at the good and bad points of films while advising whether someone might like the film or not. More

And yes, The Godfather 2 is better than The Godfather.