Sinners (2025)

	Directed by: Ryan Coogler	COUNTRY USA GENRE Drama/Horror NORWEGIAN TITLE Sinners RUNNING TIME 138 minutes
	Produced by: Zinzi Coogler Sev Ohanian Ryan Coogler
	Written by: Ryan Coogler

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Smokestack Twins	Michael B. Jordan	½
Mary	Hailee Steinfeld	½
Samuel "Sammie" Moore	Miles Caton	½
Remmick	Jack O'Connell
Annie	Wunmi Mosaku	-
Pearline	Jayme Lawson	-
Cornbread	Omar Benson Miller	-
Delta Slim	Delroy Lindo

Review

The first act presents a handsome, slowly unfolding period excursion to 1930s Mississippi, in which filmmaker Ryan Coogler creates the backdrop for his later premise and lets us get acquainted with his characters. The central themes are crime versus uprightness, sinful sex and blues versus piety, and, of course, black versus white. The somewhat less enticing second act revolves around the opening night of a new juke joint run by our two protagonists, the criminal twin brothers "Smoke" and "Stack", both played by Michael B. Jordan. Also attending are their cousin Sammie (Miles Caton), a prodigious blues singer and guitarist, as well as Stack's ex-girlfriend Mary (Hailee Steinfeld). We've been given rather obvious premonitions that the playing of blues might somehow be connected to the dark side, so what could we possibly have in store as the plot thickens? The answer is a hotchpotch of great music and tribal lamentations mixed with all-too-familiar genre tropes. It's far from as attractive as the elegant period setting and cinematography. And when the third act of vampire horror kicks into high gear, whatever innovation the film exhibited in its genre-bending first half quickly dissipates. From here, the film becomes utterly derivative, desperately lacking the crispness and freshness of its main inspiration, From Dusk Till Dawn. Sinners has a lush, slick look and some fine music – plus, of course, an inexplicably strong following.