REVIEW: Sinners (2025)
Sinners is a film I knew absolutely nothing about before seeing it, and I would recommend the same to you if you decide to see it. Directed by Ryan Coogler (Creed, Black Panther), the film stars Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, and Delroy Lindo and introduces Miles Caton in the lead role of Sammie. I don’t know how to describe it without giving something away, but I’ll do my best.
Sinners follows Sammie, the young son of a preacher working on a plantation in Mississippi in the 1930s. Sammie’s criminal cousins, the Smoke/Stack brothers (Michael B. Jordan), come into town after disappearing to Chicago for a while and recruit Sammie to play his guitar in a new bar they’re opening. Sammie’s youthful lust for adventure clashes with his father’s (Saul Williams) wishes for him to help around the church more. The first half of Sinners proceeds as such, introducing characters and allowing Sammie to experience the world his cousins inhabit. From this point on, Sinners becomes an entirely different but equally enjoyable experience.
Going into this film blind, the first thing that struck me was the music. There’s a lot of it, and it’s awesome! It won’t surprise you that Sinners’ score is composed by Ludwig Göransson, a frequent collaborator of Coogler’s who also wrote some original songs for the film. However, Sinners also features some pre-existing songs. The musical sequences in this film are simply electrifying; I was completely sucked in and blown away by them, transported to a different place and time. And that’s definitely what Sinners is going for. You’re put in the Jim Crow South from the first frame, and every facet of production reinforces the setting. Even once the film fell into a groove and I thought I knew what was going on, the villain, Remmick (Jack O’Connell), goes into a jig while performing “The Rocky Road to Dublin,” a song written in the 1800s about the treatment the Irish received from the English. Again, this was surprising in its energy and the song’s catchiness, fortifying themes of colonization and discrimination. Most of the music in the movie is blues, as that’s what Sammie plays and what was popular in the given time and place. However, Remmick’s style of music is not only pleasant in its own right, but the two seemingly disparate genres fit together to tell a very specific story through music. The choreography in the club and among the villains is also excellent. Sinners is many things, but it’s never dull.
You can probably tell from the capable cast that the acting is pretty good. I don’t think there are any incredible performances in Sinners, but the actors do what works for this movie. Michael B. Jordan and Jack O’Connell are my favorites in this because Jordan has a dual role (another surprise to me; did y’all know this?), and O’Connell really sells his character. He’s so charming and likable! Miles Caton is very likable and funny in an understated way. I imagine he’ll go on to have a decent career of his own. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Saul Williams before, but he’s very compelling as Sammie’s pastor father. The dialogue in Sinners is quick and witty, and I only wish I could have heard it better. I feel like I need to see this movie again because my theater was a little rowdy, especially during the opening scene. I was taken aback by both how violent Sinners is and how sensual the movie can be. I wouldn’t recommend seeing it with family, which was my mistake. But otherwise, the scenes in question are well done. Some moments in the second half, including some with the villains, came off as cheesy. They felt in conflict with the more grounded tone of the first half. But the more time passes, I think I need to see it again and really think about it. But that was my first impression.
Speaking of the villains, I was surprised by who the real bad guy is. It was easy to think it would be the racist white guy who sold the brothers the land and building for the bar, Hogwood (David Maldonado). And don’t get me wrong, he’s not a good person. But while racism is pervasive and ever-present in the lives of Sammie, Smoke, and Stack, the true enemy has more in common with them than they could have anticipated. I found this refreshing, and I think there’s some truth to it. Who can pull you in and hurt you more than someone you understand and can relate to? They know where all the pressure points are.
The last thing I’ll say is probably the most obvious. Film is a visual medium, so it’s preferable that a movie look good or, if it’s ugly, that it be so for a specific purpose. Sinners is gorgeous both in how it frames its setting and its characters. You can feel a little bit of despair when the camera sweeps over people picking cotton or linked up on a chain gang. This is another area where I’m trying to avoid saying certain things, but I hope you go see the movie and see for yourself.
Sinners is a blast; it’s a tremendous time at the movies, gorgeously shot with a talented cast and a banger soundtrack, and it leaves you with something to chew on when you leave the theater. The film touches on themes of religious piety, colonialism, the hardships of being othered, and possibly more that I didn’t catch. One viewing will be a lot of fun for most people, but I think Sinners’ biggest strength may be in repeat viewings.
Have you seen Sinners? If so, what do you think? Talk to us in the comments!
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Sinners (2025)
Plot - 8
Acting - 8
Direction/Editing - 8
Music/Sound - 10
Surprises - 10
8.8
Great
Sinners is a lot of fun. I would recommend this movie to anyone except kids and the exceptionally squeamish.
Comments (2)
Only read some random comments. Other symbolism was Preacher Boy leaving the church, and then, one of the hoodoo twins stabbed the snake, so instead of St. Michael, it was him stabbing the snake of a forced religion? Slim tells Preacher Boy the same thing that the Blues music was brought with them from home unlike what he considered the forced religion. So, those were just some interesting interpretations from the comments sections that I vaguely gleened. It’s really up to readers and viewers to decide for themselves and think and believe for themselves. Will say this, a pundit I follow always ways that the inversion is always proof of sulphur and that it stealing the symbol of St. Michael vs. the Serpent and changing it, but still, it was done with artistic flair. I like the music and the cotton fields and the way they dressed. Killer movie. I happened to like it while others say it is overhyped. For some reason, I took to it and I never watched any of the other things like Get Out or Lovecraft Country. May have to check out Lovecraft Country, as H.P. was a top American writer, and I consider that somewhat hacked, but in a good way, as it’s deep historical American roots in prose.
Saw it and it was good. Definitely art. The music soundtrack is strong in this one. What I liked even more is that there are a lot of interpretations of the film from many angles to explore after the movie. One guy BrainPilot on youtube talks about it. Some say it’s antiChristian, as they hired a hoodoo consultant and he had that bag of herbs on him to keep him safe instead of a cross, and at the end, he rips it off when he knows he’s going into his suicide mission. Another interpretation was that all the sins were represented in terms of lust, greed, etc. and the blues player choosing the devil’s music over gospel.
The reason I liked it is that it reminded me of many comics from Image comics in terms of being surreal, like Twilight Zone or Black Mirror and will say that I think Coogler is on that Eggers level or higher as a director that has incredible skill to bring ethnocentric visions and spirituals to the screen, so in that way, it was good.
I did not like the psychic pre-crime under which he commits mass murder in the end because the Django messaging is just becoming more and more repetitive at this point, but I must keep in mind that it’s just a movie after all, but still, not sure if the reverse would be allowed in the woke era.
Visually, piercing the veil of space time with music was just awesome. It really was like seeing a graphic novel on screen. I wanted to see things like this but maybe in a different way. It reminds me just a lil bit about a comic I liked called TWO MOONS by Image.
Also, the Vamps were kind of a religious cult, so you had at least three groups looking for freedom, his dad’s church, the Sinners, and The Vampires all seeking either a better world or freedom. What I took from the film was that there was almost a parallel between The Church and The Vampires, while the Sinners were seeking freedom from that, but again, that is what makes this movie great is that people will take different things out of it to find the meaning. In the end, just diggin retro music of such a bygone era made this movie cool. At one period in history, ragtime was considered the American music, then blues, then jazz, big band, Motown, hiphop, etc.