Sinners: between Black history, blues music, love stories and vampires

Ryan Coogler’s Sinners is hands down 2025’s best movie so far

Alessia Vannini ♡

Apr 28, 2025

Index

Film Profile
Introduction
Review
- Ludwig Göransson’s terrific soundtrack
- A masterclass in cinematography
- References to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining
- Career-best performances and masterful directing
Between reality and fiction
Reception

Film Profile

Title: Sinners

Release year: 2025

Film length: 2h17

Director and Writer: Ryan Coogler

Stars: Michael B. Jordan, Miles Caton, Hailee Steinfeld, Wunmi Mosaku, Jack O'Connell, Delroy Lindo, Omar Benson Miller, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Yao, Lola Kirke, Peter Dreimanis, Buddy Guy

Introduction

Finally, the long-awaited brand-new movie by Ryan Coogler, Sinners, has been released in movie theaters worldwide. Set in a 1930s racist Southern America, the movie follows the steps of twin brothers Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan), formerly WWI veterans, later on gangsters working for Al Capone and the Chicago Outfit mafia organization, and now entrepreneurs.

“Chicago ain’t nothing but Mississippi with tall buildings.”

Upon their return to Mississippi Delta, they purchase an old sawmill from a racist landowner and convert it into a juke joint for the local Black community. They are joined by their little cousin Sammie, an aspiring guitarist whose father — a pastor — warned him about the devilish nature of blues music. The three of them and some old friends join together to gather the Black community in their refurbished barrelhouse. Little did they know that would be the beginning of the end.

“You keep dancing with the devil... one day he's gonna follow you home.”

Review

⚠️There will be spoilers ahead. You have been warned.⚠️

Ryan Coogler’s obsession for Michael B. Jordan is here taken to a whole other level as he plays two of the male leads and, as predictable, he nails it. It’s so good to finally see an original movie screening in cinemas and finally getting recognition over the tons of sequels, prequels, spinoffs and remakes that are constantly getting released these years – genuinely feels like a breath of fresh air.

Ryan Coogler brings to screen a majestic piece of art: irreverent, powerful, quirky, funny, scary and dramatic. Yes, he does encapsulate all of that in the masterful movie that Sinners is. While it being a “vampire movie” might make you scoff it off at the beginning because it’s nothing we haven’t already seen, well… Ryan instantly proves you wrong. What’s for sure is that the survivors naturally ought to equip themselves with silver bullets, wooden stakes and garlic while waiting for the Sun to rise. How else are they going to kill vampires then?

I believe that the most unique feature of this movie has got to be its strong connection with music, the spirituality it holds and, most of all, its capability of connecting oneself with past and future generations and summoning them just through the power of its notes.

I am sincerely astonished by the greatness and originality of this movie. Needless to say that that sequence was so mind-blowing it gave me goosebumps. The merging of different music eras and different cultures was a pure delight and the whole sequence felt like a transcendental experience. Truly one of those sequence that loudly makes you say “that’s cinema”.

The whole staging was terrific and that same sequence I mentioned above is the evidence that the Academy should really include a category dedicated to Choreography. The addition of the Stunt category was a great step forward but there are still many more that are criminally overlooked.

Ludwig Göransson’s terrific soundtrack

Sinners is a movie that’s been shot and that is supposed to be watched in IMAX because that’s how you will enjoy the experience the most. Again, the soundtrack is so vigorous and if you like blues music or just great music in general, IMAX makes the viewing so immersive that you truly feel the beat in your body and the sound streaming through your veins. Ludwig Göransson is hands down one of the best contemporary composers and his soundtracks are so enthralling that they inevitably become the backbone of the movie itself. I couldn’t imagine Sinners, Black Panther, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Creed or Fruitvale Station (even though I still haven’t seen the two latter ones, regrettably) to be directed by anyone but Ryan Coogler, just as I couldn’t imagine them without Michael B. Jordan in the cast and without the outstanding soundtracks by Ludwig Göransson. They definitely constitute one of the best trios in nowadays’ film industry.

A masterclass in cinematography

Cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw, a regular Coogler collaborator, does a terrific job, making Sinners’ cinematography quite breathtaking. The work on lighting and the color palettes is outstanding and the dark, gloomy scenes are rendered masterfully — visually conveying through the dimmed light the figurative darkness in which the characters are funneled. The aspect ratio shifts were truly staggering.

References to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining

There have been quite a few references to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and to the director’s movies in general in recent movies and, of course, the first that might come to your mind would be Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance, utterly filled with homages to the great director and to some other maestros too.

If you have a well-trained cinephile eye, then you might as well have noticed a reference to the 1980 movie in Sinners as well. In the video below you can watch the scene I’m referring to and The Shinig’s original shot, as well as The Substance’s. The scene in the 2025 movie merged two iconic scenes from Kubrick’s movie, referring to both the one where Jack Torrance smashes the door with an axe and the one where he is locked inside of the storage room in the Overlook Hotel.

Career-best performances and masterful directing

It’s crazy to know that this is Miles Caton’s — the actor who plays Sammie — debut on screen because I’d already call it one of the best of his career. I am genuinely curious to see him in future projects because he is hell of an actor.

Michael B. Jordan — following the steps of Robert Pattinson and Robert De Niro, respectively in Mickey 17 and The Alto Knights — has joined 2025’s trend of a single actor playing both lead roles in a movie. Naturally — widely recognized as one of the best living actors — Michael B. Jordan pretty much steals the spotlight with his phenomenal performance as both Smoke and Stack, two twin brothers connected by a very strong bond and respect for the other.

If you think that him playing both brothers might be a bit confusing, don’t you worry because Smoke just wears blue and Stack red, like Wii’s players’ colors. Jokes aside, Jordan is astoundingly great and this movie might perhaps be the best exemplification of his acting range. Smoke and Stack are not just dressed in different colors, but they are amazingly nuanced to the very marrow. Though clearly similar, the actor gives different personalities to both through his movements, his expressions, his attitude and so on.

Hailee Steinfeld is wonderful in her portrayal of the femme fatale Mary: charming, tempting and extremely dangerous. I won’t dwell on all the actors’ performances but their names are themselves quality assurance. The cast features Wunmi Mosaku as the loving and clever Annie — who steals the show in each shot she’s in; Delroy Lindo as the hilarious and brave Delta Slim; the all-time famous Omar Benson Miller as the tough yet naïve Cornbread; Jayme Lawson as the charming Pearline with a voice of gold; Li Jun Li and Yao as the generous and fearless Mr. and Mrs. Chow; and, of course, Jack O’Connell as the vicious brainwasher Remmick.

Last but not least, Coogler’s direction. His talent never went unnoticed but he is definitely growing more and more impressive after each and every movie he makes. In Sinners, he gives his all, bringing to life (or to death?) terrific characters that are masterfully written. The story is compelling and never banal or predictable. For 138 minutes straight, Ryan Coogler keeps us on the seat’s edge, on the razor's edge. He demonstrates a great knowledge regarding the historical and cultural environment where his story is set: blues music, the Ku Klux Klan, prohibitionism, the forced labour of Black slaves in cotton fields, the Irish immigrants in South America and so on so forth. All of that is so astoundingly staged that one cannot help but feeling shipwrecked, overwhelmed by all of that cultural heritage.

Hands down 2025’s best movie so far. Let’s see if it will be topped.

Between reality and fiction

Ryan Coogler’s Sinners indirectly takes its inspiration from the infamous Mississippi bluesman Robert Johnson who, according to the legend, sold his soul to the Devil at a remote crossroads in return for fame and fortune. According to this legend, following the death of his wife, Johnson would have disappeared for a whole year and then reappear in possession of a superfine guitar technique, extremely better than the rudimentary tunes that his fellow citizens remembered. According to the myth, Robert would have learned directly from the Devil how to play the guitar in an excellent way, presumably in exchange for his soul.

Sammie’s character also owes much to Johnson as he is framed as a “revelation” in the blues music. Likewise, the real-life musician was widely regarded as a visionary of the blues, and he is essentially considered the inventor of rock ‘n’ roll. His music, with its lyrics, its distinctive sound and Johnson’s remarkable guitar licks have hugely inspired many great artists such as Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Keith Richards and Robert Plant.

At the end of the movie, in a post-credit scene set in the ‘90s, it is revealed that Sammie is still alive and playing blues like it was left to believe before the credits rolled in. Now an elder, Sammie is played by the infamous and highly skilled bluesman Buddy Guy, THE Buddy Guy.

Buddy Guy was a perfect casting choice because he is commonly considered as the worthy heir of BB King and trying to keep blues music alive. As the bluesman himself stated:

“It’s a dream come true, to be honest… […] Whatever can help the blues stay alive, I’m all for it, and I will try anything. I said, I don’t know if I’m good enough to do that. But I’ll give it a try, and if it works, it works, and if it doesn’t, at least I’ll say I gave it a try. […] And when something like this comes along, I do it to help the blues.”

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film obtained and average of 98% out of 319 critics’ reviews and 97% out of more than 10K public reviews. On IMDb, instead, it reached an average rating of 8.2/10 out of 53K reviews in total. Fans on Letterboxd also highly rated it — the movie boast an average rating of 4.4/5 — and the movie was so much appreciated that it ended up being included in Letterboxd’s Top 250 Feature Movie, gaining the 197^th place. Long story short, already during the release weekend, Sinners has proved itself to be a monumental film, loved both by the public and critics.

There have also been a great number of stars publicly praising the movie and inviting the people to go to theaters to see it. Among them, Tom Cruise, Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, Pedro Pascal, the Russo brothers, Jamie Foxx and many more. I’ll leave you the rundown right below.

tomcruise