Sinners Review: Ryan Coogler's Bloody Vampire Masterclass Is 2025's Movie To Beat

I'd like to think I'm immune to hyperbole when it comes to watching movies. I'm hardly tempted to get swept up in the hype of an intoxicating film festival atmosphere or the buzz surrounding an early premiere. Even my so-called "Letterboxd curve," the aggregated metric of how generously (or harshly) users of the popular social media site tend to rate what they've seen on a scale of a half to five stars, bears this out. You know that famous Devil's Tower monument from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" — steep on both sides, but perfectly flat in the middle? That's exactly the type of curve I have, which one only gets when most logged entries fall between two or three stars and rarely land on either extreme end of the spectrum. In other words, it takes a lot for a movie to earn either breathless praise or contemptuous hate from me. I'm as even-keeled as it gets.

That navel-gazing preamble hopefully provides the necessary context for what I'm about to say next. It's only the second week of April and, against all odds, I'm already prepared to hail "Sinners" as the movie of the year from this point onwards. Writer/director Ryan Coogler's latest made headlines early on for its bloody subject matter, continuing a vampire trend that's seen the genre undergo a bit of a resurrection in recent years. Still, that only scratches the surface of what puts this particular entry on another level altogether. There's the brilliant dual performances by Coogler veteran Michael B. Jordan as outlaw twins Smoke and Stack, further establishing the lead as one of the greatest and most charismatic stars of his generation. You can point to its very purposeful setting of Jim Crow-era Mississippi in the early 1930s, adding a subtextual spark to this powder keg just waiting to explode. Or take the fact that this is Coogler's most personal story yet, infusing a love of music with family history that grounds this supernatural thriller in something tangible and real.

But what really separates "Sinners" from a whole herd of pretenders is in its daring and ambition to be more. This is a rollicking crowd-pleaser packing a nasty bite, a horrific folktale with a genuine soul, and a gritty period piece that transcends time and space in the most surprising of ways. We simply don't get original blockbusters with this level of passion and on this scale anymore, at least outside of a Christopher Nolan or M. Night Shyamalan production. And when operating on all cylinders, as this so often does, the experience is nothing short of transformative.

Just how incredible is "Sinners," you ask? Well, it opts for arguably two of the most annoying clichés in storytelling right off the bat — an exposition dump laying out the film's lore regarding vampires (which is repeated later on and far more intuitively), and an in media res opening that drops us in the middle of a disorienting scene before flashing back a single day to the main thrust of the plot — and that's pretty much where any negativity I have about "Sinners" begins and ends. By the end, these become little more than minor speed bumps on what proves to be a rip-roaring thrill ride.

Things kick into gear when we meet the notorious gangsters known far and wide as the SmokeStack twins, returning to their childhood town in Mississippi after seven years spent working shady jobs in Chicago (and directly for Al Capone himself, rumor has it). After an introductory scene all but flexing the seamless technology used to bring this effect to life, Jordan settles into the roles with ease and plays each brother on completely different energy levels. Smoke (who's real name is Elijah) is the voice of reason and cool-headed businessman of the two, balancing out Stack (Elias) and his more reckless, freewheeling attitude. The two concoct a scheme to buy a nearby saw mill from a wealthy white patron, renovating it into a "juke joint" for their community to drink, dance, and gamble away their hard-earned wages earned from working cotton fields. Naturally, their younger cousin and blues prodigy Sammie Moore (breakout performer Miles Caton's first-ever acting role, unbelievably enough) fits the bill for their headline performance on opening night ... if only his otherworldly skills didn't attract some unwanted customers, too.

Don't let this slow-burning first act fool you. After cleverly establishing a murderer's row of fascinating supporting characters, from Jayme Lawson's alluring Pearline (Sammie's obvious crush) to Stack's jilted ex-lover Mary (Hailee Steinfeld) to Smoke's superstitious and estranged wife Annie (Wunmi Mosaku) to the great Delroy Lindo as local music legend Delta Slim, "Sinners" switches gears from a tense period picture into something else entirely. A dizzying array of competing personal histories and grudges and motivations all come together at this juke joint, complicated by the devil that comes knocking at their door: the vampiric outsider Remmick, played with scene-stealing relish by Jack O'Connell. Coogler's greatest trick is in how he integrates vampire lore and mythology into these proceedings, constantly drawing our gaze back to the thematic reasons why Remmick and his cabal of bloodsuckers make for the perfect antagonists.

"Sinners" is several things at once — a monster movie, a blood-soaked action film, a sexy and sensual thriller, and a one-location horror flick as intense and paranoia-driven as anything from the original "Assault on Precinct 13" or Quentin Tarantino's filmography – but its greatest strength comes from how well Coogler blends every big idea on his mind. Music plays an enormously important role in the narrative, emphasized by the world-building details of how these vampires get involved in the first place. According to legend, preternaturally gifted musicians can sometimes have their music act as a mystical conduit between life and death. Throughout the film, we see how it wears its love for the artform on its sleeve. Music can be an expression of cultural traditions, of dreams for the future, of community, of outright defiance ... and, on the flip side, of temptation and greed.

It's no coincidence that the vampires of "Sinners" aren't only after the blood of their victims. Remmick and his ever-growing followers also have a legitimate worldview, one that's defined by doing away with cultural divisions in favor of a "heaven on Earth" and a world ruled by pithy truisms about being kind and polite and "one people" who are "together forever" — a darkly hilarious sentiment coming from undead vampires with razor-sharp fangs and blood-red eyes. Importantly, Coogler's script positions these villains as genuinely talented musicians in their own right, even earning a respectful nod from the trigger-happy Stack as they perform a catchy folk song in an attempt to enter the premises of their juke joint. But as Remmick menacingly growls to Sammie at one point, "I want your stories; I want your songs." These are culture vultures in every sense of the phrase, and that added dose of real-world horror only makes them all the more terrifying.

Everything comes to a head in a barn-burning sequence drenched in hazy lights and shadows, shot largely in a single take during Sammie's performance and making full use of the IMAX screen and its dramatic aspect ratio changes. Almost certainly destined to end up among the best and most memorable scenes in all of 2025, this transports viewers across a dreamlike tableau of Black characters in true communion with ancestors and descendants alike — a moment of actual movie magic that needs to be seen to be believed. Director of photography Autumn Durald Arkapaw (reuniting with Coogler after "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"), editor Michael P. Shawver, and the entire sound department deserve no end of kudos here, as does Caton's breathtaking musical performance and composer Ludwig Göransson's essential bluesy score. And, somehow, "Sinners" only ramps up even higher from there in a chaotic final act that I dare not spoil.

If the ending drags on somewhat indulgently (including both a mid- and post-credits scene, amazingly), well, Coogler more than earns the right. This is a one-of-a-kind experience that simply doesn't come around very often. Hyperbole or not, I'm willing to bet we'll be talking about "Sinners" for a long time to come.

/Film Rating: 9 out of 10

"Sinners" opens in theaters on April 18, 2025.