Sinners

I, like many others, did not expect this film to be much to write home about.

I was wrong.

The film is unapologetically original. It mashes genres and does so masterfully. Coogler wraps you up in a beautifully crafted world with fascinating characters.

The music in this film is astounding. It brings the modern, electrifying take on the Deep South of the 1930s together in a way that I will never forget. Miles Caton, who plays the Smokestack twins' cousin, is the highlight of this film for me. A name to remember.

Ryan Coogler is setting himself up to be the kind of director whose name alone is enough to pack theatres, because this is the best original film I can remember watching.

'Sinners' starts in a church, but doesn't spend too long explicitly focusing on religion, god and the devil - but does explore these themes in the semi-segregated world of 1932 Mississippi. We start with Sammie/"Preachers Boy" (Caton) and then are introduced to his notorious cousins who have just returned from Chicago - twins Smoke & Stack, both played by Jordan, who clearly relishes the run he gets to have. He plays them both subtly different enough that you can tell who's who.

It all occurs in one day, with the first hour setting the scene well, as we're introduced to ex-girlfriends - Mary (Steinfeld) and Annie (Mosaku) - plus Slim (Lindo) and Cornbread (Miller), who are brought in to help Smoke & Stack open up their "Juke" bar. Key to everything is Sammie, his guitar and the blues. We're then introduced to Remmick (O'Connell), who is a charming Irishman, hiding a sinister secret.

I won't spoil the twist, but it doesn't take long for the film to turn to a horror, and does well to start off with a bit of tension and suspense and then go full blown bloody action/fight/gore. Holding it together is the great soundtrack and score, with the music great throughout. Just over 2 hours, but never boring - solidly wrapped up, some great scenes. Stay after the initial credits, as there's a ~5min final scene.

I love it when movies mix different genres and create a fresh spin on old themes. In this case however the different elements didn't mix well in my opinion: I would describe sinners as a mix between period gangster drama, musical and trashy B-movie horror. This sounds super exciting on paper, but in reality it threw me off completely. I feel like the movie tries to do everything at the same time but doesn't deliver on many of those aspects: It wants to hit the viewer on an emotional level but left me personally completely cold - I didn't care who died or who lived; The movie kinda wants to be scary but the "enemies" in the film feel like a complete joke from the first scene they are shown and it takes away all the tension; It wants to be action-packed and explosive, but the fight scenes are kinda boring and left me wanting to move on to more serious scenes again, even though those serious scenes are kind of a slow burn; The film wants to be funny and even though it made me chuckle a bit it never really took it far enough to justify sacrificing the big threat in the film for laughs.

In conclusion: This movie is too boring and slow to be an entertaining action-comedy and doesn't take the humor and fight scenes far enough to really have an impact. At the same time this movie is far too ridiculous to be a serious scary and emotional movie that reaches you on any kind of emotional level.

I would have liked it, if they would have sacrificed the humor for building a serious threat that feels genuinely scary and terrifying. The cinematography, costumes and music are fantastic but this is just not enough for me to make it a good film, when the story is not hitting. There are single parts of the movie that I absolutely loved and I would have really appreciate those scenes as standalone music videos, but it just doesn't mix well with the rest in my personal opinion.

In addition to my previous criticisms I spotted some typical clichés in the dialogue writing that made me roll my eyes and there were some moments where I found it extremely hard to believe that certain characters survived. I could go in to detail here but I want to keep my review vague to avoid spoilers.

To me watching this movie felt a bit like eating chocolate on a burger - Both elements are nice by themselves but together they don't make for a nice meal.

Seeing a director have the courage to create a unique, visionary blend of two opposite genres is something you rarely see these days. And I love it. Southern America blues and vampires.

The standout here being the incredible soundtrack from no other than Ludwig Göransson. The sexy, bluesy tone is definitely my favourite thing of the film. It was the glue that kept the film going. The film was reminiscent of O'brother Where Art Thou with a healthy dose of From Dusk Till Dawn.

The patience in the first act to set up the thematic relationships and overall story was executed perfectly. Even though we all were expecting the "reveal" to come, the journey to get to that point was arguably the better part of the film.

What separates (and elevates) this film from your standard supernatural horror flick is the fact that the director chose to spend more time in the first act developing our and exploring our characters.

However, in saying this I do feel like the film in the end of the second and entire third act fell into the cliches that they vampire genre usually entails. The last minute sunrise for example or the character who knows all the ins-and-outs of killing a vampire.

I believe at this point the film lost a bit of spark that the first act patiently created.

I still love what Coogler did. The unique genre blend, soundtrack and setting is enough to warrant the praise.

Best film of 2025?

Sinners is a historical horror directed by Ryan Coogler (Black Panther, Creed) which smartly combines the supernatural with the political.

The cinematography is stunning, which accurately captures the 1930s western vibes. While the movie starts pretty slow and takes time for the build up, it picks up in the second half by delivering a haunting experience. The movie often feels very lively due to it's musical numbers.

The film's fascinating array of genres and tropes and ideas swirls together, whether be it oppression of race, or preaching of good and evil. Jordan gives a great performance, while the rest of the cast were terrific too.

Although the horror element was less than my expectations, however the political satire and the tense atmosphere makes Sinners a great movie.

The Geek Reviewer gives 4 stars for 'Sinners'.