Every filmmaker dreams of doing what Ryan Coogler is doing and has done with Sinners. Start out of college making a critically acclaimed film like Fruitvale Station, then go to making blockbusters for Marvel, only to be given the cache to make a movie based on your own creation. That’s exactly what has happened here with Sinners. Ryan Coogler has crafted and created a world so rich in detail and realism. Yes, there’s plenty of realism in a movie about vampires and other spiritual subjects. Sinners focuses on multiple characters, but it all comes back to the trio of Smoke, Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan) and Sammie (played by first-time actor Miles Caton). These three are the crux of everything that goes on in the film.

Smoke and Stack are twins, returning to Mississippi after fleeing a life of working in the cotton fields. Their cousin, Sammie, has bigger aspirations of becoming a blues musician. The film starts with a monologue about how music is a power that people hold that comes from their ancestors. The blues is just another in a long line of genres, aesthetics, and styles that have held this power and goes forward with rock and hip-hop. The film doesn’t establish a real villain for a long time. It’s a slow march toward what looks like a simple “let’s have a party, one night only” movie. There are flashes (literal) of what’s to come right in the beginning of the film.

How Scary Is Sinners?

For those wondering how scary Sinners is, these flashes and some musical cues are really what amounts to the frights on display. There are some nice gore and blood effects, but this is more action movie than a horror movie. So, for the scaredy cats out there, you should have no problem with this movie.

Getting that out of the way, the story unfolds as the planning for the opening night of their club comes together. Smoke and Stack split up, with Smoke going to get the food, signs, and other things ready for the opening. Stack takes Sammie and gets the music and security together. They pick up Delta Slim (played excellently by Delroy Lindo) and Cornbread (played by Omar Benson Miller). Slim is an old blues musician who sees the talent that Sammie has for music.

While they’re picking up Slim, they run into Mary (Hailee Steinfeld) an old flame of Stack’s that has some issues with him. Finally, for the principal players, Sammie sees a stunning woman that catches his eye, Pearline (played by Jayme Lawson), who ends up going to the joint opening. There’s also an old flame of Smoke’s, Annie (played by Wunmi Mosaku), who is a spiritual woman, who’s the first person that notices that things about Remmick, might be off.

Smoke gets everything together, and it looks like the opening is going to go off without a hitch. The villain of the film (albeit the physical villain, the actual villain is the treatment of marginalized people in the United States at the time) is Remmick (Jack O’Connell). He’s a vampire who generally follows the normal tropes involved, is weak to garlic, can’t be in the sunlight, has powers beyond the capability of normal human beings, etc. However, Coogler puts in a couple of wrinkles here that make for some interesting choices in the narrative.

One is that the people that Remmick has turned feel the pain that he feels. So that adds something to the layer of defense that the group inside the blues joint have to deal with. Overall, the vampire aspect of the film is fascinating. It adds this entire cult-like commentary on religion, finding yourself as a person, and more. The motivations for Remmick are also quite murky and can easily be seen as noble. He wants to turn people into vampires to save them from the pains of daily life. He thinks he’s doing something noble, which makes him that much more dangerous as an antagonist.

There’s also the layer of Jim Crow-era racism that the characters have to deal with, including the very beginning of the film when they’re buying the old saw mill that they turn into a club. All of these themes come in and coalesce into the film, adding that much more to chew on as an audience.

I’ll save the rest of the story beats for you to see in the film. From the point that the vampires are revealed onward, the film is non-stop for scenes where you think “they can’t really top this, can they?”. Ryan Coogler and Co. routinely one-up themselves, and it continues into a third act that’s just jaw-dropping. The scene where we see the history of music unfold as Sammie plays his first blues licks is a particular standout. It’s stunning to see and one of the most intriguing scenes in the entire film. And it has nothing to do with vampires.

That’s the magic of Sinners. You’re brought in for Michael B. Jordan playing double roles, vampires, and Ryan Coogler’s directorial aesthetic, and you’re given that, but also plenty more to think about as the film unfolds. It does that balance delicately but sticks the landing as well as any film in recent memory.

The performances are what really drives Sinners though. Michael B. Jordan is excellent in his double roles, providing both twins with their own flair, personality, and motivations. You can easily tell (besides the fact that one wears red and one wears blue) which twin is on screen because of the life he breathes into them. Miles Caton’s performance as Sammie is striking because this is his first major role in a film. He embodies the person going off on their own for the first time, We’ve all been in that place where we’re having the best day/night of our lives. He’s the most relatable character in the film. There really isn’t a weak link in the cast. Hailee Steinfeld’s character Mary, seems like she has something bubbling under the surface, and that’s a testament to her ability as an actress.

Each of the main actors in the film absolutely shines in a particular scene where they realize that they might be dealing with more than just normal people. Vampires have to be invited into a home or building. This adds a layer of tension when they turn people. When one of the group gets turned and they come back, more chipper than normal, and also are asking to be let back in the club, it’s a masterclass by Coogler in writing and directing, ratcheting up the tension, while also releasing it with some humor at a time when the film gets very dark.

Sinners is about as perfect as a movie can get. It’s one that’ll thrill you, entertain you, make you think, and keep you on the edge of your seat all at the same time. Ryan Coogler builds a world here that is fascinating, one where mysticism meets horror (both fictional and real life). I can see Sinners being a movie I rewatch over and over again, and that’s all you can ask for these days.

For more Reviews, make sure to check back to That Hashtag Show.

Keep Reading: