#155: Sinners

Release Date: April 18th, 2025

Format: Theater (Cinemark Century Orange and XD)

Written by: Ryan Coogler

Directed by: Ryan Coogler

3.5 Stars

Ryan Coogler is an earnest, intelligent filmmaker, and that is evident throughout his $100 million blockbuster, Sinners. 

His instinct - his artistic voice - is especially heard in the opening act of the film, about a young bluesman, Sammie, torn between a life in the church and a life playing secular music on his mystical guitar. His conflict of conscience only worsens when he’s visited by his two identical twin cousins returning from Chicago, Smoke and Stack, who offer him a gig playing guitar at their newly acquired juke joint on the edge of town. Smoke and Stack are gangsters, with a cart of stolen booze to sell and quick trigger fingers for anybody who steps in their way. But they love their little guitar-playing cousin, and you can see Coogler laying the groundwork for a bunch of interesting themes regarding morality: Is righteous anger moral? Is violence warranted to combat hate? How does communal music and performance strengthen a community in the face of oppression? 

I just wish the first hour of Sinners worked better on screen. I think it works intellectually, but I told D over dinner that the movie’s first act seemed “lifeless.” Maybe it was the theater that evening, but there was no energy in the room. On screen Coogler’s script made some tonal decisions that I didn’t think worked - graphic violence and sexuality that were neither funny or fun or shocking - but instead just kind of laid out there. Smoke and Stack should be exploding off the screen with charisma, but it just kind of doesn’t work. Initially. 

What I didn’t realize is that Coogler was holding pocket aces. He is restrained with his opening act because he has some firepower in his story later on. You see, Sinners is not a social commentary crime drama, at least not solely. It turns out to be a genre-bending extravaganza: part southern gothic horror, part zombie flick, part vampire flick, with heaping piles of foot-stomp musical performances and western-style gun slinging.

It’s also beautifully shot on-location in Louisiana with gorgeous, traditional black American music. And also beautifully, Coogler relates this geographic and sonic beauty all the way back to humankind’s origins in Africa.

I expect Sinners to grab a whole bunch of Oscar nominations for its production values, specifically scoring, original song, costuming, hair, and makeup. 

By the end of the film, it’s obvious that Sinners is an auteur’s labor of love. Ryan Coogler loves this movie, and that goes a long way. Who doesn’t like experiencing another person’s passion? I mean, the guy gives his film three endings, he loves it so much (before the end credits roll, during the end credits, and post-end credits).

I just wish this labor of love translated more to the front half of the film. When I think of other genre-bending thrillers that share similar themes, say Get Out or Django Unchained, they had me sitting forward in my seat during the first act, wondering just where the film was headed. Sinners, instead, lays out its exposition flatly, daring you to underestimate it.

I did, and I was wrong in the end. Sinners is the work of an auteur with something to say and features music that will stick to your bones.