Michael B. Jordan and Miles Caton in “Sinners.” Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures via TNS
The plot of “Sinners” is hard to grasp. It’s a little bit of every genre —a Western, a musical, a horror movie and an action thriller. But in order to truly understand the story, one must go back to before the movie even started filming.
Director Ryan Coogler was fresh off of two successful, mainstream franchises in “Black Panther” and “Creed” when he began shopping the package for “Sinners,” a film based on his original IP and including his frequent collaborator and favorite actor, Michael B. Jordan. Coogler leveraged his success with these previous blockbusters to get the funding for the $90 million budget, an impressive feat on its own.
But what’s more interesting about the production behind “Sinners” was the ownership deals Coogler negotiated for himself.
According an article from AV Club, Coogler negotiated day one revenue for himself from the film — as opposed to the usual deal where revenue only comes back to the filmmakers after it’s turned a profit for the studios — and in a move that reportedly is sending shockwaves through the studio system, secured an extremely rare deal that sees total ownership of the film return to Coogler after 25 years, a privilege usually only reserved for the most esteemed of auteur directors.
This all makes sense when taking into account the prevalent themes of Black ownership throughout “Sinners.”
In the film, Michael B. Jordan plays a pair of twins named Smoke and Stack, a wealthy Black duo who return from making their fortune in Chicago back to Mississippi in the early 1930s. They buy a warehouse from a white businessman who swears that he’s not affiliated with the KKK – although it’s obvious that he is to everyone outside of the world of the movie – and start a blues club where they intend to celebrate Black culture and community through music.
Among the many people they assemble to help with this club is their cousin Sammy (Miles Caton), who is gifted with a magical musical ability that can connect those who listen to his songs with the ability to connect with their familial lineage.
Things take a turn for the worse when a group of white vampires catch wind of the happenings and seek to quench their thirst by preying on the blues club and stealing Sammy’s powers.
Even though there’s quite a bit going on in this plot, the themes around cultural appropriation of Black music and community should be pretty apparent. Whether “Sinners” is jumping from a true Western in the first half of the film — probably the best-written bit — to a horror when Hailee Steinfeld’s character Mary gets turned by one of the vampires, this recurring thesis around ownership binds the whole story together, even extending beyond the screen itself and back to Coogler’s own fight for the film’s rights.
As for the film itself, it’s a success in the sense that it’s a completely refreshing high-budget film, a rarity these days in a movie system dominated by reboots and sequels. Some will like the latter half after its abrupt switch to vampire horror more than the first half of world-building and character establishment, perhaps due to its riveting action and gorgeous cinematography against the back-drop of the fading Mississippi sun.
But the more character-driven moments of the film really allow Michael B. Jordan to shine as both Smoke and Stack — both idiosyncratic despite their status as twins — in a doubling that already rivals Robert Pattinson’s cloning role in “Mickey 17” just a month earlier.
However, “Sinners” is held back from being one of the great films of the decade so far by some very sloppy editing, with choppy cuts leaving not nearly enough time to breathe between sequences and some audio mixing that leaves the sharp dialogue disappointingly muddled at various moments throughout the film.
The filmmakers were right to highlight the vibrant original score of blues and folk — including in a musical sequence in the middle that’s probably the best scene in the film — but didn’t quite know when to take it down a notch and let the exposition shine.
“Sinners” has something for everyone. It’s a celebration of Black culture and music, while also being a cautionary tale against the modern-day vampires that wish to appropriate it. It’s a witty Western, an eerie horror and a guns-blazing action film.
While at times it doesn’t quite put it all together, “Sinners” will still remain as one of the more memorable and important films of 2025 when it’s all said and done.
Rating: 4/5
