Sinners
Sinners
From Ryan Coogler - director of "Black Panther" and "Creed" - and starring Michael B. Jordan, comes a new vision of fear: "Sinners." Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers (Jordan) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.
Kit Lazer reviewedApril 18, 2025
It’s a horror movie about vampires in the American South, 1932, but that’s all just set dressing. It’s such an intoxicating blend of genres, a movie that is a melting pot just like the cultural heritage this movie explores.
A lot of times when one actor plays two characters in a movie, it’s neat but the performances suffer, it feels like a gimmick, but Michael B. Jordan is able make Smoke and Stack feel like two distinct, living, breathing people.
It’s part crime-thriller, there’s a dash of a coming-of-age story, drama, romance, notes of a musical, it’s a stew packed with spices, and the horror simmers and simmers before coming to a rolling boil, kinda like FROM DUSK TIL DAWN.
I would have watched four hours of this. I want more. It’s gorgeous, you’ve gotta see it on the biggest screen possible to appreciate the scope, the aspect ratio changes – the Cinematographer was Autumn Arkapaw, one of far too few women in charge of the camera. The sound track is alive, it’s the main character, the pulse of the movie but the score, by Ludwig Göransson who just won an Oscar for composing OPPENHEIMER and won previously for composing BLACK PANTHER, is the fangs always lurking underneath.
There’s so much subtext to sink your teeth into here, the way Coogler brings in Asian immigrants, the Irish, Indigenous People – and makes it a story about all of these hardworking people, the people who bulit the real America just trying to cut loose, be free.
What does freedom look like? Drinking deep, playing cards, singing from the gut about things you can’t explain you just know, dancing until you sweat; and sex, desire, can’t forget that, the writhing pulsing primal urges. But the powers that be warn all who have toiled and suffered under the sun all day to make them safe and rich that any who engage in this wanton abandon are SINNERS.
They say, "Yes, you’ve worked our fields, yes, you’ve fought our wars overseas but don’t you dare sing and dance and be merry on this land you’ve bled for."
Go see Sinners. Trust me, you’ve earned it.