Sinners’ Verdict: Ryan Coogler—Visionary or Overrated?

Ryan Coogler’s latest film, Sinners, has taken over film conversations for a reason. It doesn’t follow any usual formula. This movie masterpiece blends horror, blues, and historical fiction into a genre-defying experience that left people in the theater wowed.

The film has quickly become a box office phenomenon, earning $161 million worldwide against a $90 million budget. If you haven’t checked out this Sinners’ movie yet, you’re missing out on the biggest film of 2025.

Sinners Movie Review: A Bold New Direction for Coogler

Walking into the theater for this Ryan Coogler film, expectations ran high. The director known for “Black Panther” and “Creed” takes a bold direction with an original story set in 1932 Mississippi. The film mixes horror, blues music, and historical drama with a fresh perspective on vampire stories.

The plot follows the twins Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan), who return home to open a juke joint. Their cousin Sammie, known as “the preacher’s kid,” has a musical gift that attracts unexpected danger.

Ryan Coogler Films: Twin Performances, Singular Impact

Twin Visions: Michael B. Jordan’s Dual Character

Michael B. Jordan delivers what might be 2025’s most impressive performance as identical twins Smoke and Stack Moore. The technical accomplishment alone deserves recognition. Jordan shares scenes with himself throughout the film, each twin distinctly characterized through subtle differences in posture, vocal patterns, and costuming. Jordan brings Smoke and Stack to life with a clear contrast. Smoke is quiet and focused. Stack is outgoing but reckless. Together, they balance each other out.

Their personal relationships add depth to the story through love interests who represent different aspects of the Black experience. Stack reconnects with Mary (played by Hailee Steinfeld), a biracial woman passing as white whose existence challenges rigid racial categorizations of that time. Meanwhile, Smoke develops a deeper connection with Annie (portrayed by Wunmi Mosaku), a hoodoo practitioner whose spiritual knowledge becomes essential when supernatural threats emerge.

Mosaku’s character, a full-figured, dark-skinned woman, receives the type of passionate romantic treatment rarely given to such women in mainstream cinema. This representational choice is another example of how Ryan Coogler films consistently deliver exceptional storytelling and representation.

Blues and Blood: The Sinners Movie’s Defining Scene

Newcomer Miles Caton gives a breakout performance as Sammie, the preacher’s son whose blues guitar becomes both the emotional and supernatural heart of the film. His music scene halfway through Sinners is Coogler’s standout moment as a director, a single-take where Sammie’s playing calls in both ancestors and future generations to the dance floor. West African drummers move alongside ballet dancers and hip-hop performers in a powerful visual tribute to Black music’s unbroken timeline.

This is the moment when Sinners shifts from period drama to supernatural horror. Jack O’Connell’s Remmick appears, a vampire whose Irish background brings in colonization themes without needing heavy explanation. His quiet demand to be “invited in”, a classic vampire rule that captures how cultural appropriation often shows up.

Remmick and his vampire crew sneak into the juke joint, turning Black dancers into vampires. Soon they’re outside, joining in Irish folk singing and dancing.

This is where Ryan Coogler films take genre storytelling to the next level. His use of horror to speak on cultural theft doesn’t feel forced, it feels earned. It also mirrors what Nollywood meets Hollywood films do so well: blending the supernatural with sharp cultural critique.

A Sinner Movie Cast That Redefines Representation

The supporting cast adds depth. Wunmi Mosaku plays Annie, a hoodoo healer. Her bond with Smoke gives the film its emotional core. Their chemistry burns with heat. It’s refreshing to see full-figured, dark-skinned women as love interests in major films. This casting feels meaningful in a Ryan Coogler film known for thoughtful choices.

Delroy Lindo brings weight as Delta Slim, an elder bluesman. His stories of racial violence set the stage. The Chinese grocery owners, the Chow family, reflect the often-missed diversity of Depression-era Mississippi. This adds a truth many Sinners movie reviews overlook

The Vampire as Cultural Appropriator: A Ryan Coogler Films Innovation

Remmick isn’t your typical vampire. He wants to own and reshape black culture. His offer of immortality seems generous, but the real cost is total assimilation into his worldview. When the newly turned Black vampires suddenly join in on Irish folk dancing with unsettling excitement, the horror of cultural loss hits hard.

This metaphor goes beyond vampires. It speaks directly to the music industry, where Ryan Coogler films often explore who gets to own and profit from Black creativity. In the mid-credits scene, we see an older Sammie, played by blues legend Buddy Guy, turn down vampire immortality in favor of leaving behind a musical legacy. That moment delivers the film’s final message: true immortality comes from cultural impact, not supernatural escape.

Why Every Sinners Movie Review Misses the Point About Mary

Mary’s character deserves more attention than most reviews are giving. She’s biracial, passing as white, and caught between two worlds, which makes her especially vulnerable to Remmick’s offer. For someone who’s never fully belonged anywhere, the vampire’s promise of a “post-racial” identity is tempting.

This is what sets Ryan Coogler’s films apart. Where other directors might go for clear heroes and villains, Coogler leans into emotional and moral complexity. He shows people making the best choices they can in impossible situations. The dynamic between Mary, Stack, and Remmick brings to mind character relationships in Nollywood meets Hollywood stories, where there’s often no easy moral answer, only flawed ones.

Sinners Movie Review Verdict: Why Original Stories Still Matter

As Coogler told The Atlantic, he wanted the film to feel like “reading Salem’s Lot while listening to the best blues record, eating a bowl of spicy gumbo.”

For anyone tired of predictable blockbusters, “Sinners” offers something rare. It’s a big-budget film with heart, brains, and surprises. This Sinners movie review verdict is clear: Ryan Coogler has created a landmark that entertains, makes you think, and proves why original stories matter.

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