Sinners info:
Director: Ryan Coogler
Writer: Ryan Coogler
Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Miles Caton, Hailee Steinfeld, Delroy Lindo, and Wunmi Mosaku
Hello and welcome to another week here at 1guysmindlessmoviereviews.com. I did a little traveling this week, so I’m a little late on releasing this, but it will be worth it. While I was away, I made time one evening to find a movie theater near me. I was delighted to see “Sinners” was playing right when I had time to go. I had heard pretty good things about this, so I jumped on the opportunity. By the way, the Cinemark theater in Pittsburgh was a nice place. If you are ever in the area, you should check it out.
Ryan Coogler, who directed “Sinners,” has had Michael B. Jordan as his star in his last four major films. So, it’s easier to make good movies when you are doing that. This one was no exception. But before I dive in too deep (there is a lot to talk about). Let me first get the obligatory spoiler warning out of the way. If you haven’t seen this yet, then you might want to go back to my site to check out my other reviews here first… then come back and check out my thoughts on “Sinners”.
To start off, if you don’t know by now, Jordan plays two parts in this movie, a set of twins (even though they tell people they are cousins) named Smoke and Stack. Right away, we find out that they have moved back to Mississippi after leaving home and making a name (and lots of money) for themselves up north. I also want to point out that race plays a big part in “Sinners” because of the time and place, but it’s not the driving force and more of just a backdrop. So, when the brothers move back, there is still a lot of open racism in the air, and even mentions of the KKK a couple of times.
Even though Jordan is the star/stars of this film, the breakout performance is by Caton, who plays Sammie Moore. Sammie is the son of a preacher and the cousin of Smoke and Stack, he is also very good at playing guitar… particularly the blues. But why on earth would the brothers move back to Mississippi from Chicago? So, they could open up a Juke joint to try and make some money… or perhaps there is more to their story as well. So, they recruit Sammie to play at their club as they go around and start to gather more people.
Joining Sammie is Delta Slim (Lindo), who is also a great blues player and is great at piano, Pearline (Jayme Lawson), who joins in as a singer, Cornbread (Omar Miller) as the bouncer, Annie (Mosaku) as a cook and former lover/spouse of Smoke, as well as married couple Bo and Grace Chow to help set everything up. If this sounds like I’m taking my time getting to the juicy part of the story, that’s because I am… the same way the movie was a slow build-up as well. Coogler did a wonderful job of building a world and characters and bringing them all together before the mayhem starts.
Once the party starts and everyone starts to show up, that’s also when Mary (Steinfeld) makes another appearance. After getting introduced to her earlier as Stack’s ex-girlfriend, whom he left high and dry, she shows up at the juke joint to join in the party. While this is going on, not too far away, someone named Remmick (Jack O’Connell) is invited into a couple’s house where he proceeds to feed on their blood and turn them into vampires.
This is where the story starts to get really fun as Remmick and the couple make their way to the Juke joint and try their best to get invited in. Neither Smoke nor Stack is having it since they are all white, and he doesn’t want any issues to arise because of that. Eventually, Mary goes out to investigate them and finds out for herself that they are not who they appear to be.
When Mary gets back, she tricks Cornbread into inviting her inside to the party. Because, as we all know, a vampire must be invited in; otherwise, they are not allowed to enter. It’s good to see that “Sinners” isn’t breaking the vampire tradition here. Once in, she tricks Stack into going into the back room, where she then bites him. Once that happens, they start getting picked off one by one until only Smoke and Sammie are left.
With Smoke seemingly killing his brother, and then he and Sammie taking out Remmick, the sun comes up and cooks the rest of them. He sends Sammie home to his dad, then he stays behind to take out the men who were planning on coming after him and Stack. Even though he kills them all, he is still fatally shot and passes away, finally getting to be at peace and be with his daughter and wife in the afterlife.
“Sinners” was quite the ride from beginning to end. From the slow-burning start to the literal burning of a horde of vampires at the end. It was full of action, horror, a little romance, and some comedy. All this put together with some great acting and even better directing makes this a hit all around. I do feel like the ending was somewhat rushed after the slow start, but it was still fitting. Also, the after-credit scenes were extremely fun. All this added together, I give this a very strong 8 out of 10! Another great movie to put on my 2025 list for sure.
Have you seen “Sinners” yet? If so, what are your thoughts on it? Do you like vampire stories with different backdrops than usual? Let me know in the comments what you think. That’s it for me this week. Hopefully, if plans work out, I will have an impossible task to write about next week.
