Movie Review: 'Sinners' is the Best of 2025 So Far

Sinners

Directed by Ryan Coogler

Written by Ryan Coogler

Starring Michael B. Jordan, Miles Caton, Delroy Lindo, Hailee Steinfeld

Release Date April 18th, 2025

Published April 24th, 2025

Sinners is my favorite movie of 2025 so far. Written and Directed by Ryan Coogler, this sex soaked, violent, primal scream of a movie is among the most technically accomplished and entertaining movies of this young century. Truly, Ryan Coogler can do anything behind a camera and Sinners is the proof of concept, if one was needed, that he is a top shelf auteur, a filmmaker with a distinct eye and voice. It's a voice of radical politics tinged with a showman’s natural instinct for enthralling an audience.

Let’s get the basics, Michael B. Jordan stars in the dual role of twin brothers, Smoke and Stack Moore. Born in Mississippi, the two fought in World War 1 and then moved north to start what would become a legendary criminal career. Bits of dialogue drop the name Al Capone as an associate of Smoke and Stack and their stacks of cash are a testament to just how successful their trip north truly was. They learned and they earned in Chicago and now they are back in Mississippi to set up shop.

The goal is to open a juke joint, with great food and the blues. Supplying the blues is their young cousin, Sammie “Preacher Boy” Moore. Preacher Boy’s talent with a guitar carries a mystical quality that even he isn’t aware of. We will learn about this talent however in one of the most skillfully staged scenes I’ve witnessed in any movie in my 24 year career as a film critic. But I’m getting ahead of myself. The team of Preacher Boy and an old bluesman turned booze hound, Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo), should pack the place with people ready to dance and buy illicit liquor from up north.

Providing the food for the joint will be Smoke’s wife, Annie (Wunmi Mosaku). Though they have been apart since their child died shortly after birth, the passion between Smoke and Annie remains unabated. As he recruits her as a cook, the two rekindle their passion in a scene of sweat soaked passion that threatens to set the screen on fire. The chemistry between Michael B. Jordan and Wunmi Mosaku is off the charts. On top of having incredible music and charismatic stars, Sinners is also super sexy.

And we haven’t even gotten to the vampires. Yes, Sinners is a vampire movie, and a damn good one. Bloody, gory and twisted, Ryan Coogler spins his sexy jook joint thriller into a vampire movie with effortless ease. Jack O’Connell plays the lead vampire, Remmick, with a seductive Irish brogue and a terrifying commitment to a cause even he doesn’t seem aware of. He knows he wants to create an army but beyond that, he may just be out for a good time, converting the locals into bloodsuckers while singing and dancing to hypnotic, Irish infused folk songs that rise in intensity as the film progresses.

Once the vampires arrive, the party at the juke joint is in full swing and here is where we get a scene that is utterly incredible. In demonstrating the mythological talent of Preacher Boy and his guitar, we get a montage of dancers throughout time set to music influenced by the Blues and the music that predates the blues, from every genre. The music pierces the walls of time and unites generations of people in an epic, fervent dance that reminded me strongly of the sweat soaked rave from The Matrix Reloaded. This scene is filmed beautifully, the floating camera, well timed cuts, and the exceptional scoring engulf the audience. It’s a scene of utter perfection.

Sinners also has larger themes at play that I could rave about for days but that’s for another article. As for this review, I can only gush about how much I love Sinners. This is an all timer of a great movie. Whether or not you can tolerate bloody violence may determine how much you enjoy the movie, but if blood and guts aren’t a problem for you, this movie is for you. It’s for everyone, it’s a blockbuster and a work of impeccable art. Sinners is an announcement that Ryan Coogler is in that rare strata of directors alongside, for me, people like Ari Aster, Denis Villeneuve, and Greta Gerwig, auteurs who deliver every time they are behind the camera.

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