{"id":22172,"date":"2025-10-31T16:53:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T20:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=22172"},"modified":"2026-03-16T11:15:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T15:15:18","slug":"sinners-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=22172","title":{"rendered":"Sinners-2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sinners-2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Ryan Coogler<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #1,498<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed October 31, 2025<\/p>\n

Grade: B+<\/strong><\/p>\n

After hearing so much positivity about Sinners (2025), director Ryan Coogler’s latest film, which shifts from independent (Fruitvale Station, 2013) and Marvel (Black Panther, 2018) films to the horror genre, I excitedly waited months to see it.<\/p>\n

Coogler shifts into a vein more like Jordan Peele, a contemporary director known for daring horror message offerings like Get Out (2017) and Us (2019).<\/p>\n

While very good, it’s not the A+ daring, horrific, extravaganza\u00a0 I was expecting. The tone is dark, mysterious, and compelling, but it takes an awfully long time to actually get going despite a looming expectation of bloody events to come.<\/p>\n

Or maybe that’s because my expectations told me to await thrills and gore mixed with a powerful storyline.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, had I not listened to the buzz, I might have been more satisfied. Instead, I was impressed but not blown away.<\/p>\n

Sinners reminded me very much of the HBO series True Blood (2008-2014), with its southern vampire fantasy\/horror mix, but featuring an almost entirely black cast and a lot of music.<\/p>\n

Set in 1932 in the\u00a0Mississippi Delta, the film stars\u00a0Michael B. Jordan\u00a0in\u00a0dual roles as twin brothers, ‘Smoke’ and ‘Stack’ Moore, one of whom is a criminal, who return to their hometown, where they confront a supernatural evil.<\/p>\n

The brothers return from Chicago, where they have made an illegal fortune, and purchase a sawmill from a racist landowner to start a juke joint\u00a0for the local Black community.<\/p>\n

They reconnect with local friends and musicians, offering substantial amounts of money to help make opening night a grand experience.<\/p>\n

Coogler wisely begins the film, which takes place over the course of a twenty-four-hour period, the morning after the thrilling Saturday night events, so we somewhat know something bad will happen.<\/p>\n

Sammie Moore (Miles Caton), the brother’s cousin, staggers into his preacher father’s church during services, clutching his coveted guitar. He is an aspiring blues musician and is wounded.<\/p>\n

Michael B. Jordan, clearly the star of the film and frequently in Coogler films, is an Oscar hopeful by portraying dual roles. With a good versus evil vibe, he may make the cut, given the differing personalities fleshed out in the parts.<\/p>\n

While offering decent cinematography and a southern flavor that adds dimensions, it takes so long for much action to arrive that the payoff isn’t as satisfying as I’d like.<\/p>\n

Sure, the last forty-five minutes work well as the dusk-to-dawn fight scenes, a workable whodunit of who’s a vampire and who isn’t a vampire, and hold your breath moments of which characters will unwittingly invite a vampire inside.<\/p>\n

The last sequence is excellent when 1932 suddenly shifts to the 1990s, and one character is still alive. The film ends happily as the character realizes a pact made in the ghastly night years ago has allowed him to live.<\/p>\n

A question repeatedly dangled before the audience’s noses like a carrot before a horse is whether we would give in to temptation and live forever as a vampire.<\/p>\n

Wouldn’t it be wonderful never to age? I’ll admit to realizing the appeal.<\/p>\n

The supporting characters, including Stack’s girlfriend, Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), the bouncer, Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller), and Smoke’s estranged wife, Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), deliver strong performances.<\/p>\n

However, the southern accents occasionally feel overdone, but the lovely costumes never do.<\/p>\n

Neither good nor bad, the characters don’t look genuine to the 1930s, and there is more inclusion (a Korean family in the Deep South?) than in real life.<\/p>\n

Still, the film works as a fantasy, right?<\/p>\n

Coogler gets points for creativity and for showcasing the racism of the 1930s that still exists today, but treads lightly on going full throttle with any message.<\/p>\n

Instead, he shows that strong black characters can forge their own success in a racist world, accompanied by a toe-tapping melody and bluesy guitars.<\/p>\n

Sinners (2025) crosses genres like horror, supernatural, fantasy, and musical, with some sexy scenes of blood and sex amid music. The creativity is there, but it’s a slow build.<\/p>\n

Oscar Nominations: 4 wins-<\/strong>Best Picture, Best Director-Ryan Coogler, Best Actor-Michael B. Jordan (won)<\/strong>, Best Supporting Actor-Delroy Lindo, Best Supporting Actress-Wunmi Mosaku, Best Original Screenplay (won)<\/strong>, Best Casting, Best Cinematography (won)<\/strong>, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Makeup & Hairstyling, Best Original Score (won)<\/strong>, Best Original Song-“I Lied to You”, Best Production Design, Best Sound, Best Visual Effects<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sinners-2025 Director Ryan Coogler Starring Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton Scott’s Review #1,498 Reviewed October 31, 2025 Grade: B+ After hearing so much positivity about Sinners (2025), director Ryan Coogler’s latest film, which shifts from independent (Fruitvale Station, 2013) and Marvel (Black Panther, 2018) films to the horror genre, I excitedly waited months … Continue reading Sinners-2025<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6506,6764,13,4590,8357,4182,8382,8384,4181,8383],"tags":[6507,3084,248,4594,8360,4185,8385,8387,4184,8386],"class_list":["post-22172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2025-films","category-hailee-steinfeld","category-horror-films","category-jack-oconnell","category-li-jun-li","category-michael-b-jordan","category-miles-caton","category-omar-benson-miller","category-ryan-coogler","category-wunmi-mosaku","tag-2025-films","tag-hailee-steinfeld","tag-horror-films","tag-jack-oconnell","tag-li-jun-li","tag-michael-b-jordan","tag-miles-caton","tag-omar-benson-miller","tag-ryan-coogler","tag-wunmi-mosaku"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22172"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22731,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22172\/revisions\/22731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}