Sinners Review: Cinematic Masterpiece From Ryan Coogler

Director Ryan Coogler (Black Panther, Creed) returns for his fifth installment with Sinners, bringing in frequent collaborator Michael B. Jordan to lead as twin brothers.

Synopsis:

"Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers (Michael B. Jordan) return to their Mississippi hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back."

Cast:

Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Wunmi Mosaku, Delroy Lindo, Jack O'Connell, Li Jun Li

Release Date:

In Theaters Now

Cinematic Experience Crafted By Coogler

Credit: Variety/Warner Brothers

Really the only way to describe Sinners is that it's a magnificent cinematic experience in every sense. This film introduces a lot of concepts and themes throughout the course of the runtime, which could've easily allowed for it to feel messy or convoluted. However, Ryan Coogler is nothing short of a genius, being able to craft an incredibly successful story even with everything that's going on. Coogler builds your interest in the story within the first hour or so, trusting the performances of his cast to slowly descend on our main set piece of the film. Once we do get to that set piece, the juke, Coogler flexes his directorial and storytelling skills to the maximum.

There's a scene in the juke, which I heard a lot about before I watched this film, that is nothing short of one of the best scenes in a movie I've seen in a very long time. It's a blending of different eras of music, with Miles Caton's unbelievable voice (more on that later) serving as the score to a magnum opus type scene. Coogler tells this story as an exploration of different cultures and eras of music in a way, so this scene serving as the sort of climax to that thought was perfection. After that, Coogler continues to string together tense and iconic scenes with all the major themes of the film at the forefront. It's an exploration of southern culture, music, relationships, race, the supernatural and vampires, with Coogler being really the only person I could see bringing all of this together to tell a legitimately perfect story. Sure, this film very much earns its label as a horror film, but it's so much more than that. Coogler allows Sinners to be one of those movies that reminds you of why you fell in love with film in the first place and I personally am just grateful I was able to experience it in theaters.

Ensemble Cast Shines In Every Way

Credit: Warner Brothers

One of the best aspects of Sinners is that every single member of the cast plays their role to perfection. You have to start with Jordan, who plays twin brothers as a dual lead of the film. The most impressive thing about Jordan's performance is that he brings the twins, Smoke and Stack, to life in a way that you can actually differentiate between the two performances. There's a certain cadence or movement to do with each character that allows the audience to really get immersed in each of them and their backstory. Nothing shows how invested you are with Jordan's performance than the final scene in the film, no spoilers, but let's just say it's a very satisfying conclusion. To me this is by far Jordan's best performance of his career and I'd love to see him receive some well earned awards buzz when we get to awards season later this year.

As I said earlier, you need an entirely talented ensemble cast to really build the audience's investment and faith in the movie. Coogler absolutely receives that from his cast in Sinners, starting with Hailee Steinfeld in a role unlike anything else she's played before. Steinfeld plays Mary, somebody who has a previous connection to one of the twins and works to live in an environment where it feels she continues to be rejected. Her performance is incredibly impactful, serving as an exploration of her own personal family history as well as this relationship she has with one of Jordan's characters. That's only talking about her pre-vampire performance too: let's just say, Steinfeld plays a villain very well and I'd love to see her take on more roles like this in the future. She's another person I'd love to see back on that awards trail later this year.

From the rest of the cast, it's impossible to talk about a couple without bringing in praise for every single one. Jack O'Connell plays the main villain of the film, portraying a menacing performance filled with some unbelievable singing and dancing to go along with it. Wunmi Mosaku's character has a relationship with the other one of the twins and it serves as a real emotional heartbeat to Sinners. Delroy Lindo and Omar Benson Miller are the veterans of the cast, both being hilarious additions to a film that turns out to be more funny than what would be expected. Yao and Li Jun Li allow for an exploration of Chinese-American culture in the South, something that I wasn't even aware of before watching but instantly became intrigued by due to Coogler's storytelling. Again, I could go on and on about this cast for days, but the important thing is that they all play their roles to perfection and the film succeeds because of their performances.

Music Serves As Heartbeat Of The Film

Credit: Warner Brothers

Although I've noted that Sinners explores many different themes in this article so far, I have to say that music is by far and away the most prominent. You may have noticed I left out Miles Caton in the previous section, simply because it would feel like a disservice to not rave about his performance alongside my discussion about the music in the film. All the music stems from Caton's character, who in some ways is our main point of view for the entirety of the runtime. We start and end with his perspective, serving as a beautiful character arc that Caton acts out to perfection. He does such a good job that you would never be able to tell that this is his literal first film role ever. He's got an incredibly bright future ahead of him and if you need proof of that, look no further than the multi-cultural music scene in the juke that I teased earlier. I've been listening to his song from that scene on repeat since I left the theater, with his voice shining for an absolutely beautiful performance.

To nobody's surprise, Ludwig Göransson's score is on another level. This is Göransson's first film score since his Oscar-winning performance scoring Oppenheimer, which is probably the best film score I've ever heard in my entire life. That's why it is no surprise he succeeds again with Sinners, rivaling his award winning score from 2023. Like I said, music serves as the heartbeat for this film, with his score somewhat working alongside the pacing and tension. It's playing in the background of every single scene and its success is another one of the reasons that the audience is invested throughout.

Exploration of Cultures and Family History

Credit: Warner Brothers

As I've noted many times in this article, Coogler clearly had the intention of exploring many different cultures and a general history of the early 1900s south. That starts with the twin brothers as the leads, with the story showing their connection to the town they return to after a long stint away. The first act of the film shows them slowly bringing the pieces together of the juke, clearly showing their connection to members of the community and how impactful they are in that certain culture. The juke itself serves as a celebration of southern culture, from the music to the different pieces of the set. Coogler also clearly did extensive research about this time period, with his exploration of the family history of both Steinfeld and Li Jun Li's characters. This is something that would be easier for a filmmaker to ignore and just to focus on the horror elements, but Coogler's attention to these details shows how great of a filmmaker he is.

Final Thoughts

Credit: Warner Brothers

Sinners is a perfect film. It's a credit to everyone involved that Ryan Coogler came up with an original vision and was able to tell it exactly as he wanted for audiences worldwide. It's everything you'd want out of a horror film and more, proving Coogler's status as one of the best filmmakers in cinema right now. I'm already itching to watch this for a 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th time. Go see this movie (and watch it on the biggest screen possible, if you have the means)!

Rating: 5/5 Stars

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