Sinners (2025)

Sinners is a bit hard to describe because it is doing so many things at once. It juggles strong musical elements, a multi-faceted story, a strong horror narrative and a stellar amount of racial commentary. The results are generally fantastic.

In the film, music is explored as a number of things: cultural genealogy, a force of healing, and generational trauma. The final example is made clear when it is revealed that, for the duration of the film, the gentle blues musician Sammie, played by Miles Caton, has been playing a guitar that once belonged to his cruel and wicked uncle. Similarly, the twins, Smoke and Stack, both played by Michael B. Jordan, see opening a juke joint as a way to both enrich themselves and their community. Smoke possesses the business sense, chastising the others for accepting bum currency and wooden nickels as payment. Stack is more community driven, insistent on delivering a quality experience for all of their people.

Opposite the humans, our nocturnal antagonists are very intriguing, visually and conceptually. The general form of the vampire has not changed substantially for this film (glowing eyes, hidden fangs), but the movie nonetheless manages to be inventive in its deployment of classic tropes. As presented in the movie, vampirism acts as fertile ground for commentary on the relationship between colonizers and their victims.

The vampires view themselves as powerful saviors, bringing lesser beings into their world, with a mindset akin to that of slave masters. They are also ageless and constitute a hive mind; like the colonizer, they immortalize themselves through monoculture, offering incorporation, not integration. Both draw upon massive, ancient reserves of power, making them conventionally impervious, whether to gunfire or to cultural resistance. Our villain even recites the false promise of the colonizer: "I am your way out. This world already left you for dead. Won't let you build. Won't let you fellowship. We will do just that. Together. Forever."

Most importantly, the vampires seek to systematically exploit and extract anything of value from its victims. They don't want to participate; they want ownership. This, too, is stated plainly by our villain: "I want your stories and I want your songs." The vampire seeks to draw power from the cultural lifeblood of others, paralleling the parasitic relationship between black creatives and their exploitative financiers.

But the film is not a run-of-the-mill vampire movie. The period setting is not ornamental and remains key to the plot. With segregation still enforced, there was a creation of large forbidden zones, relegating black Americans to their own world. The film depicts a response to that: a business built by black owners for black patrons. Our characters remain very wary of white patrons and musicians, with the vampire accusing them of prejudice; ultimately, the skepticism is vindicated.

Sinners cannot be mentioned without discussing the musical scenes. Appropriately, blues is placed front and center and shines all throughout. But the film goes out of its way to incorporate a variety of eras and cultures within the greater landscape of black music. One inventive sequence depicts Sammie’s musical abilities calling forth the spirits of musicians from across time, leading to a varied and dynamic array of costuming, musical instruments, and traditions of dance being put on display.

Further elevating the film, the dialogue, despite a certain level of modernity, is consistently impeccable; in fact, it should be noted that in places the modernity of the dialogue is a legitimate asset: "The fuck you going, nigga? Bet this bullet will beat you there."

The performances are strong across the board, but the dark star of the show is Jack O’Connell as Remmick, the villainous vampire; the reviewer has enjoyed O’Connell’s past roles and found this to be a more than worthy addition. He perfectly embodies both the preying, wicked white man as well as an ageless vampire. Notably, O’Connell manages to elicit a few laughs, seen in such moments as his hokey, disingenuous display at the front door. Though our chief villain is a bit of a mystery, his immortality and the song choice of "The Rocky Road to Dublin" suggest he may hail from as far back as the mid-19th century. O’Connell can be seen river dancing like a mad man as his converts bellow out the song around him.

Color choices in the climax of the film are well balanced, highlighting the oranges of the flames and the reds of the blood. The final moment of the sun rising on the thrashing vampires is matched with epic and dramatic music marking their demise. The final gunfight offers one last bout of relentless combat and a chance to settle the score with the local klan. Throughout some of the action, the film makes the significant decision to have a dynamic aspect ratio; this was creatively bold but perhaps not utilized to the fullest possible effect.

In a post-credits scene, an aged Sammie shows a healthy attitude toward the prospect of immortality: "I think I've seen enough of this place." With plenty to say and all the right music to accompany it, Sinners is worth indulging in.