Release Date: 2025 Length: 137 min
“Last time I seen my brother, last time I seen the sun. And just for a few hours, we were free.” -Stack.
Director: Ryan Coogler (Known for Black Panther, Creed, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) Writer: Ryan Coogler Actors: Michael B. Jordan (Known for Black Panther, Creed, Fantastic Four), Hailee Steinfeld (Known for True Grit, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, The Edge of Seventeen), Jack O’Connell (Known for Starred Up, Money Monster, Lady Chatterley’s Lover)
Summary: Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their Mississippi hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back. -IMDb
Overall Thoughts: Sinners is probably my favorite movie of the year and is definitely in the list for my favorites of the 2020s. It’s easy to try to describe this film as a vampire horror movie and call it a day, but it is so much more than that. To me, this film is about culture, love, family, and ultimately about life over death. It’s one of those rare films that you can’t stop thinking about long after you’ve left the theater. The direction and writing of Ryan Coogler are so unique and inspiring. To make a film like this is a risk because so much is said in between the dialogue, and to be able to pull that off truly takes a master. The group of actors selected for this film is also one for the books. Michael B. Jordan is especially fantastic at playing two characters, so much so that I forgot by the end that this was one actor and not two. I could go on forever discussing the many reasons why you should watch this film, but for the sake of being brief, I will mention four of my top reasons. Be aware that there are spoilers in this explanation. The first reason is quite simply the cinematography. This film just looks absolutely beautiful, and the set was just so perfectly picked by Ryan Coogler. He also does some incredible special effects that look very real, and it didn’t take a 700 million budget to do so. The second reason for me is the soundtrack and the singing of the actors is just so amazing. I’ve been listening to the soundtrack for months after going to see it in theaters, cause I liked it that much. Miles Caton, who plays Sammie in the film, has such an incredible voice. The soundtrack also plays to the setting of the film. The third reason that I would watch this film is quite simply for the ending. I think that the ending symbolizes a choice between everlasting life and death. What choice would we make if we were ever able to decide that for ourselves? To me, what makes this movie special is that the vampires themselves are not really villains in the classical sense of the word; they’re actually, I think, a community that just decided to cheat the natural law of death and instead choose life. The ending scene is just two of the main characters discussing why one chose that life over death and why the other did not. I think it makes you question what it really means to be alive. You could live 100 lifetimes and never really truly live. I also like that you can sense the love between the characters, even though they took two very different paths. Finally, the best scene in the entire film, in my opinion, occurs halfway through when Sammie begins to sing (this explanation will not do the scene justice), and everyone dances to this hypnotizing music that is so magical that the past, present, and future all come as one. To me, this scene symbolizes a group’s cultural identity that is a combination of everything that came before and after. For anyone who loves music just as I do, this scene shows how great music can transcend space and time. I will never be able to put into words just how wonderful this scene is, but I will say that I have never seen anything like it. In summary, I recommend this film to anyone and everyone, even if you don’t particularly like horror films, because this movie goes past any conception of genre. I feel that regardless of who’s watching this film, they will leave feeling that they have seen something incredible and never done before.
Ratings: Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 97% My Rating: 97%
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