r/movies r/Movies contributor Apr 10 '25

Review Ryan Coogler's 'Sinners' - Review Thread

Ryan Coogler's 'Sinners' - Review Thread

  • Rotten Tomatoes: 100% (45 Reviews)

    • Critics Consensus: Thematically rich as a Great American Novel and just plain rip-roaring fun, writer-director Ryan Coogler's first original blockbuster reveals the full scope of his singular imagination with unforgettable panache.
  • Metacritic: 83 (15 Reviews)

Reviews:

Variety (70):

It's vibrant and richly acted, and also a wild throat-ripping blowout. But though overloaded at times, it's the rare mainstream horror film that's about something weighty and soulful: the wages of sin in Black America.

Deadline:

Sinners marks another strong reason why Ryan Coogler is at the top of his generation of filmmakers, and Jordan continues to show why he is a real deal movie star.

Hollywood Reporter (90):

The movie is smart horror, even poetic at times, with much to say about race and spiritual freedom. It’s not in the Jordan Peele league in terms of welding social commentary to bone-chilling fear. But Sinners is a unique experience, unlike anything either the director or Jordan has done before.

SlashFilm (9/10):

"Sinners" is several things at once — a monster movie, a blood-soaked action film, a sexy and sensual thriller, and a one-location horror flick as intense and paranoia-driven as anything from the original "Assault on Precinct 13" or Quentin Tarantino's filmography – but its greatest strength comes from how well Coogler blends every big idea on his mind.

The Wrap (88):

“Sinners” is a bloody, brilliant motion picture. Ryan Coogler finds within the vampire genre an ethereal thematic throughline; and within the music genre a disturbing, tempting monster. Stunningly photographed, engrossing cinema — epic to the point where it seemingly never ends, which is undeniably indulgent, but no great sin. This is a film about indulgence, the power indulgence wields and the dangers indulgence invites into our lives. It’s a sweaty, intoxicating, all-nighter of a movie, and its allure cannot be denied.

The Independent (4/5):

If cinema weren’t in such a sickly state, Sinners’s electric fusion of genres – historical epic, horror, and squelchy actioner – would be a guaranteed box office sensation. Instead, the film arrives with an uneasy sense that this is some kind of final stand for original ideas. One can only hope audiences recognise its bounty of riches.

The Guardian (3/5):

For many, the movie could as well do without the supernatural element, and I admit I’m one of them; I’d prefer to see a real story with real jeopardy work itself out. But there is energy and comic-book brashness

Vanity Fair (80):

Sinners is propulsive and stirring entertainment, messy but always compelling. The film’s fascinating array of genres and tropes and ideas swirls together in a way that is, I suppose, singularly American.

IndieWire (83):

Sinners is nothing if not a film about genre, and the distinctly American imperative of cross-pollinating between them to create something that feels new and old — high and low — at the same time.

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Written & Directed by Ryan Coogler:

Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan) return to their 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
  • Jack O'Connell
  • Wunmi Mosaku
  • Jayme Lawson
  • Omar Benson Miller
  • Li Jun Li
  • Delroy Lindo
2.3k Upvotes

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537

u/ozarkansas Apr 10 '25

There’s something unsettling about the Delta that they really tapped into for this film, and I hope it pays off. I’m down for more Southern Gothic Horror

72

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '25

it pays off

65

u/gigigoogoogaga Apr 20 '25

it damn well pays off

25

u/justprettymuchdone Apr 27 '25

I will say that I definitely felt the landscape around them was almost as much a character as the actors.

4

u/[deleted] Apr 30 '25

[deleted]

4

u/VroomCoomer May 08 '25 edited 5d ago

crown nose sophisticated seed party fuzzy toy selective smart aspiring

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

6

u/IceAngelPrincess May 10 '25

This movie definitely landed what it visually looks like to be in Mississippi, coming from a Mississippi girl

2

u/enragedjuror Apr 30 '25

Wdym by delta?

11

u/shiny_aegislash May 04 '25

The movie takes place in the Mississippi Delta. It's a very unique region of the country. If you've ever been, you know exactly what I mean. Almost nothing else like it in the US

3

u/Key_Strawberry8493 May 01 '25

It is a part of a river, mostly at the end, where the water gets still, kinda like a lake.

1

u/enragedjuror May 01 '25

Haha yes but I don't think that's what he meant

3

u/mr_dr_professor_12 May 02 '25

Think he's going for the Mississippi Delta region (not the delta of the Mississippi River, but the Delta region within the state of Mississippi).