“Sinners”: Blues and Blood in Ryan Coogler’s New Drama

Ryan Coogler brings us a mix of period drama, horror, and musical condensed in a single film. This is Sinners.

In the era of the remake, original productions have become harder to come by. Unless we’re talking about small independent films with very limited distribution, most “creatives” see originality as an expensive and unnecessary risk.

However, once in a while, a project with a higher profile dares to do the unthinkable and finds a welcoming audience on the other side. Sinners is one such movie.

A Bold Mix of Genres

For the first hour, Sinners appears to be just a period drama, with a few supernatural details here and there. The story takes place in Mississippi during the early 1930s, a time when America was under Jim Crow laws, so racial segregation plays a huge role in the plot and marks the dynamic between different characters. Having some basic knowledge on the period might come in handy to understand the context.

We meet Sammie, the young son of the pastor, who dreams of a career as a blues musician, to his father’s dismay. The new business of his twin cousins, Smoke and Stack, offers Sammie an outlet to show his talent. After years working for the Chicago Outfit, the twins return to their hometown to open a juke joint for the local black community, and they need performers.

The Power of Blues

One of the main elements in the film is the music. The blues are presented as a powerful force that can summon spirits from the past and the future, bring hope and abundance, but also attract evil. There is a phenomenal scene that brings this idea to life, where the passion of Sammie’s performance assembles, if just for a moment, his ancestors and descendants in the same plane of existence. He also summons a group of dangerous vampires, but we’ll get into that later. Coogler achieves this with a sequence shot that moves through the dancing crowd, treating us to glimpses of people and music belonging to different times.

As I said, the first part is a drama that incorporates some musical elements, two genres that merge well together. The production values are excellent. Despite the overblown production budget of these times, true quality is hard to find, and Sinners offers it. It feels like a project made years ago, when movies were made as art, not as a product. The performances rise to the occasion. Michael B. Jordan steals the show playing both Moore twins, but Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Wunmi Mosaku and the rest of the cast are great in their respective roles.

Klansmen and Vampires

About an hour in, the film takes a wild turn and becomes officially insane when Sammie’s music summons three vampires to the juke joint (including a couple of Ku Klux Klan members). Despite being denied entrance, the creatures hang out nearby, waiting for the opportunity to prey on the attendees, which comes soon enough. Things escalate quickly, and before long, there is only a small group of human survivors left, trying to face a horde of supernatural creatures.

Oh, and the vampires can sing and dance, so now we have a mix of drama, musical, and horror. There is a lot of blood, but also good songs. Which is pretty unusual, but I enjoyed the risk-taking. I respect Ryan Coogler for that.

However, it is at this point that I feel the movie struggles. While the introduction of all the characters and their conflicts does not feel long, it takes a substantial part of the running time. So when the time for the action comes, it gives you the impression that everything happens too fast and that the conflict resolved in an instant. Before you know it, the credits roll, and you are left with the sensation that there was more to be told.

Post-Credit Scenes Are Out of Control

And in fact, there was more. Sinners includes a post-credit scene that reveals the fate of some main characters, sixty years after that night at the juke joint.

I used to think the post-credit scenes were just a fun and harmless prank on the audience, but it is getting tiresome. Not every film needs a post-credit scene, and Sinners was one of those. It is not a Marvel movie. Besides, in this case, that scene was the real ending of the film. You walk out of the theater in a hurry and you miss it.

Box Office Success

After eight weeks in theaters, Sinners has made over $357.000.000 globally, becoming the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2025 so far.

Let me point out that this is one of the few movies in the top ten that are completely original, not descending from an already established franchise or IP. It should also be noticed that $357.000.000, while being great news for a movie that only cost $90.000.000, is pretty low for making it to the list of highest grossing production of the year.

What’s Happening?

We are not even in July, so this will surely change, but the difference with past years is striking. Ten years ago, all the highest grossing films of the year had a global box office of over $600.000.000 at least, and there were four or five that went over a billion dollars. This year, A Minecraft Movie is currently in second place with $950.000.000, followed by Lilo & Stitch with almost $800.000.000. Even Snow White made it into the top ten with just $205.000.000. Again, it is only June, but still. Movies are not making that much money anymore.

I draw two conclusions from this. First, there is a great interest in family movies, so people will watch even if the options are trashy. Second, our support of unoriginal and mass-produced content (even if just out of boredom) affirms the studios in their belief that they don’t need to make an effort because we are going to pay for whatever they give us.

It is clear that the industry is yet to recover from the disaster of the pandemic, the Hollywood strikes, and the woke activism virus. But the only way to signal to them that we want better and original movies is to support better and original movies with our money. I’m aware that Sinners may not be everybody’s cup of tea and that it may appear too extravagant to some, but this film getting a place among the most successful of 2025 is pretty meaningful. Maybe we are getting on the right track.