Sinners (2025): A bloody fun celebration of multiculturalism

Ryan Coogler may have just proved himself to be one of the greatest filmmakers of our age. With his newest masterpiece - Sinners (2025) - Coogler shows that he is not only a great filmmaker, but one who has something to say.

Michael B. Jordan starring in Sinners (2025)

Coogler has always been a filmmaker with a message. His first film was Fruitvale Station (2013), which tells the true story of a black man who was unjustly gunned down by a police officer. Even then, Coogler had the artistic fortitude to see that for its core message to resonate, his film must be mostly about the man and not the shooting.

The Creed and Black Panther franchises allowed Coogler to hone his skills in working with a bigger production. Sinners (2025) is him using that skill to convey a message. It’s a spiritual sequel to Fruitvale Station (2013). 

Sinners (2025) is about a pair of twin brothers - Smoke & Stack, both played by Michael B. Jordan - trying to set up a juke joint in Jim Crow Mississippi. As the night descends, things get complicated.

Sinners (2025) is, at its core, a horror-thriller-action blockbuster with an exquisite ensemble cast, and a lead whose charisma is off the charts. It has pitch perfect pacing, dynamic action sequences, and suspenseful scenes in between. There are also moments of exuberant joy and heart-sinking sorrow, all driven by beautiful beats and blues. As the story intensifies, Ludwig Gorensson’s operatic rock score comes in to punctuate the story’s many crescendoes.

Michael B. Jordan playing twins in Sinners (2025), Stack and Smoke (right to left)

That Coogler is able to weave all these elements of the cinema as an art form - visual, sound, editing, writing - to tell a compelling story is something that we have always known. Granted, the tightness of direction in Sinners (2025) is a significant level-up from all of his previous films. But it is not technical competence that makes this film stand out: it’s the story.

Sinners (2025) is a story about multiculturalism. It is a story of people defying the forces of homogeneity, to create a space for diverse communities. Smoke and Stack’s efforts to create a juke joint is literally an attempt to create a space where minorities would feel like they are part of a majority. And it is probably no coincidence that things went downhill when the profitability of the joint is called into question.

Miles Canton starring as Sammy in Sinners (2025)

Coogler could’ve been heavy-handed in his approach. He could’ve hammered the themes. But even in his weakest films - inevitably the Black Panther films - the message is weaved into the fabric of the story. In Sinners (2025), multiculturalism is conveyed through the film’s dynamic soundscape. One could probably isolate the music and soundtrack of Sinners (2025) and identify a hidden narrative in them. In one beautifully iconic scene, Coogler deploys all tools at a filmmaker’s disposal to suspend the rule of reality and immersion, to convey a timeless message. The best part is, this temporary break in immersion enhances the supernatural quality of the underlying narrative. Coogler broke the immersion but sustained the story.

Sinners (2025) is not only a great film. It is an original blockbuster not based on any pre-existing IP. It is a rare breed that should be protected at all cost. Hopefully, this masterpiece will be as successful commercially as it is critically.