Movie; Sinners (2025) Caution Spoiler Alert

 

Sinners

Came out; 2025

Time; 2 hours 17 Minutes

Watched: Max

Rated: R for strong bloody violence, sexual content and language

IMDB Rating; 7.6/10

Rotten Tomatoes:

Tomato Meter 97%

Popcorn Meter 96%

Caution; Spoiler Alert

Staring;

Michael B Jordan as Smoke & Stack

Miles Caton as Sammie Moore

Saul Williams as Jedidiah

Andrene Ward-Hammond as Ruthie

Jack O'Connell as Remmick

Tenaj L. Jackson as Beatrice

Dave Maldonado as Hogwood

Helena Hu as Lisa Chow

Yao as Bo Chow

Delroy Lindo as Delta Slim

Jayme Lawson as Pearline

Hailee Steinfeld as Mary

Omar Benson Miller as Cornbread

Story Line;

Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back

Thoughts:

I said “what” about 8 times during this movie. At first it was a good but it turned into total weirdness. It just didn't work for me.

I've watched several movies where vampires were suddenly part of the plot, The Invitation and Abigail, both of which were amazing movies, this one was hard to follow and just wasn't it for me.

I just felt like it took itself too seriously to end the way it did

CAUTION; Spoiler Alert

In 1932, twin brothers Elijah "Smoke" Moore (Michael B Jordan) and Elias "Stack" Moore (Michael B Jordan) return to their hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi after spending time in Chicago, Illinois. They have amassed a considerable sum of money working for the mob there, and make a deal with a local Clarksdale landowner named Hogwood (Dave Maldonado) to purchase an abandoned sawmill and turn it into a juke joint. The two brothers warn Hogwood that they are willing to defend their property from The Klan if necessary, but the old man claims they are overreacting.

With plans to open the juke joint that very evening, the twins next pay a visit to their Uncle Jedidiah (Saul Williams), and recruit his son Sammie (Miles Caton) to play his guitar at the joint. Jedidiah does not approve, but Sammie goes along, promising to return for the Sunday service the next morning.

The trio next retrieve a truck the twins hid before their rendezvous with Hogwood, and then split up.

Stack takes their car and Sammie. During the ride, Sammie plays a tune for his cousin, and Stack is very impressed by his talents.

Their travels take them to the local train station, where they recruit local musician Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo).

During this time, Sammie is intrigued by a married woman named Pearline (Jayme Lawson), whom he invites to the joint. Stack gets into a tight spot when a former lover of his named Mary (Hailee Steinfeld) confronts him. Though now married, she confesses that she still has feelings for him.

Following these events, the three men head out into the cotton fields to recruit a man named Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller) to be their doorman for the evening.

Meanwhile, Smoke takes the truck into town, where he makes a deal with local Chinese grocers Grace (Li Jun Li) and Bo (Yao) Chow to supply food and to paint a sign for the juke joint.

He next pays a visit to his estranged lover, Annie (Wunmi Mosaku). After paying his respects to their deceased daughter, he gives Annie a mojo bag she gave to him years ago for protection. After doing some hoodoo to strengthen its protective powers, Smoke asks Annie to come to the joint to help at the bar and to fry up catfish. She eventually agrees, and the two share a tender moment before heading out.

Meanwhile, in a small shack, married couple Bert (Peter Dreimanis) and Joan (Lola Kirke) are surprised when a man named Remmick (Jack O'Connell) comes to their door claiming to be chased by Choctaw Indians.

The couple hide the man, with Joan driving off a group of Choctaw's at gunpoint. Once they leave, she finds Remmick has turned her husband into a vampire, and soon shares his fate.

Eventually, the sun sets and the juke joint is officially open for business. However, things quickly get testy when the brothers argue over some people paying with plantation tokens (which can only be used at stores the local cotton plantation owns), which Smoke soon estimates will eat heavily into their planned profits.

Things also get testy when Mary shows up. Stack orders her to leave but she refuses, claiming she wishes to be with her "family and friends."

Sammie also receives a surprise when he sees Pearline show up, and soon he gets to perform for her as he and Slim play a tune.

The song proves to be so full of life, it seems to transcend time, and something in what Sammie is playing permeates through every soul in the juke joint.

Following the performance, Remmick, Bert, and Joan show up at the front door of the joint, asking to come in and join the party.

They claim they want to play music for the crowds and are willing to pay, but Smoke refuses to let them in.

Following this confrontation, Stack confides in Mary about his and Smoke's financial situation.

Wanting to help, Mary goes to talk to the three who have not gone far. They show her some strange gold coins, but when Remmick reveals what he is, she requests they leave, but is also turned into a vampire by him.

Mary then returns to the joint after getting Cornbread to let her enter. She then seduces Stack with a dance and pulls him into a side room, where she promptly bites his neck, making him bleed out.

Smoke soon comes across the grisly scene and without thinking twice, opens fire on Mary! Moments later, she rises up off the ground, and laughingly rushes out of the building.

Smoke tries to save his brother, but Stack's wounds are too severe. Following these events, they lock Stack's body in the storage room, and stop the festivities, telling the guests to leave. Bo Chow also heads out to start up his family's car.

During this time, Slim had taken over door duties from Cornbread who went out to take a leak. Cornbread soon reappears, but asks to be let in. The others find this to be strange behavior and refuse. When Cornbread asks for his payment, Smoke hands the money through the open doorway, before Cornbread attempts to bite his arm, resulting in Smoke shooting the man. Upon seeing him still moving, those inside the joint lock the front door.

Suddenly, Stack's voice is heard from the store room, demanding to be let out. Annie cautions Smoke not to, before Stack bursts through the door! She then throws some water with garlic on him, scalding Stack and sending him rushing out the front door.

It is soon revealed that Remmick has turned all those who left the joint some time ago, along with Bo. Remmick claims that he is mainly there to claim Sammie, and that his musical skills may be able to help him connect to something he has been searching for. He also tries to entice the others claiming that becoming vampires will give them a connection and a belonging that the living world denies them.

Smoke is adamant that those inside will not hand over Sammie, and Grace grows frightened when her turned husband claims he is willing to turn their daughter Lisa (Helena Hu).

Following the talk, Smoke believes that if they kill Remmick, everyone else including Stack will be saved. However, Annie reveals it doesn't work that way. Anyone who was turned must be killed by sunlight or a stake through the heart, but they are now truly dead.

The goal becomes to hold out until dawn, but Remek and his followers begin to make horrifying sounds, eventually causing Grace to snap and demand they come and get them!

Those inside do what they can to fend off the vampires, but soon Grace, Pearline, and Annie fall. Before Annie can be turned, an emotional Smoke stakes her per her pleading.

In a valiant move, Slim sacrifices himself so Smoke can escape with Sammie, only for the two to be confronted by Remek and Stack!

Smoke attempts to deal with his brother, while Remek follows Sammie outside, attempting to turn him.

Sammies does what he can to fight off the evil creature, eventually breaking his guitar over Remek's head, with a silver portion of it cutting into his head! Suddenly, Smoke appears and stakes Remek, causing him to vanish in a pillar of flame.

The two relations have managed to survive until dawn, and watch as the rest of the vampires burst into flames around them.

Smoke gives Sammie the brothers' car, and instructs him to leave town, before pulling equipment from his truck.

Remmick had mentioned that Brett was the son of the local Klan leader (who is actually Hogwood), and Smoke is fairly certain the Grand Wizard and his followers will show up.

His hunch proves correct as before long, Hogwood appears with a number of men ready to cause trouble.

Removing Annie's mojo bag, Smoke ends up ambushing them, wiping the men out but being shot fatally in the standoff. Just before he expires, Smoke sees Annie and their baby.

During this time, Sammie returns to his family's church, where upon seeing his bloodied and damaged state, his father urges him to renounce his love of the Blues. Instead, Sammie takes off in the brothers' car, the remnants of his guitar clutched in one hand.

Time passes, and it is revealed that Sammie became a famous Blues musician (played by Buddy Guy).

Following a performance in Chicago in 1992, Sammie is visited by Stack and Mary. Stack reveals that Smoke let him live as long as he left Sammie alone, and he and Mary escaped from the juke joint all those years ago before the sun rose.

Stack also senses that Sammie is not long for the world, but the old man refuses the offer to be turned. Stack also confesses that they have been following his career over the years, and would like to hear something from the old days. Sammie gives into their request, pulls out his restored guitar, and plays for them.

In a final parting moment, Sammie confesses that although he still has nightmares about that evening, up until the sun set, it was the best day of his life. Stack agrees, as it was the last time he saw his brother and the sun, and confesses that it was the only time he felt truly free.