Sinners (2025)

Drama/Thriller/Horror

Rated 15

Spoiler Free

I’m a forgiving man, which is why I put the memory of Wankhands Forever into a little locked box in my brain because I hoped upon hope that Ryan Coogler’s 1930’s set vampire film Sinners would be fun. It sounded fun, and I mean that literally because I didn’t watch a trailer for it. It was our anniversary and my girlfriend and I booked tickets to Greenwich Picturehouse and a had meal beforehand.

We went to a place called Matiz on the Hill in Greenwich, an area of London which retains its quaint charm- and by charm I mean has always been too expensive to buy up, bulldoze and build on unlike some postcodes around it. Matiz is a Spanish and Latin restaurant with a huge menu, lovely décor and my sea bass ceviche and rib eye steak were great. They even gave us a complimentary shot of tequila, which was nice.

Ceviche at Matiz on the Hill, not a shot from Sinners

Sinners stars Michel B. Jordan as two gangster brothers Smoke and Stack, returning to their home in Mississippi after a lengthy stint away being all dodgy in Chicago. The two are setting up a Juke Joint, a 1930’s music venue ostensibly for the badly treated black population. Jordan plays both brothers, very much doing a Tom Hardy in Legend turn, to great effect. Their hustle attracts unwanted visitors led by the excellent Jack O’Connell as evil incarnate, Remmick.

A very, very musical dance develops as death knocks on the venue door. While not every element of Sinners is perfect, it is a clever amalgam of a few ideas. The set up and world is carefully and believably built and the ensuing siege and carnage has echoes of From Dusk Till Dawn, 30 Days of Night and a few other things, while very much feeling its own creation. It was a huge amount of fun, with plenty of its own twists and I think may well go down as a very popular vampire offering.

What let Sinners down, in our particular experience, was Screen 4 at Greenwich Picturehouse which was quite frankly atrocious. The curtains didn’t fully draw, meaning each side of the film was projected onto them. Also the sound was out. Marginally, sure, but enough that it was distracting. I don’t know any filmmaker who wants their clientele to be distracted, unless they’re making porn in which case it’s very much the point.

Also, Screen 4's ambient light had no softener, so it was like having a torch pointed down on you and that light ruined the depth of colour on the screen. I complained when I went out for a wee (Sinners is 2 hour 18 minutes long, far outlasting my wine bladder) and the chap did radio to mention it, but apart from the screen I didn’t really know what they could do right there and then. Nothing, it turned out, but hopefully these issues were addressed before more paying customers had to adjust to a limited experience for £15 a seat.

Bedsit it?

Nobody should have to get used to a cinema’s flaws, that’s undermining the whole selling point of the cinematic  experience. Ryan Coogler’s film not only made those issues less annoying, but has banished the Black Panther box further into my forgetfulness. Sinners is excellent and newcomer Miles Caton is one to watch out for. 8/10

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