Sinners - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Sinners



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
Sinners was one of the few films that were released this year that I was genuinely excited to review. I missed 95% of the marketing for Ryan Coogler’s fifth feature film, but came in on the tail end of things just after it was released in cinemas. I saw the trailer and immediately said “oooooo, a new vampire film?! I’m in!”, then was inundated by the sheer volume of praise it was getting from critics. Not to mention the box office success it achieved a few months back. So, in typical Mike fashion, I stuck my fingers in my ears and ignored as many spoilers as I could for this viewing session so I could experience it blind. The end result of that? I came out thoroughly entertained, but also confused as I could be over the source of all this overabundance of lavish praise being heaped upon the film’s head.

Michael B. Jordan stars as twin brothers “Smoke” and “Stack”, a pair of African American gangsters working for Al Capone, coming home to Mississippi to forge their own path. The two ex gangsters have stolen a bit of the mob's money and are using it to create a Juke Joint down by the outskirts of town. They’ve got a lot of coin, lots of swagger, and enough charm to reignite hope in the townsfolk that they can have a new joint to call their own. At first, things are going smoothly. Smoke and Stack recruit their cousin Sammie (Miles Caton) to play blues music on the opening night. Get hold of an old girlfriend to cook, and everything seems to be going smoothly. That is, until a mysterious trio of wandering musicians stop by and bring with them an evil that even the two gangsters may not be able to handle.

My analysis of this film had to be delayed by a day or so as I sat back and ruminated over what I had just seen, and how I was going to break it down. On the surface, Sinners is a straightforward film without any real major twists and turns. But if you look deeper, you start to notice a plethora of socio-political themes throughout the film that beg you to start thinking a bit deeper. But the deeper you actually look at those themes, the more you realize just how simple the film is. Yes, that sounds a bit confusing, but I will explain. The surface level story is simply a variation on From Dusk Till Dawn, complete with the first half of the movie playing out like a typical gangster/drama film, then after about 45 minutes the film immediately jumps into vampires, complete with stabbings, biting, silver weapons, and a LOOOOOOT of practical effects gore work.

But as you look closer, you can see Coogler weaving in elements of cultural vampirism, racism, acceptance (or the lack thereof), spiritual relation to one’s ancestors, religion, and several other issues of black folks in the early 1900s. But the more you look at those themes, the more you wonder if the film was written by, or edited by someone with extreme ADHD, as these themes are introduced and setup quite quickly, only for Coogler to jump straight into another allegorical theme quicker than you can say “bob’s your uncle”. I was figuratively getting whiplash from jerking myself from one bit of subtext to the next, hoping everything would get figured out in the end, only to come away slightly disappointed when most of those themes just waft off into the vapor, instead focusing on the very straightforward vampire narrative. After days of rumination, I can see where Coogler was attempting to go with it, and I give it accolades for being ambitious and bold, but the end result is heavily flawed. The first half of the film was set up quite well, with intertwining allegorical elements to it all, but that third act simply changes gears so quickly that all of those elements are left behind. Leaving us with a movie that is just plain messy in its cohesion.

HOWEVER, Coogler created a stunningly beautiful visual work of art that stands out from the last half-decade of movies in a post-COVID world. The cinematography is absolutely marvelous, featuring heavy layers of black levels upon black levels, saturating the entire world of the film in total darkness. Even the daylight scenes are borderline oppressive and somber, given how dark everything appears. But the visual representation of the vampires, the unique take on the world building, and the use of switching aspect ratios in a seamless manner made me literally drool all over myself from the sumptuousness of it all. The production budget for this enterprise is through the roof, and we have some of the best use of two characters played by the same actor occupying the same space that I have ever seen. I'm not sure whethery they used a CGI face over a stunt double, or used a variant of split screen to achieved it, but needless to say the results were absolutely spectacular in execution there. The same can be said of the gore effects. It was so awesome to see a ton of practical effects being used throughout (with some CGI of course), including classic blood spurts, and that thick pasty blood that you would see in the 1980s. Michael B. Jordan is fantastic as the twins, and I loved seeing Delroy Lindo in his role (the man can't turn in a bad performance). The one character that actually surprised me was Hailee Steinfeld, as I wasn't expecting much from her, only to find out she was one of the better charcters in the film. All in all the story is solid enough on the surface, and the actors really do their job well, But I felt that Coogler introduced a lot of ideas that could have been GREAT, only to watch most of them simply fade away as he jumped from one underlying theme to the next without every truly fleshing out any of them.

I think I fell prey to getting myself hyped up, as I came out scratching my head a bit wondering if I was simply "not getting it". Maybe it’s due to the fact that cinema has been absolutely starved of really great material for about the last 5 or 6 years, so anything remotely unique and different is slathered with praise. Or maybe it simply is a case of it not resonating with me as it did with others. Either way, I personally wish I had gone in completely blind without hearing about all of the accolades it was receiving critically. I possibly got my expectations up a bit too high and left my viewing wondering what the hype was all about. Don’t get me wrong, the film is not bad. It’s a really solid and visually unique story, but it’s not a GREAT film by any stretch of the imagination, and I am left wondering where the disconnect comes from. I enjoyed the movie, but felt it was hampered severely by being soooooooo close to greatness, that you can feel it just out of reach of your fingertips, only for it to keep sliding juuuuuuuuuust away from being firmly grasped. But as it is, the film is a solid mixture of Jordan Peele’s socio-political elements of Get Out, mixed with the silliness of From Dusk Till Dawn wrapped up in a very unique storytelling and visual aesthetic.




Rating:

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




4K Video: Video:

Watching Sinners makes me wish I had seen this in the intended digital IMAX format. The strangely oppressive color grading and the subtly shifting aspect ratios (with an overly wide 2.75:1 aspect ratio for most of the film) layering this into one of the most visually unique films of the year. As I stated in the body of the main review, this is an almost oppressively dark film, punctuated with grays and dusky white wash’s color tones throughout, with moments where primary shades poke their head in. Strangely enough, due to the color grading, the primary shades don’t really “pop” like they normally do, but are much richer and more subdued, with a dusty look to everything. Fine details are generally fantastic, though I found the excessive darkness to sometimes impede visual clarity (usually in the darkness of the Juke Joint, or that final scene with Smoke trying to light up a cigarette before getting a visit from the Klan members). HDR really adds a punch to those black levels, though, making everything silky black despite the absolute stress test that this film puts on your TV’s black levels. There’s no major artifacting that I can see outside of the crush, leaving me to give this film two thumbs up for the visuals.







Audio:

If I have to rave about anything in this package, it is most definitely going to be the Dolby Atmos track found on board. The object-based mix is absolutely flawless from beginning to end, balancing intimate, quiet scenes with the robust and chaotic nature of the second half. The dialogue is spot on perfect, although I had to turn on subtitles as my aging ears had a hard time with Michael B. Jordan mumbling his accent just a tad. Surrounds are impeccable, with great channel separation going on in the more energetic portions of the film. That giant Juke Joint musical bit where Sammie plays “I Lied” is so incredibly immersive and filled to the rafters with all sorts of directional cues. But even the quiet bits are still pretty vibrant and make great use of the directional capabilities of the track. That opening bit where Hailee Steinfeld’s character meets Stack by the train station is just filled with ambient activity, ranging from harmonicas, background actors chit chatting, and the rattle of cars moving around the location. But my absolute favorite part of this entire mix is the Blues music throughout. It is just so jaw-dropping and fresh feeling that I couldn’t get enough. Bass is punchy and powerful, adding weight to foot stomps during the musical bits, down to soul-crushing impacts as the vampires lay waste to the joint. All in all, this is a picture-perfect Atmos track and one of my favorites of the year so far.








Extras:

• Dancing with the Devil: The Making of "Sinners" -- Journey with director Ryan Coogler as he makes his most personal and powerful film yet. Featuring Michael B. Jordan and an all-star cast, filmed on location in IMAX, "Sinners" is an original genre-bending experience unlike any other.
•Thicker than Blood: Becoming the Smokestack Twins – Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler take us through the development, creation, and portrayal of the Smokestack Twins, revealing how make-up, costumes, and visual effects come together to support these seamless performances.
•Blues in the Night: The Music of "Sinners" – Oscar-winning composer Ludwig Göransson explores the musical landscape of Sinners, including the iconic sounds of the Delta Blues, and the creation and recording of the unique and inspired performances written for the film.
•Spirits in the Deep South – Prof. Yvonne Chireau explores the backdrop of Hoodoo in the deep south and how its beliefs and traditions in spirituality, ancestors, the hereafter, and defense against evil inform the world and characters of "Sinners."
•The Wages of Sin: The Creature FX of "Sinners" – Creature Makeup FX Designer Mike Fontaine reveals the secrets behind the supernatural horrors that terrorize the Juke, Ryan Coogler's fresh take on vampires, and the various gore and blood effects used throughout the film.
• Deleted Scenes - Includes deleted and/or extended scenes for a more immersive experience.

Final Score: ​

Sinners is a fun enough vampire movie with a delicious feel to it all. As an award-winning film to fully dissect intellectually, the film falls a bit short of said goal. But as an entertaining vampire flick with a very unique style, the film succeeded brilliantly. As I stated above, I feel like I’m sort of "the odd man out" in my opinion, but I still had a good time watching it. My only complaint is watching all of the subtext that Coogler was supposedly building towards just meander and wander around messily, only to never really get fleshed out or get completed by the end. But I'm still amazed by the very unique texture that Coogler applied to the film, and just how amazing this 4K package is. Warner’s 4K UHD disc sports some solid features and some great Video/Audio scores, so if you’re a fan of the movie I would definitely pick this or the steelbook up, but others may want to stream this first before committing a blind buy, as I feel the praise is heaped on a bit TOO much for my tastes. If I had to be honest, I would give this a 3.75/5 for the rating, but I’m going to give it a solid 4 stars as I feel 3.5/5 is a bit TOO low. Solid watch and absolutely superb 4K package for fans of the film.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Miles Caton, Saul Williams, Delroy Lindo, Miles Caton
Directed by: Ryan Coogler
Written by: Ryan Coogler
Aspect Ratio: 2.75:1 / 1.78:1 HEVC
Audio: English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), English, French (Canada), Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French SDH, Spanish
Studio: Warner Bros
Rated: R
Runtime: 137 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: July 8th, 2025

Recommendation: Solid Watch