Thanks to the demands of his two Black Panther movies, 2015’s Creed marked the last time director Ryan Coogler made a flick outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) for a long time span. 2025’s Sinners marked his first effort outside the MCU in a decade.

In 1932, identical twin brothers Elijah "Smoke" Moore (Michael B. Jordan) and Elias "Stack" Moore (Jordan again) return to their small Mississippi hometown after time in Chicago as associates of organized crime. They look to “go straight” – albeit with stolen money - and open a juke joint to serve the local Black community.

When they get the club up and running, it seems like a major success until a snarl emerges: vampires who stalk the area. The brothers and their friends need to deal with this supernatural threat.

Movie fans love to complain that Hollywood churns out so many movies based on existing properties as well as sequels, which I get. However, given that audiences continue to flock to sequels and movies based on existing properties, I can’t blame the studios for this focus.

I scanned US box office results over the years and tried to find the last time a completely original film – one invented by the screenwriter without any link to an existing concept or events – landed in its year’s top 10 grosses. Excluding the COVID-impacted results of 2020, I needed to go all the way back to 2016’s Secret Life of Pets to locate such a hit.

As I write this in July 2025, Sinners stands in third place for the 2025 US box office, though Jurassic World: Rebirth will soon bump it to fourth. I think it may end up as the first totally original property to make the US top 10 since Pets.

Though vampires don’t exactly offer a novel topic. Still, if I restricted my “original property” concept solely to movies with no clear genre antecedents, I’d find nothing that qualifies.

Interestingly, Sinners becomes Coogler’s first film that lacked the influence of any outside events or characters. Obviously his two Black Panther films worked from Marvel comics and Creed operated within the “Rocky Cinematic Universe”.

Even Coogler’s 2013 debut Fruitvale Station didn’t exist solely as a cinematic concept. Coogler wrote a screenplay heavily based on true events.

So Sinners turns into the first Coogler flick to emerge solely from his mind. Its success with critics and audiences seems likely to give him more leeway to branch out again for his next project.

As for me, I find Sinners to offer a fairly entertaining mix of horror and action but not a great one. While the movie offers an enjoyable twist on the vampire genre, I don’t think it truly excels or does all that much to set itself apart from its predecessors.

With the caveat that I never saw Fruitvale Station, I simply have yet to view a Coogler movie that I think rises above the level of “pretty good”. Creed felt too much like a remake of Rocky, while the two Black Panther tales seemed engaging but not close to the best the MCU can offer.

Toss Sinners into this pile as well. Though the flick works fine, it just doesn’t turn into anything particularly special.

I do like the “slow burn” nature of Sinners, though others may find its gradual plot progression frustrating. Actually, Sinners provides a film that would’ve been interesting to see with zero foreknowledge where it would eventually go.

That happens because a good 40 minutes of Sinners elapses before we find any hint of the supernatural. Coogler sets up the Moore brothers and the other locals in a manner that doesn’t lead one to think blood-sucking mayhem will eventually result.

Indeed, the first act makes it seem much more likely Sinners will derive drama either from the Chicago gangsters the twins robbed or from the racist white folks who want to rain on the brothers’ parade. Coogler understands that viewers expect the movie to pursue one – or both – of those avenues, so he appears to enjoy the “fake out”.

Which only exists as a misdirect if the viewer never saw previews for the film, of course. The rest of us know where matters will eventually go.

And that could make Sinners frustrating for some because it takes so long to finally blossom into horror/action mayhem. Some in the audience may paraphrase Dr. Ian Malcolm and wonder if Coogler will eventually have vampires in his vampire movie.

I get this possible annoyance but I like the gradual development. We get to buy into the brothers and the lives of the others before the excrement hits the fan.

I like this path in theory more than in reality, mainly because I can’t claim Coogler creates a collection of fascinating characters with Smoke, Stack and the rest. All feel mildly compelling but they seem more like archetypes than well-developed roles.

This means the long build-up to the main narrative frustrates a bit because Coogler doesn’t use the time as well as he could. Sinners could probably chop out half an hour and not lose anything substantial.

Once Sinners kicks into action, it does fare better. After his stint with the MCU, Coogler clearly knows how to execute cinematic mayhem, and he makes the vampire battles vivid and dynamic.

All of this leads to a pretty good mix of action, horror and drama but not one that really hits the mark for me. Though I respect Coogler’s attempt to do something new with the genre, the end result doesn’t fire on all cylinders.

Footnote: a surprisingly substantial added scene appears about one minute into the end credits. Another shorter but also worthwhile segment pops up at the conclusion of the credits.

Sinners appears in an aspect ratio of 2.76:1 on this 4K UHD Disc – mostly. Shot “full IMAX” 1.43:1, about 30 minutes of the movie went with “expanded” 1.78:1.

Whatever the aspect ratio, the Dolby Vision images worked great. This meant immaculate sharpness, without a glimpse of softness along the way.

Shimmering and jagged edges remained absent, and I witnessed no edge haloes. Print flaws failed to appear, so this was a clean presentation.

Orange/amber and teal dominated the palette. The colors were fine within their stylistic restraints, and HDR added kick to the tones.

Blacks looked deep and taut, and shadows showed good clarity. HDR brought extra impact to whites and contrast. This turned into a pleasing transfer.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, no complaints accompanied the excellent Dolby Atmos soundtrack of Sinners. With plenty of action, the soundscape often opened up in a dynamic manner and used all the channels to positive advantage.

Various elements zoomed around the room and violence peppered the soundscape to solid effect. The soundfield added to the experience.

Audio quality worked well. Speech remained natural and distinctive, without edginess or other concerns.

Music was bold and dynamic, and effects satisfied. Those elements were expressive and impactful, as they showed fine definition and power. This was a very good mix.

When we head to extras, we get seven Deleted Scenes. These occupy a total of 18 minutes, 32 seconds.

Don’t expect much, as these tend to offer more music and minor character embellishments. None of the sequences feel memorable.

Five featurettes follow, and Dancing with the Devil runs 32 minutes, 39 seconds. It brings notes from writer/director Ryan Coogler, producer Zinzi Coogler and Sev Ohanian, editor Michael H. Shawver, costume designer Ruth Carter, production designer Hannah Beachler, director of photography Autumn Durald Arkapaw, composer Ludwig Göransson, IMAX camera technician Scott C. Smith, executive producer Rebecca Cho, choreographer Aakomon Hasani Jones, visual effects supervisor Michael Ralla, and actors Michael B. Jordan, Miles Caton, Hailee Steinfeld, Li Jun Li, Jack O'Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, and Yao.

The show looks at the movie's inspirations and push to the screen, cast and performances, sets and locations, costumes, photography, music and choreography. Despite ample dollops of happy talk, "Devil" nonetheless offers a fairly good view of the film.

Blues in the Night spans 13 minutes, 47 seconds. With this one, we find info from Ryan Coogler, Göransson, Ohanian, Caton, O'Connell, Jones, composer/music producer Boo Mitchell, musicians Buddy Guy, Tim Carmon and Bobby Rush, and actors Delroy Lindo, Lola Kirke, Peter Dreimanis and Jayme Lawson.

Here we get more about the flick's music and choreography. Though "Devil" touches on some of this, "Blues" offers a better deep dive.

Next comes Thicker Than Blood. This reel lasts 10 minutes, 47 seconds and involves Ryan Coogler, Jordan, Arkapaw, Ohanian, Caton, Carter, Ralla, Steinfeld, Wunmi, hair designer Shunika Terry, makeup designer Sian Richards, visual effects producer James Alexander, and body double Percy Bell.

The reel gets into how the movie allowed Jordan to play two separate roles and related topics. It works pretty well.

Spirits of the Deep South goes for eight minutes. It provides remarks from Zinzi Coogler, Wunmi, and Professor of Religion and Black Studies Yvonne Chireau.

We learn about the spiritual elements featured in the movie. Some decent notes emerge but too much of the reel feels self-congratulatory.

Finally, Wages of Sin fills 10 minutes, 53 seconds. The program boasts statements from Ryan Coogler, Jordan, Carter, Kirke, Steinfeld, Lawson, O'Connell, Dreiman, special effects makeup/prosthetic makeup designer Mike Fontaine, special effects makeup artist Bailey Domke, key special effects makeup artist Kevin Wasner and actor Omar Miller.

"Wages" examines the movie's creature effects. We find a reasonably useful view of this work.

A rare box office smash not based on an existing property, Sinners brings a reasonably engaging twist on the vampire genre. Though I don’t think it merits the ample praise it received, the movie nonetheless becomes a pretty solid tale. The 4K UHD delivers excellent picture and audio along with a decent set of supplements. Sinners fails to live up to the hype but it still works for the most part.