Everyone Not Seeing Ryan Coogler's New Film In Theaters Are “Sinners”
Ryan Coogler speaking about "Black Panther" at 2016's San Diego International Comic Con. Photo by Gage Skidmore via Flickr
One thing about movie discourse is that all the talk about “originality” is often hypocritical. You’ll constantly hear people say, “Hollywood never makes original movies anymore,” or “bring back originality in Hollywood.” But, the same people saying this aren’t going to see a mid-budget, original film in theaters. Do you know why those movies don’t get made as much anymore? They don’t make money.
Enter “Sinners,” Ryan Coogler’s first non-IP film in over a decade, since 2013’s “Fruitvale Station.” Not only is the film the buzziest movie of the year so far, but critics and audiences are calling it a flat-out masterpiece. The catch? It’s completely, one hundred percent original.
Ryan Coogler’s journey as a writer-director has had an interesting trajectory thus far. At 38, he’s already had a career that most directors dream of. As a college football player at Saint Mary's College and Sacramento State, he had aspirations of playing in the NFL. A career-ending injury and a professor telling him to try out screenwriting forced him to pivot and never look back.
Coogler applied to the master's program at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, and over the next three years, made some highly lauded and award-winning short films.
It’s 2013, and Coogler is 26. He writes and directs “Fruitvale Station,” a small indie film starring Michael B. Jordan, who would become his frequent collaborator. The film swept the awards at Sundance, where it premiered. It was a hit.
It’s 2015, and Coogler is 28. He co-writes and directs “Creed,” a spinoff of the ”Rocky” films, again with Michael B. Jordan as the lead. The film receives a ton of praise and grosses $173 million worldwide. Sylvester Stallone was nominated for an Academy Award. It was a hit.
It’s 2018, and Coogler is 31. He co-writes and directs “Black Panther,” becoming the first African-American to direct a Marvel Studios film. It starred Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan, made $1.3 billion at the box office, won 3 Academy Awards out of 7 nominations, and rewrote box-office history for Coogler as a director. It was a hit.
It’s 2022, and Coogler is 35. He co-writes and directs the sequel to “Black Panther,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” The film grossed almost $900 million, was nominated for 5 Academy Awards and won 1. It was a hit.
Now, it’s 2025, and Ryan Coogler is 38. There probably comes a time in every man’s life when they realize that ambition can only give you so much. You can only do so much. You can only have so much. You can only leave your mark so much. Ryan Coogler clearly doesn’t believe in that sentiment, because his new movie “Sinners” is not only the biggest and most lauded movie of the year, but also a total departure from all of his previous work. And Coogler isn’t unfamiliar with ambitious undertakings.
Once again teaming with Michael B. Jordan, who plays identical twin roles of Elijah “Smoke” Moore and Elias “Stack” Moore returning to their hometown to settle some unfinished business, Coogler’s film is a melting pot of genres and ideas, all culminating in something that’s entirely his own.
Let’s circle back to the originality discussion. People have been clamoring for a completely original film that also makes people feel something. That, for a lack of a more formal reason, puts asses in seats. As Sean Baker said during his Oscar speech in February, “we need to make movies for the big screen.”
It’s been a long-gestating debate, whether the theatrical model of filmmaking has “jumped the shark.” Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos is infamous for his straight-to-streaming ideals, saying the theater-going experience is “outdated.” In saying that, he also emphasized his love for movies. Not believing in going to see films on the big screen and also saying you “love movies” is hypocritical. Ryan Coogler, a filmmaker who is clearly a total cinephile, wants his films projected on the biggest screen possible.
After seeing “Sinners,” I understand why. The film was made to be seen on the big screen, in IMAX really. Michael B. Jordan is captivating as Smoke and Stack in what I believe is his best on-screen performance to date. He is somehow able to play both convincingly, giving each of them their own idiosyncrasies.
Like I mentioned earlier, “Sinners” can’t be put into a box. It’s a movie about race, about religion, about music, about culture. It’s horror, it’s a western, it’s action, it’s a wild ride.
The film plays almost with a two-act structure, the first being entirely set-up, and the rest really delving into its themes and ideas. It benefits from that initial setup of character development because it makes you care about what’s happening to the characters later on.
It’s not just Jordan who's great, the supporting cast is incredible too, with Hailee Steinfeld, Delroy Lindo, Wunmi Mosaku, Omar Benson Miller, Li Jun Li and, especially, Miles Caton in his film debut.
I don’t want to spoil it, but there’s a scene in the second half of “Sinners” that’s one of the most ambitious and wildly inventive things I’ve seen in a blockbuster in a long time. It’s made even better by the incredible score, done by another one of Coogler’s frequent collaborators, someone he met in college, two-time Academy Award winner Ludwig Göransson.
And don’t be misunderstood. “Sinners” is a blockbuster. It has the biggest box-office opening for an original film this decade, and rightfully so. It feels like the type of movie the film industry needs right now. When people say that there are no “original” movies being made anymore, point to “Sinners” as the film that gets people to go out to theaters for a non-IP, non-sequel, 100% original blockbuster.
The great thing about the film is that it tackles a classic genre, the vampire genre, and does so with a fresh take. It doesn’t rehash things you’ve already seen before.
Coogler said a big inspiration for writing “Sinners” was his late uncle, who introduced him to his family’s roots and culture through blues music, something that’s very prevalent within the film. So, for Coogler, “Sinners’” success is a personal and communal experience for him and his family.
With such a big critical and commercial success, one must ask, what’s next for Coogler? He himself has said it’s a reboot of the X-Files TV show that focuses a lot on horror. But as for feature films, the sky's the limit for Coogler. The Academy Awards may also come knocking.
It’s safe to say that “Sinners,” like all of Coogler’s other films, was a hit. That professor who told him to pursue screenwriting inadvertently gave the world an exciting and important voice in Hollywood.