This image released by Warner Bros Pictures shows Michael B. Jordan, center, in a scene from "Sinners." Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures via AP

Ryan Coogler just keeps reshaping film-making.

Having already re-invented the super hero movie with “Black Panther” (still the best Marvel film to date) and the boxing/ sports film with “Creed,” the 38-year old filmmaker takes aim at the vampire genre in his latest film “Sinners.”

It is a breathtaking cinematic experience, one where Coogler uses everything at his disposal to create an immersive experience full of rich characters and impeccable craftsmanship.

“Sinners” will almost certainly be one of the films we look back on in December as among the best of 2025.

“Sinners” takes place in 1932 in the Mississippi Delta with brothers Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan) returning home after fighting in World War I and then moving to Chicago where they worked for Al Capone.

Loaded with cash, imported beer and whiskey, the brothers purchase a saw mill that they plan to turn into a juke joint. With help from a handful of people from their past, including an alcoholic musician named Delta (Delroy Lindo), Smoke’s former lover Annie (Wunmi Mosaku) who dabbles in Bayou witchcraft, and their cousin Sammie (Miles Caton) a preacher’s son who has a gift for playing the blues, they get the juke joint ready for the grand opening.

Opening night takes a deadly turn when three strangers show up, led by an Irish vampire named Remmick (Jack O’Connell).

Coogler’s screenplay is more than just ordinary people fighting vampires, much more. While the horror plot serves as the story’s main catalyst this is a film with a lot on intriguing subtext, tackling race, class and the struggle for power.

The script also fleshes out these characters in such detail that it adds more suspense to their plight in the final act, with the audience emotionally invested in these characters way more than you generally see in this genre.

Jordan does tremendous work in both roles, the kind of performances that are easy to overlook because they seem so effortless. The supporting cast, which also includes Hailee Steinfeld, is just as good, helping to make these characters more relatable to the audience.

“Sinners” is a film full of humor, scares and impeccable craftsmanship, with everything from the set design to the pulsating score top level. Coogler’s use of music, particularly in two exhilarating extended sequences, only expands the lore that his story is creating. This is a film that embraces the supernatural but then grounds it in such a realistic environment that it doesn’t feel out of place.

If there is anything to quibble about it might be that Coogler is perhaps a little too ambitious, with “Sinners” aiming for so many things that it is slightly overstuffed.

But I’m never gonna fault a filmmaker willing to swing for the fences, especially when the result is this astounding. This is a vampire movie unlike any you have ever seen – one that raises the bar for anyone who dares to work in this genre again.

If You Go
“Sinners”
Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld
Directed by: Ryan Coogler
Rating: R for strong bloody violence, sexual content and language
Playing at: Regal Bowling Green Stadium 12, Regal Greenwood Mall Stadium 10, Highland Cinemas (Glasgow)
Grade: A