Sinners Is Once Again Proof That Review Scores Don’t Matter

Ryan Coogler is now being praised as one of the best filmmakers of our time. He’s best known for his work on Black Panther and its sequel, as well as the Creed movies, but you’ve probably been hearing a lot about his latest film, Sinners. I certainly have. In fact, I’ve seen nothing but praise for it. Everybody loves Sinners.

Sinners hasn’t just released to widespread critical acclaim – Metacritic has it at an impressive 84 – but it’s also been incredibly commercially successful, having financially outperformed some of the most iconic horror movies of all time and cemented itself as one of the defining movies of 2025. I won’t be surprised if, with this critical and commercial performance, we see it get some nods at the Oscars next year.

Spoilers for Sinners ahead.I’m very happy that this film has gotten the reception it has. I think it’s amazing that a vampire movie that primarily focuses on Black characters and stories took off like this. It’s the kind of film that I wish succeeded more often, because it tells stories that feel genuinely exciting, unique stories about times and places and people that are so often overlooked.

And yet.

Sorry, I Really Didn’t Like Sinners

Well, kind of. Maybe it’s more accurate to say that I didn’t like half of Sinners. As I’ve told many of my friends, Sinners feels like its twin protagonists – two intertwined, albeit very different, movies stitched together into one somewhat coherent whole. I loved the first half of Sinners. I was completely sold on the stories it was setting up, the many complex characters and their relationships to each other, and the way the movie rendered the time and place it’s set within. There were lots of great ideas being explored, and I was excited to see them expanded on and taken to their conclusions.

And then Mary, played by Hailee Steinfeld, is bitten by a vampire, and the film’s emotional momentum comes to a screeching halt. What ensued was an action-packed bloodbath, one with impressive stunts and effects, yes, but absolutely no resolution. The explorations of each character died with them. Every interesting thread was left hanging. The emotional core of the film was thrown out the window in favour of gore-soaked spectacle, and it felt like a waste of all the complexity shown in the film’s first half.

I was particularly disappointed that the use of music as a supernatural force wasn’t explored more deeply and with more complexity, considering it’s the film’s core premise.

What’s A Review Worth?

I really wanted to love Sinners. I love horror, but more than that, I love seeing how horror can elevate an already unconventional story. Perhaps I can chalk my disappointment up to not really enjoying action movies, which is essentially what Sinners’ second half felt like. More than anything, it was a reminder that reviews can’t guarantee an audience anything.

I’ve written time and time again that review scores don’t mean anything – not in games, and not in movies, either. A review, even an unscored one, is totally subjective to the reviewer. Most reviews of Sinners don’t mention the things I didn’t like about it, or even say that they enjoyed it.

I’m not going to throw a tantrum about it. I write critically about things, and people disagree with me all the time. Take, for example, that some people got upset with me for saying Split Fiction’s story is very bad. It’s now being made into a movie starring Sydney Sweeney, so clearly, Hollywood doesn’t see things the same way as I do.

Critical consensus, by nature, cannot cover the breadth of opinion that exists about a specific thing. Many people will think that my take on the film is bad and wrong, I’m sure, but I’m entitled to my unpopular opinion, as are you, dear reader. As always, I’m advising you to form your own opinion about things instead of assuming reviews will always reflect your own experience. Michael B. Jordan playing twins in a critically acclaimed vampire movie should have been my movie of the year, but here we are.