Major Spoilers for Sinners are down below.
Summary
Sinnershas found critical and financial success, easily winning its opening weekend at the box office even though the trailer actually spoils the film’s biggest plot twist. Thehorrorfilm was written and directed by Ryan Coogler, who also helmedCreedand theBlack Pantherfilms. The cast includes Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Jack O’Connell, and Michael B. Jordan in dual roles.
Sinnersfollows twin brothers, Smoke and Stack, as they return to their Mississippi roots with plans of running their own juke joint. However, their grand opening is crashed by vampires, who turn their dream into a bloody fight for survival. The flashy trailers lured moviegoers into theaters, garnering the movie the number one spot with a $48 million domestic opening weekend. Paying audiences also loved what they saw, awarding the film an A CinemaScore, the highest rating ever for an R-rated original horror film. However, the film’s most significant turning point was spoiled by theSinnerstrailer a few weeks before its release.
What The Sinners Trailer Lets The Audience Know About One Character’s Fate
TheSinners’trailer hits all the right marks to entice potential viewers intoa period vampire film. It lets people know the star power in front of the camera, as well as the creative forces propelling things from behind the scenes. The trailer also highlights the film’s time period, establishing the 1930s, with a strong focus on music, a core facet of the film. Aside from the music,Sinnershas stakes, with a vampire threat targeting the film’s stars, teasing the action and violence that ensues when the movie kicks into high gear.
It is an effective trailer that teases just enough.However, the trailer actually shows a couple of things that heavily spoilSinners.While it isn’t overtly clear in the context of the trailer that something has been spoiled, after seeing the film, it becomes apparent. TheSinners’trailer clearly shows Steinfeld’s character, Mary, as a blood-covered vampire, even uttering the line, “We’re going to kill every last one of you.” This makes Mary a villain in the story, but that’s not how she starts out in Sinners, and it’s a big deal when it happens.
Why Knowing Mary’s Fate In Sinners Spoils The Film’s Best Twist
The biggest issue with knowing that Mary is a vampire inSinnersis that it doesn’t happen for almost half of the film’s runtime. Mary begins the story as a human love interest for Stack, one of the twinsportrayed by Michael B. Jordan. They are shown to have had a romantic past, with her being jilted when Smoke and Stack left for Chicago. She waited for Stack to return, but eventually moved on after years, still harboring a grudge and carrying a romantic torch that never went out.
When you know Mary is fated to become a vampire from the trailer, it takes away from the impact of it happening.Her past with Stack is complicated, and you can see the two care for each other, with a glimmer of hope that they will end up happy together. However, when you know Mary will not remain human, it detracts from their emotional back and forth, and instead leaves the viewer wondering when the change will happen, as her romance with Stack now always feels destined for tragedy.
TheSinners’trailer also shows viewers that one of the twins has been turned into a vampire. This is revealed to be Stack in the movie, with Mary being the one who turns him after she has her own transformation. This further spoils events in the second half of the film, knowing that the vampires will sever the core partnership present in Smoke and Stack.
Mary becoming a vampireproves to be the film’s best twist, as it kicks off the second half ofSinners, in which the vampires attack the juke joint. It pushes the twins to a place they never thought they’d be, forcing them to make impossible decisions that affect themselves and their community.HadSinnersnot revealed this beforehand in the trailer, it would have been a truly mortifying turn for the audience to follow along with the characters, rather than something viewers were simply waiting to see unfold.
Why Sinners Is Still A Satisfying Watch Despite Knowing Mary’s Fate
Despite knowing what happens to Mary and, ultimately, Stack, as seen in the trailers,Sinnershas a few more tricks up its sleeve. The trailer even managed to show the death of the film’s core antagonist in O’Connell, but that would also not have been known without context. WithSinnersfeeling split into distinct halves, much like the fellow vampire flickFrom Dusk Till Dawn, the first half spends its time on character development and establishing the location. The second half is a bloody fight to the bitter end, revealing more story that wasn’t in the trailers.
WhySinnersstill works, even with the trailer spoiling big plot twists, is that it holds back impactful moments that help flesh out the story. The ending gives Mary and Stack’s relationship more legs than initially thought, and also portrays Smoke and Stack’s cousin, Sammie, as the core pillar of the movie.Sinnersis still an exceptional filmdespite knowing what happens to Mary. It holds a 98% “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with a similarly high audience score, indicating that there’s little to be disappointed about. Therefore,Sinnershas pulled off an unlikely feat: it spoiled its biggest plot twist and still impressed everyone who laid eyes on it.
