Sinners and the Weight of Legacy: The Music that Splits Time **CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS**

Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures - Stack and Smoke as portrayed by Michael B. Jordan

**This article contains some spoilers.

In the opening moments of Sinners (2025), a haunting voiceover warns us: some people are born with a gift so powerful, their music rings so true it can summon spirits from both the past and the future—and, sometimes, it can even tear through the boundary between life and death.

Not since Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) have I seen a film use genre so masterfully to unpack powerful themes. Sinners is a captivating horror movie, executed with gravitas by Ryan Coogler, who—at this point—feels like a master craftsman. Beneath its chilling surface, the film explores generational trauma, systemic racism, redemption and damnation, and the burden of legacy. And for the watch nerds among us (hi, it me), there's a prominent symbolic motif throughout the film: a watch. Cue the collective gasp and pearl-clutching.

Sinners centers on three main characters: Smoke and Stack, twin brothers both portrayed by Michael B. Jordan, and their younger cousin Sammie, played by Miles Caton. The film follows a jarring but effective three-act structure. The twins return to their childhood home in the Mississippi Delta to open a “juke joint” after serving in World War I and spending time in Chicago. The club is funded with money they earned—or stole—while working for Al Capone in Chicago. To prepare for opening night, they enlist Sammie to play the blues.

From the start, it’s clear that Smoke and Stack are both haunted—by their past, their family, and the traumas of their time. Violence is a constant in their lives: the brutality of racism, the horrors of war, an abusive father. Though they lean on each other, their shared pain has shaped them into very different men. Their ultimate test begins when they purchase land for their club from a white landowner steeped in hate.

Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures - Smoke as Portrayed by Michael B. Jordan

Smoke

Michael B. Jordan plays Smoke with slow-burning intensity. He’s equal parts kind, just, and dangerous—a man walking the razor’s edge between peace and rage. Often the voice of reason, Smoke acts as the grounding force of the living world, and more subtly, as the keeper of time. He wears a watch he checks constantly—it's often framed prominently, almost reverently. In one scene, he hands it to a young girl to watch his truck, offering her 20 cents per minute. The model looks like a World War I-era cushion case trench watch, complete with fixed lugs and a single-pass leather strap—fitting for a former soldier. The watch isn’t just an accessory—it anchors Smoke in time and memory, making him fiercely loyal to both. *Big thanks to RedBar Raleigh for doing their best to help me narrow down the style of watch.

Photo of a Buren trench watch from the 1910s. This is likely the style of watch Smoke wears in Sinners.

Smoke’s faith lies in people. In Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), a local medicine woman he loves. In the young girl he trusts with his watch. He even wears a small pouch around his neck, a spiritual remedy Annie made for him. Smoke doesn’t claim to believe in “magic,” only in power. But as the story unfolds, both his faith and his understanding of that power are tested.

Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures - Stack and Mary as Portrayed by Michael B. Jordan and Hailee Steinfeld

Stack

Stack, on the other hand, is Smoke’s foil—less grounded, more reckless, and far more susceptible to temptation. He’s seduced by music, liquor, and sex. A born showman, Stack is the brother in charge of drumming up musicians and drawing crowds. His style is flamboyant—flashy clothes, dramatic movements, a devil-may-care grin—and he knows how to use all of it to get what he wants. He also harbors feelings for Mary (played by Hailee Steinfeld), though he’s incapable of expressing them with sincerity. Instead, in a moment both hilarious and tragic, he explains the mechanics of “going down” on a woman to Sammie.

Together, Smoke and Stack become the angel and devil on Sammie’s shoulders. In one early scene, Smoke even warns Sammie not to trust Stack when they split up to prepare for the club’s opening.

Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures - Sammie “Preacher Boy” as Portrayed by Miles Caton

Sammie

Sammie, also known as “Preacher Boy,” is the son of an abusive preacher. His cousins ask repeatedly whether his father has laid hands on him again, a question weighted with painful familiarity. Sammie mirrors Smoke and Stack in more ways than one—his upbringing, his wounds, his budding romance with Pearline (Jayme Lawson). But unlike his cousins, Sammie possesses something they do not: a gift.

Years ago, Smoke and Stack gave Sammie a resonator guitar. That instrument becomes his refuge, and when he plays, it’s transformative. His music doesn’t just sound good—it feels like it’s shifting the air around him. Every time he performs, the film shifts, as if time itself is bending to the sound.

But Sammie’s gift draws attention—from Remmick (Jack O’Connell), a vampire who wants to claim Sammie’s power for himself. As this supernatural threat emerges, all three men are tested in body, spirit, and blood.

Sinners leaves us with a stark truth: the choices we make ripple through generations. A culture teaches hate to a parent; that parent passes it down like an heirloom. The fire burns on until someone chooses to break the cycle. Society feeds it. We inherit it. And eventually, there is nothing left but time—and what we choose to do with it.

Because when the moment comes to put time in someone else’s hands... we’d better be sure they know what it’s worth.

REMEMBER, nerds…. to keep the comments clean. Please don’t make me pull out ole Antoine-Louis here.