Sinners Is A Hit With Critics, And They Can’t Stop Talking About Michael B. Jordan’s ‘Nuanced’ Dual Performance (2025)

Jordan is at his very best here, yet more proof that Coogler might be the only director the actor's worked with thus far who truly understands what makes him a star. As Smoke and Stack, Jordan has to make each character distinct yet in sync, and he mostly succeeds, inhabiting a thick Southern drawl that sings and swings effortlessly with each word and turn of phrase. When they're together, their physicality and interactions are visually seamless.

How Coogler pulls everything off at once — and makes it cohere, mostly — is a sight to see. And even more, to feel. With a crowd you don’t know, as Coogler intends it. At my screening there was frequent laughter, both joyous and nervous, some screams and not a few jumps, including one where I felt my own self leaving my seat, pens and notepad tumbling.

That Sinners doesn’t feel like a waste of a half-dozen other great actors’ talents is a testament to Michael B. Jordan’s immaculate dual performances as the siblings. He’s dynamic and alive in a way that allows this movie to be at least two things at any one time — not just silly and serious, but also aggressive and protective, ruthless and loving.

Jordan is utterly captivating, giving not just one but two of the best performances we've seen so far this year. The dual role shtick can be gimmicky, but there's no room to soak in that they're both Jordan due to how distinct he makes each brother. That's also a credit to Coogler's screenplay. Both Smoke and Stack have their own motivations, separate things driving them that make it easy for Jordan to pull from every page in his actor playbook.

Firstly, it’s probably the finest dual role twin performance since Nicolas Cage in Adaptation, but the divergent levels of nuance—twins who are very similar, and yet distinct—is phenomenally pronounced. The brothers are identical twins, but it’s clear that Smoke is more of the big brother and leader, while Stack is the more youthful dreamer, and Jordan carries them that way, both physically and emotionally. The degree of difficulty in the dynamics and subtly is high, but it’s all incredibly persuasive. The performance and technical aspects are also seamless and effortless. Never once in a minute are you questioning that these two brothers aren’t different characters.