‘HIM’ had everything and still fumbled
‘Him’ had everything and still fumbled
Review: Great cinematography and performances couldn’t save the wasted potential in this horror movie.
HIM had everything going for it: incredible cinematography, killer performances and an original premise exploring football’s dark side, but confuses graphic violence with horror.
Directed by Justin Tipping and produced by Jordan Peele, HIM follows Cameron “Cam” Cade (Tyriq Withers), a rising quarterback with a lifelong dream of becoming the greatest of all time. After suffering a concussion, Cam is invited by his idol, Isaiah White, a star quarterback for the fictional NFL team, the San Antonio Saviors. There, he trains at White’s remote home and private facility. What begins as a dream mentorship quickly reveals something more sinister: a calculated scheme by the league to groom, manipulate and isolate Cam as a test of whether he’ll sacrifice everything for athletic greatness.
The film’s technical achievements were impressive. Tipping captures football like you’ve never seen it before, so that even non-football fans can obsess over the sport. The movie showcases first-person views putting the viewer right in the quarterback’s cleats, X-ray shots showing what happens to a player’s brain during brutal hits, dynamic shots and a playlist that makes the film feel like a music video at times. Although these scenes look amazing, they capture the film’s contradiction: beautiful plays yet devastating physical sacrifice.
The performances elevate the film. Isaiah White, played by the veteran comedian Marlon Wayans, showcases a side of his acting rarely seen by audiences. Known for comedies like White Chicks and the Scary Movie franchise, Wayans enacts the role of a maniac mentor across the film’s 96 minutes, though he can’t resist slipping in an unhinged joke.
But here is where HIM fumbles: Instead of leaning into psychological tension around the themes of sacrifice and idolization, the film heavily leans into gore. Training scenes become torture as viewers are forced to watch a squad member get repeatedly smashed in the face with footballs. Cam receives hugs and praise for causing such bad damage to a teammate that his body experiences involuntary movements and spasms, while others gather around the injured player singing “Amen” instead of helping him. The film escalates further with Cam almost killing a superfan of White’s, but White finishes her off while screaming in excitement. The team’s sports trainer is beheaded. By the finale, Cade goes on a cartoonish killing spree, spewing cringey one-liners before murdering the NFL executives who conspired against him. It’s disgusting, but not scary, and takes away from the point of what makes sports culture horrifying.
The horror of sports is not blood and injuries, it’s psychological manipulation, the way young athletes are convinced to destroy their bodies for someone else’s amusement. HIM could have been a critique of this. Instead, it settled for making viewers cringe and look away out of disgust.
Even worse, the film’s pace was entirely too quick, making crucial character development feel unbelievable. The story spends so much time on Cade being groomed and trained by White that other essential elements get lost. White’s personal doctor, played by Jim Jefferies, appears twice, trying to hint at the NFL’s ulterior motives, then he is suddenly dead, but this story and relationship were hardly explored. White mentors Cade to replace him as quarterback, only for them to have an abrupt but deadly duel. The movie never slows down to explain what’s actually happening or let viewers understand these characters beyond surface level. The one character we do explore deeply, Cade, we are asked to accept a massive transformation from a concussed quarterback to a desensitized murderer in the span of a week. The film contained so many plot points that deserved more time to breathe.
With Jordan Peele producing the movie, expectations were high, considering he created movies as great as Get Out and Us. HIM had the concept and the talent to be as great as his previous movies.
While theoretically brilliant, HIM ultimately fumbles its own ambitions, making you wish it had been more.
is a contributor to The NewsHouse.