The next horror that believes it has what it takes to dissect the certain tragedies that come from a certain aspect of life has arrived in the form of Him. Unfortunately for anyone who may be interested in the concept of a horror film that tackles sport/American football, it has nothing of actual interest or substance to tackle; although the first act and the marketing for the film itself may trick you into believing that this could possibly scare a future generation from participating in the sport, it instead enables male toxicity within the industry and rehashes ideas that likely belong to a movie from 2010.
If you’ve watched Midsommar, you’re better off rewatching that; if you’ve seen Opus, well, save yourself the time, as Him is cut from the exact same cloth. Now if you’ve arrived expecting the next hit from Jordan Peele, just set your expectations low, as you’ve likely been tricked by the marketing and been led to believe that this is a Jordan Peele-directed film when it’s simply just a movie produced by him and his Monkeypaw Productions company.
Cameron “Cam” Cade (Tyriq Withers) has always been a fan of American football, watching games as a kid with his family and hoping to live up to his father’s wishes that he’d one day be the Greatest of All Time (GOAT). He idolises Saviours quarterback Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans), and after years of training, he becomes one of the newest generational talents as a quarterback to be draughted. His dreams are almost shattered when a mysterious figure strikes him across the head, leaving him with a brain injury that could possibly end his future before it even begins. Thankfully, Isaiah, who’s now thinking of retiring, has contacted Cam to see if he has what it takes to become the next GOAT.
The first act of the movie begins to build interesting concepts around how sports are perceived amongst people. Cam and his family are casually watching the game, wearing the attire and memorabilia around the TV. As normal as it may seem, and your average sports fan would consider this part of the culture, it slightly feels ritualistic and cultish and holds similar themes to religion. This idea that sports is treated as a religion doesn’t receive any further context throughout the film and is instead dropped for your average satanic tropes. While that does still involve religion, Him never says anything interesting about what athletes have to go through to prove themselves as worthy, which originally seemed like the intention for this movie.
The movie is structured into six chapters, a chapter for each day that Cam is training with Isaiah. Each day presents something new, twisted and disturbing that doesn’t actually add to the overall message of the film but is simply just there for pure shock factor. The structuring of Him might be the singular thing about this film that is coherent; after the first act, the movie begins to fall apart as Justin Tipping, Skip Bronkie and Zack Akers lose control of their own script.
Tyriq Withers isn’t “him” when it comes to his performance as Cam and, unfortunately, doesn’t come close to the greatness his character presents; he’s stiff, and he presents himself in a way that disengages the character from the audience. Marlon Wayans feels miscast for this movie, as some of the dialogue just didn’t feel natural escaping from his mouth, but with what Wayans was presented with, he delivers a half-decent performance that allows for the audience to believe that Isaiah is this madman who believes that there’s only one path to greatness.
Him makes attempts to explore religion, race, and exploitation within the industry and yet it doesn’t succeed in bringing any notes worth talking about to the table regarding all of the aforementioned themes. The movie stays focused on its editing, which loses its substance by the time you reach the final act. Is Him a pretty film to look at? Yes, it is, but Him is overall a film that will lead you to believe that the writers and Justin Tipping himself lost interest in making this movie, as it lacks any real significance by the end and just feels like yet another horror film that will only be remembered once the next copycat comes along.
★★
In cinemas from October 3rd / Tyriq Withers, Marlon Wayans, Julia Fox, Tim Heidecker, Jim Jefferies / Dir: Justin Tipping / Universal Pictures / 15
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