Him is a rare subgenre: sports horror. As I am a fan of both of these things, I knew I would eventually give it a shot. Especially since it was produced by Jordan Peele. He’s one of the creators that I’m willing to take a chance on, no matter what the reviews say. Let’s see how that works out for me this time!

• Written By: Skip Bronkie Zack Akers. Justin Tipping
• Directed by: Justin Tipping
• Starring: Marlon Wayans. Tyriq Withers. Julia Fox

Cam Clay is a college football star about to enter the combine and projected to be the number one pick in the draft. He is rumored to take over as the Saviors star quarterback from long-running mega-star Isaiah White. His path is interrupted when he is attacked after practice by a masked assailant and left with a traumatic brain injury. He gets a second chance at the league when White invites Cam to a private training camp at his secluded desert compound. And that’s when shit gets weird.

The Obvious Downside

There have been a few movies not exactly like Him but in the same “pretty famous people in peril” subgenre. I don’t think any of them have been particularly well received. When someone appears to have everything that we mortal folks want, it’s much harder to empathize with them.

Him manages to avoid this particular trap with its introduction to Clay as a young child. Part of this is largely personal, as I have deep-seated memories of watching Joe Theisman’s career-ending injury at a similar age. Seeing this play out in a movie as part of the main character’s ingrained motivation was instantly relatable.

Where It Grabbed Me

There is something else deeply unsettling about Him in the first scene. It’s not subtle with religious symbolism, or with the pressures that young athletes face. Despite being a superstar with everything going for him, I somehow found Clay instantly sympathetic.

None of his choices are his own. He is a product of his upbringing, brainwashed into football by his father at a young age. Cam’s path was always laid out for him so in many ways, he’s not a real character, just an allegory for youthful drive and hero worship. As the movie goes on, we do see small glimpses inside who he really is through his hallucinations.

Marlon Wayans, as the close-to-retiring megastar Isaiah White, is a fascinating foil to the naive and eager Cam. While at first, his behavior can be rationalized as someone on the cusp of ending the greatest run at quarterback of all time, it soon becomes clear that there is so very much more going on.

Him is an uncomfortable movie to watch. The visuals are purposely jarring and disorienting. It’s not exactly a tense movie, but the structure requires Cam to endure what equates to torture but ultimately survive. This is a movie about mental fortitude more than physical.

That puts a heavy burden on the actors to carry the intensity of the training sequences, hallucinations, and general strangeness. Most of the time I think they pull it off. Wayans was by far my favorite part of this movie. He’s chilling and charismatic at the same time. In this specific world, it’s easy to believe that Cam would get pulled into his orbit. There are some brief moments of humanity and humility within the character as well.

The Flaws

Him is not, however, a perfect movie, although it is an incredibly interesting one. There are some underdeveloped subplots that could have been tied back into the main story. They aren’t bad to have as they are. They end up being character moments rather than plot points. Again, it’s fine, this is a character movie. However, when your movie is as crazy as Him, casual cult murder could be plot-relevant.

The very end of the movie let me down just the tiniest bit. As clever as some of the camera work had been to that point, the final confrontation doesn’t quite live up to the earlier scenes. Thematically though, I give it full points.  In a movie that wants to look at our obsession with sports celebrity and the pressure we put on athletes, it saves its brutality for those who deserve it the most.  Owners who exploit the dreams of young stars, parents who live their dreams through their children, opportunistic groupies: all these people get what’s coming to them. And it’s fun to watch, so much so that it could have been longer and better defined.

But I get it, and I’m totally aware of the subtle and not-so-subtle way that race informed this script and casting.  

Final Thoughts

I enjoyed Him. I think it’s visually creative and has a specific point of view. That alone makes it worth watching in my book. I also understand why people would not like it. The mix of football and psychological horror probably isn’t for everyone.  If you want something a little unsettling and kinda cool, give it shot.

HIM is available on streaming.