Him : Movie review

Produced by Jordan Peele and his studio MonkeyPaw Productions (of Get Out, Us and Nope fame), Him is written and directed by Justin Tipping. In many ways Tipping mirrors his protagonist, Cameron Cade (Tyriq Withers), While Peele takes on the role of Isiah White (Marlon Wayans), the legendary quarterback whose influence inspires yet overshadows the younger man.  

Cameron spent his childhood idolizing Isaiah, the hero who led his favorite team The Saviors to victory countless times. While watching a championship game, Cameron witnesses Isaiah injure himself to make a game-winning play and his father uses that as a teaching moment. “Real men make sacrifices”. Cameron grows up to internalize this message as gospel.  Fourteen years later Cameron is set to inherit Isaiah's legacy and his fathers dreams, as the next up and coming young quarterback. Until a violent attack leaves him with a cracked skull and an uncertain future. When Isaiah invites him to his private compound to train, this feels like salvation. 

The film unfolds over the course of six days, each day stranger than the last. Cameron sees Isaiah having blood drawn, endures injections of a mysterious liquid and goes through brutal training sessions that blur the line between reality and nightmare. One haunting sequence shows every failed play resulting in a teammate being struck by a football, while Isaiah rants that the quarterback must bear everyone’s pain.  

As Cameron endures horrific tests and demonic parties and disturbing rituals, the film mirrors the bible's seven days of creation (albeit missing a day), but the symbolism often buckles under its own chaotic narrative. Questions start to pile up: Why was Cameron attacked, what is real and what's fake, what's in the injections?  The movie's half baked horror and vague biblical themes make it hard to care enough to find it out. Still, there seems to be some meaning behind the madness. Him is a critique of football and American sports as a whole and how black men's bodies become an expendable commodity. Isaiah's cruelty towards Cameron reflects a system that treated him the same way, glorifying pain and suffering all in the name of greatness. For many black men sports are sold as a way out, a meal ticket, just how Isaiah was Cameron's salvation in the midst of his attack. But the price of this salvation, this success is dehumanization. 

Religious imagery, idol worship and body horror weaves its way through this film: visions of a glittering mascot, x-ray shots that enhance the violence. These could have been chilling if they were handled with care and focus, but the film often feels unsure of what makes itself scary. 

Though Him has Jordan Peele's name plastered on it, it lacks his world building, finesse and vision that he has built up over the years as a visionary in horror and comedy. The saving grace is Marlon Wayans, delivering a career best performance that turns mentorship into psychological manipulation. As someone who’s played football, the film’s depiction of verbal abuse and “character-building” pain struck a disturbingly familiar chord.