A Jordan Peele horror about quarterbacks competing against each other? I will be seated — my exact thoughts when I first saw the trailer for “Him.” A poster featuring Jordan Peele’s name and a figure of a man holding a football while soaking in blood — what enticing marketing! However, upon my early screening of “Him,” I can’t help but feel a bit of disappointment.
The movie is a tale of two halves. Despite some issues, the first half is strong in leading the plot and building a clear picture of the world this movie takes place in. The second half is where this completely falters as the screenplay doesn’t know what it truly wants to emulate. While portrayed as a Jordan Peele horror movie, Peele only produced the film and the rest was up to Justin Tipping — the director and writer.
But before we can get to my issues with the movie, let me summarize the plot. Warning: Spoilers lie ahead.
The plot: First half
“Him” follows Cameron Cade (Tyriq Withers), a generational quarterback prospect who is projected to be drafted by the San Antonio Saviors. The first scene shows a young Cam watching the Super Bowl with his family. He watches as his favorite player — Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans) — is severely injured on the game-winning drive. Cam’s dad urges him that if he desired to become the next great quarterback he would have to do “what real men do, they make sacrifices.”
We cut to Cam in the modern day, where he is shown to be a fantastic talent and the likely first overall pick, which is held by the Saviors. However, drama ensues when a demon seems to bash him on the head. After medical examination, it is determined that another head injury like this one could end his career. This is where my confusion began, as I wondered if the demons were metaphorical — for chronic traumatic encephalopathy — or literal, as suggested by the film’s horror elements, or perhaps even both. Despite the head injury, Cam is offered to be trained by Isaiah White, who is in the twilight of his career.
Cam meets Isaiah and his wife Elsie (Julia Fox) who cut off Cam from society as he endures a rigorous week-long training. Like Peele’s “Get Out,” the audience can clearly tell there is something off. Notably, throughout the film, Cam is injected with a dosage of blood every day.
Cam goes through some intense drills and we his demons come back. Watching the movie, it’s difficult to tell what Cam is mentally manifesting versus what makes up his true reality — something I found to be disorienting. However, this may have been an intentional choice in order for the audience to put themselves in the perspective of the character. I do like however, how the film gets into the mental aspect of being a quarterback, as they juggle the pressure of making difficult decisions and being the leader of the team.
The plot: Second half
That said, the film takes a nosedive in the last 40 minutes. It starts when this insane woman tries to kill Cam, who nearly strangles her to death. The tone changes drastically in which the film implies that Cam is a killer. It becomes less serious as it asserts that Cam must stop at nothing to be the greatest. The movie at this point exits the psychological aspect and becomes literal.
The movie starts to lose its narrative, instead introducing new ones far too late. The final confrontation between Isaiah and Cam doesn’t address the conflict on the field, which feels wrong given the subject matter. The final scene in particular has audiences confused since it tries to shoehorn in themes at the last minute. It shows Cam refusing to sign his soul away to be the greatest of all time, then killing everyone to show he is unstoppable. Then it just ends. No closure as to Cam’s fate, it just ends. A movie that started out decently shows that it doesn’t know what it’s really about by the end.
Overall thoughts
The main critic of “Him” is the screenplay. The plot in the first half is fine. It’s not especially realistic for a football film, and it seems bizarre, but it is a fine setup for a horror. The second half is where I realized something: The movie doesn’t know what it wants to be. It discusses the struggle between young and old, inner demons, self-inflicted stress/wounds, dedication to a craft, sacrifices for greatness, athletes being milked for their talents and potential, but never actually goes much in-depth to most of these issues. It doesn’t go into one or two themes in-depth, and instead just touches upon multiple themes instead. The narrative is very unfocused and we see that by the time we get to the third act.
Many of the themes are handled poorly, likely due to it not centering on one or two. It seems to say that sacrifices to achieve greatness are not always worth it. In order to become “Him,” Cam spent his entire life trying to become the best football player in the country. To me, it’s just ridiculous to think that in the end, Cam didn’t believe it was worth it. Considering this is the most prominent theme of the movie, the movie does not do it justice. The screenplay could have focused more on the commodification of athletes way earlier in the movie, which would have helped the movie’s narrative especially considering that this is an issue brought up in professional sports. Much of the film doesn’t follow the narratives it tells, and that’s a major issue.
Conclusion
Other than the screenplay, the movie is not that bad. Marlon Wayans gives a good performance, the cinematography is decent and the set design is actually quite good too. I do think the film looks very good, especially with a budget that isn’t all that high — $27 million. The editing and cinematography at points look really good, especially during the scrimmage scene (pictured above). That said, the acting from Withers is pretty emotionless, and sometimes it feels like he doesn’t care about what’s happening. As horror film, I think it does okay since it has some suspenseful moments but focuses more on the plot than fear. For fans of gore or jumpscares, this movie probably will not be your cup of tea but it has moments of both.
Overall, it’s not a bad movie. I didn’t leave in a bad mood, but I left disappointed. I’m not entirely sure how much sway Jordan Peele had on this movie, but it was nowhere near as good as I hoped. Maybe my expectations were too high, given it wasn’t actually a Jordan Peele movie that he wrote and directed. It had aspects of a Jordan Peele movie, but felt much different and less horrifying. It’s definitely not as psychological as “Get Out” or “Nope.” Overall, it’s a horror film but it doesn’t quite commit to being a supernatural or psychological horror film. “Him” had a lot of potential but its second half screenplay and indecisiveness on themes ultimately makes it a bust.
