by Charles Kirkland, Jr.
A young athlete descends into a world of terror when he’s invited to train with a legendary champion whose charisma morphs into something darker in Him.
Cameron Cade is an up-and-coming star quarterback who has suffered a potentially debilitating injury just before the football combine. Because of the injury, he is unable to participate, and his enthusiasm about his prospects begins to wane. Fortunately, Cade’s favorite team, the San Antonio Saviors, decided to give him a tryout to see if he was able to overcome his injury. Incredibly, the week-long workout is with eight-time champion and league MVP quarterback Isaiah White, the player who inspired Cade to be the player he is. Awestruck and eager to impress, Cade dives headlong into the rigorous and increasingly brutal workout week. The question is what will Cade have to do to become Him?
Written by Zack Akers, Skip Bronkie, and Justin Tipping, Him is a dark psychological and body horror film produced by Jordan Peele. The movie stars Marlon Wayans, Tyriq Withers, Julia Fox, and Jim Jeffries. Him is directed by Justin Tipping (Kicks).
The performances of Marlon Wayans and Tyriq Withers are phenomenal. Wayans’ role is ferally manic, alternating between love and respect for his protégé to angry aggression as he attempts to push Cade beyond his limits to make him something greater than he was. Think of Whiplash’s Fletcher on steroids. Behind layers of intensity and twisted obsession, there is dark comedy in the essence of his work. This role affords Wayans an opportunity that he may never have had before, and he rises to the challenge.
Withers is equal to the challenge. A relative newcomer to acting, with mostly television work to his credit, Withers shows that he could be ready for the big leagues, playing the superstar who is star-struck and willing to do what it takes to not just impress but to be the best. He matches Wayans’ intensity perfectly, wavering between blind devotion and suspicious trepidation in a perfectly logical fashion.
This is the second feature film from Justin Tipping after his fresh debut in Kicks (2016). Tipping is quickly developing a style that is gritty and immersive with his films and television work. This movie does not stray from the fold. Him is bold and aggressive with stark visuals and viscerally moving cinematography. Tipping is the real GOAT quarterback here as he progresses the story and the audience down a dark and winding field of play with a playbook that is basic and a little threadbare.
There is an opposing team that Tipping faces, though. The end of the movie is so violently divergent from the rest of the movie that it becomes illogical and incomprehensible, basically destroying all the good of the previous portions of the movie. Regrettably, the closing scenes of the movie so detract from the film that it grinds the movie to a halt. It feels like the studio came in at the last minute and decided that more was needed and just inserted a closing sequence. The end of the movie is so random and incongruous with everything else that it defies sensible explanation.
Rated R for strong bloody violence, language throughout, sexual material, nudity, and some drug use, Him is an intense, immersive, bordering on insane, and tantalizingly dark horror film about the most unsettling and secret parts of the world of football and those who worship it. Tipping drives the film all the way down the field, but, unfortunately, fumbles the ball at the goal line. It could have been so much better.
Him is in theaters starting September 19, 2025.
Grade: C-
