SummaryCameron Cade, a rising-star quarterback, has devoted his life, and identity, to football. On the eve of professional football’s annual scouting Combine, Cam is attacked by an unhinged fan and suffers a potentially career-ending brain trauma. Just when all seems lost, Cam receives a lifeline when his hero, Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans), a ...
SummaryCameron Cade, a rising-star quarterback, has devoted his life, and identity, to football. On the eve of professional football’s annual scouting Combine, Cam is attacked by an unhinged fan and suffers a potentially career-ending brain trauma. Just when all seems lost, Cam receives a lifeline when his hero, Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans), a ...
A trippy mix of horror, thriller and sports movie, Him is a very wild ride. A launching pad for its director and lead, and a shining moment for Wayans.
It doesn’t all work: the religious iconography is too obvious, and the more lurid horror elements – like the obsessive fans who literally haunt Cam during his training – can be so heavy-handed they’re more silly than scary. What never falters, though, is Tipping’s avid commitment to his concept.
I am going to be in the minority here, but I thought this film was absolutely incredible, and will be on my list of one of the best of the year. I can totally understand to where a lot of people are getting their mixed feeling about this from. The social commentary on masculinity, dynamics of power, idolization culture, and satanic/religious undertones will leave a lot of people conflicted. For me, having a decent understanding of football, but not really being connected to football, this film is be all means stunningly beautiful and arthouse. It pretty much lays out and tells you where it is going from the beginning and delivers on that in many ways. Marlon Wayans is the literal goat of the film and his character is so unhinged. I am saddened to see so much hate for this film, but I don't think it was honestly marketed to the right audience. The psychological horror is palpable and the sports horror theme is unique. I went into this film expecting a mixed movie based on the reviews and was actually blown away.
While HIM’s visual and cinematographic landscapes might be stylistically evocative at times, they lack in narrative substance and a discerning formal logic, reducing images and themes rife with narrative potential into a series of hollowly aestheticized surfaces that squander the film’s own potential as well as the talent of its actors.
For too long, we’re like players stuck in a dark stadium tunnel, retreading the same concepts and fending off opaque threats, when all we wanted was some action.
If the issue of some thrillers is that they have nothing to say, the problem with “Him” is that it has exactly one thing to say, which it does again and again and again. “Him” does have some style, though.
At one point, a character is forced to stand in front of an automatic football launcher and take a series of pigskins to the cranium, each of which is shot at him with increasing speed. And by the end of this mess, you’re left thinking: I now know exactly how that guy felt.
There isn’t a single moment of this film that borders on belief as it winds toward a cheap, bloody final freakout that is tepidly filmed in a way that makes you wonder if Tipping believes the horror he’s selling.
I dont understand why people dont like this movie. People who didnt watch this movie, please ignore this comment and give it a try. This movie very slow but every part main story grow and you dont expect whats going on after.
"Him" has a LOT of style. We have an eye candy main actor, neat visual effects, strobe lights, a nice color palette. It's a gorgeous film to look at. But does it have substance?It does have a few things to say about the ruthless football industry, like how toxic fandom can get, and how greedy executives can be, treating their athletes like - we can't say slaves because they are multimillionaires - commodities. Unfortunately, as a horror movie, it fumbles a bit. We can never pinpoint an exact threat - is it groupies? The Devil? - so we're never actually scared. There's also not a lot of mystery pushing the story forward. The narrative drive is basically: how far will Cam go to achieve his dream? The movie also jettisons any subtetly in favor of on-the-nose explanation. And it goes for a lot of needle drops instead of an atmospheric score, which hurts the "fear factor" and becomes grating to the ears. All flaws aside, "Him" has an original premise and makes for an interesting watch.
Producer-writer-director Jordan Peele has quickly developed quite a reputation for making horror flicks/psychological thrillers that undeniably push the envelope of these genres, turning out creations unlike anything most moviegoers have ever seen. In the process, he has often packed his pictures with much for viewers to process on multiple levels as they walk out of the theater. And, in his latest offering, in which Peele has acted as producer, handing over the writing and directing responsibilities to filmmaker Justin Tipping, he has overseen the birth of yet another release in the same vein as previous projects like “Get Out” (2017), “Us” (2019) and “Nope” (2022) – only this time on steroids and laced with a touch of crack. “Him” tells the story of Cameron Cade (Tyriq Withers), a pro football prospect who’s looked upon by many as the sport’s next quarterback G.O.A.T. (i.e., “greatest of all time”). His future looks bright until he experiences a baffling yet devastating head injury at the hands of disturbed fan teetering on the edge of sanity. So, in an effort to reinvigorate his skills (and to rejuvenate his career), he agrees to be taken under the wing of veteran hurler Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans), a QB who led his team to eight championships but is now on the fence about retirement. When the recovering protégé begins his mentorship under the sports legend, however, he gets much more than he bargained for. He enters a world in which he becomes ensconced in a dizzying mix of hyper-ambition, psychological gamesmanship, professional jealousy and an aberrant culture that gleefully and relentlessly celebrates mind-numbing brutality. Given Cam’s precarious mental state in the wake of his injury, combined with an onslaught of conflicting messages, mind games and bizarre occurrences that straddle the borders of reality, he struggles to make sense of it all, particularly when it comes to deciding whether to embrace or abandon the world of which he’s about to become a part. His existence turns surreal, confusing, and, above all, troubling. He has some big decisions to make, provided if he’s even capable of thinking straight at this point. But the film is about more than just Cam’s struggle to hold on to his sanity in the face of his mentor’s malevolence, gaslighting and questionable motives; it’s also a strong statement about the bloodsport culture of football and the ways in which society has come to worship it as something akin to a perverse religious cult. In fact, the narrative is riddled with ominous Biblical and Satanic symbolism, elements that have been suitably tweaked to reflect the nature of the world of pro football and the exalted position it’s been accorded in contemporary society. Yet, curiously enough, in making its case, the film tells a tale that alternates between being deadly serious with its troubling imagery and not taking itself seriously at all with its astutely timed sinister comic relief, walking a precarious tightrope of moods that keeps viewers guessing about what’s really going on here. In the process, it provides a perfect showcase for Wayans to show off acting chops that most of us probably never knew he possessed; his ability to switch gears and turn on a dime and make it look effortless is truly impressive. Add to those qualities the film’s breakneck pacing, edgy film editing, stunning visuals and eclectic production design, and you’ve got a cinematic rollercoaster that’s sure to leave you exhilarated, exhausted and unnerved by the time the credits roll. Now, this is not to suggest that the film is without problems. The narrative is excessively overstuffed and somewhat unfocused at times (no doubt to try and convey what it’s like to be in Cam’s head under these circumstances), and its various messages can be more than a little obvious and heavy-handed on occasion. However, even if “Him” is not perfect, Tipping and Peele should be commended for trying to breathe new life into a genre that’s been releasing a steady stream of lame, half-baked offerings of late, and I’ll take this offering over any of its underwhelming wannabe peers any day of the week.
'HIM' has an appealing concept that combines sports, horror, and social commentary, but its execution relies solely on style. Jordan Peele produces with his own touch, to the point of seeming like a parody of his work. Exploring issues like racial capitalism and the collateral damage of sacrifice in a superficial manner, the film fails miserably in its attempt to blend 'The Neon Demon' with 'Whiplash.' It feels more like an extended music video than a full-fledged film.