“By Jordan Peele” officially isn’t good enough anymore. The word in front of that phrase matters most. If it’s “directed,” then we could be witnessing cinema greatness. If it’s produced, it officially means Peele couldn’t crack the story, so he passed it off onto someone else. Him, with the dreaded produced moniker, is Peele scraps, which bears down on the movie like a defensive end bull rushing a tackle.
Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans) is THE savior. He plays for the San Antonio Saviors, leading them to 8 Super Bowl wins. But father time is undefeated, and both San Antonio and Isaiah can sense it. They consider drafting Cam Cade (Tyriq Withers), from San Antonio who worshipped Isaiah since he was a kid. Isaiah invites Cam to a private training camp, to sus out if his potential successor has what it takes to become the GOAT, or the goat.
I agree with you Jordan Peele! I see the potential in Him that you see. There’s lots of meaty interesting ideas in here. Despite seeing people like Isaiah White on TV every week and daily on interviews/podcasts/etc, we “earthlings” know very little about “gods” like Isaiah. Him’s most fascinating stuff explores behaviors of the ultra rich, wealthy, and talented. The deeper Cam goes into Isaiah’s world, the more confused and horrified he gets. He thought this combine was gonna be some fun bonding knowledge transfer from his idol. He gets insights alright, but more about the group of people he has to associate himself with now. At its best, these are Kubrickian/music video levels of depravity and vanity; at its worst? well, there’s a reason American footballers are called modern gladiators. While Cam’s horrified by this crazy development in his life, he’s also learning what fan is actually short for. Tipping drives up the horror parts of this movie though the superfans, who will do anything to root for their San Antonio Saviors. The wonderfully made up outfits make these psychos look like some of the supernatural baddies in any horror movie I would watch, making them more scary because I know at least 1 or 2 people like them.
But Him is only potential, the Anthony Richardson of movies. The film feels like a big crazy trick play where no one blocks the defenders and the QB gets sacked. Different ideas get thrown out scene to scene to scene, but don’t ever cohere into anything. Or, multiple ideas are strewn together and just create nonsense, like a drug fueled study of sacrifice for the game from not the drug user. Um, what? To hammer the themes home, Marlon Wayans dials everything up to “certifiably insane” and never leaves there. It’s ludicrous and fun, but with diminishing returns. Poor Tyriq Withers is just trying to keep up with the chaos around him, being a dutiful malleable lead, but as a result, lacks a lot of character traits to cling onto when we’re supposed to be rooting for him. For all its flash and panache, Him is ultimately hollow and unsatisfying. That is, until the final 10 minutes of saving grace: a flurry of true bold madness that I couldn’t believe made it into the movie.
So if you need a bathroom break watching the 90 minute Him, go take one. Just stay till the end, get your kicks, and get out before the fans. Or worse, the ultra rich, get you. What might scare you most is: would you become one of those team acolytes if you get 8 Super Bowl Wins? I shudder to know what my honest answer would be.