I can see why the NFL didn’t want to sponsor this movie. Him tells the story of Cameron Cade (played by Tyriq Withers), a young QB who looks up to and almost worships the greatest player ever, Isaiah White (played by Marlon Wayans). This isn’t your normal All About Eve story, though. There’s something off about almost everything going on with Isaiah, and there’s plenty off about Cameron Cade too. The film comes from director Justin Tipping and writers Zack Akers, Skip Bronkie, and Tipping. Jordan Peele and Monkeypaw Productions produced the film.

There’s a layer of dread over the top of Him that sits with you for the entire time. Even at its lightest moments, there’s still that layer. And when it gets dark, it gets suffocating. The story follows Cameron Cade, a future star QB whose career gets derailed by an attack that leads to him having a traumatic brain injury and a scar on the side of his head. His lifeline comes when Isaiah White offers him to train with him for a week to see if he’s got what it takes to be the next star QB for the San Antonio Saviors. From there, it feels mostly like a normal training movie with White, who’s a bit eccentric. That all changes when training starts and we see what Isaiah goes through on a day-to-day basis.

Along the way, we meet other characters like Isaiah White’s even more eccentric wife, Elsie White (played by Julia Fox), Cade’s agent (played by Tim Heidecker), White’s strange and mysterious doctor (played by Jim Jefferies), and other players that White brings in to test Cameron. But is Him good, bad, or ugly? Let’s find out.

The Good Of Him

The look and feel of Him is spot on. It’s hard to describe, but once you see the movie, you’ll know. It’s beautifully shot but in such a way that keeps the haunting images in your head. It also does this cool effect at points in the film where it goes to an almost X-ray or thermal sight that really adds oomph to some of the scenes.

For a sports fan, especially someone who loves the NFL, this was a fascinating film. It goes deep into how we treat our athletes and the lives they must lead in exchange for superstardom. Players like LeBron James, Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady, and other great players all have to deal with what Isaiah White is dealing with in the film. What happens when they hang it up to retire? What about when a new hotshot player comes on the horizon to take your title?

For all the dark moments in the film, it’s the lighter moments, like with Heidecker or Jefferies, that really sell the film. Jefferies, in particular, has a small role, but it’s huge in the grand scheme of the film. However, the biggest bright spot in the film is Marlon Wayans. He gives a career-best performance as White. The way he flips on a dime from mentor to adversary to observer to friend to foe for Cameron Cade is masterful.

Even for non-sports fans, the level of tension in Him will be enough to satiate horror fans. While it’s not the most frightening film, there’s plenty of jumps and the atmosphere carries it.

The Bad And Ugly Of Him

Where Him might fall of the rails for some is in its ending. There’s definitely some layering going on with how professional athletes “sell their souls” to get what they want and the whole gladiatorial aspect of it. The ending comes a bit out of left-field (pun completely intended) but I didn’t have an issue with it. It added a whole different layer on top of the already layered story of the film. Tyriq Withers handles it and does more than enough to keep up with Wayans in their scenes, but it feels like he’s holding back just a bit with his performance. He never goes fully all-in and there are certainly scenes where it would have been more advantageous to his performance to do so.

The one aspect of Him that I wish they explored more was the fanatical, almost Christ-like way that Isaiah White handles himself and how the fans treat him. It’s a small portion of the film, but between the crazed fans at the beginning of the movie and another shocking scene in the middle, it’s not as fleshed out.

Finally, for the negatives, the ending is surely going to be divisive, but there’s still a bit that’s left unexplained that could have been foreshadowed a bit more in the film. There’s a detail involving Cade’s agent and the owner of the Saviors that happens at the end of the film that comes out of nowhere with a bit of a supernatural element.

Even with some of those issues, there’s a lot to like about Him. For fans of sports and our own culture, this is a fascinating horror look into what the price of fame is. It’s got a career-best performance from Marlon Wayans and plenty of stunning cinematography. The ending will leave you with questions, but thought-provoking ones.

Him releases in theaters on September 19th.

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