HIM (2025)
Directed by: Justin Tipping
Premise: A pro football draft prospect (Tyriq Withers) is invited to train with a legendary quarterback (Marlon Wayans). He descends into a cultish world of violence and decadence.
What Works: American football culture is very cult-like and the game is wrapped up in capitalism, national identity, and masculinity. The players are expected to sacrifice their body for the good of the team, which is intertwined with the economic interests of the richest among us. HIM critiques American culture via football and the deification of our sports heroes and the economic and cultural structures built around them. This concept is illustrated with savage beauty. The cinematography and production design of HIM are extraordinary. The picture uses dramatic lighting and other unusual techniques. One particularly effective sequence renders the football players with X-ray images. We can see the player’s bones and brains as they collide into one another. The sets include classical artwork and animal skins while the architecture often suggests a military compound. HIM includes Marlon Wayans as the veteran quarterback and it’s an extraordinary performance. Wayans alternates between extreme intensity and playfulness and his unpredictability is frightening.
What Doesn’t: The extreme stylization of HIM becomes a liability. The filmmakers are so interested in wowing us with their technical expertise that the film plays like a demo reel and the effects overwhelm the story. Whatever the filmmakers are trying to say about football, capitalism, and sports culture is lost in a morass of disconnected images and unintelligible plotting. HIM is incoherent. The story unfolds around Cameron, a football prodigy whose is at the whim of his agent, family, and others who see Cameron less as a person and more as a meal ticket. He’s on a trajectory to either be swallowed by football completely or assert his own volition. HIM also explores the obsession with being the best and the sacrifices required for greatness. The resolution of those conflicts makes no sense. HIM ends on a bloody spectacle that does not mean anything. But the film’s narrative and logical problems pile up well before the climax. Early on Cameron suffers a head injury that might be the result of an assault. The scene is so abstract that it isn’t clear what happened. Cameron is warned that the injury could be debilitating but little is made of it. Cameron is further strained between his commitment to his girlfriend and the sexual opportunities offered to him. Again, nothing comes of it. Isaiah has a cult of followers and he uses some unusual medical treatments. These revelations are handled clumsily. What HIM has to say about football is ultimately trite and incomplete.
Bottom Line: HIM demonstrates some impressive technical skill but the movie is a mess. It beats around provocative ideas but HIM is simultaneously obvious and meaningless. It is heaps of style without any substance or focus.
Episode: #1066 (September 28, 2025)