Him (2025) Review
Transitions of power are never peaceful
Overview
After suffering a potentially career-ending brain trauma, Cameron Cade receives a lifeline when his hero, legendary eight-time Championship quarterback and cultural megastar Isaiah White, offers to train Cam at Isaiah's isolated compound that he shares with his celebrity influencer wife. But as Cam's training accelerates, Isaiah's charisma begins to curdle into something darker.
R | US | 1h 36m | Horror and Mystery
I went into this movie with every intention of finding things to enjoy but this is easily one of the most disappointing watches of the year. It’s a film that never feels like it knows what it’s trying to say:
Is it about the “religious” experience that fans find in sports?
Athlete worship?
The sacrifices athletes make?
Or the slavery like exploitation baked into the system?
Maybe all of the above and more but….
All of these ideas are touched on but only in shallow, rushed ways. Scenes are either overexplained or left hanging, never to be revisited. The “horror” elements feel forced and more like a gimmick than a natural extension of the story.
The movie feels like getting a check-up at the doctor’s office when you’re clearly unwell. There’s some pain you want to have diagnosed, but the doctor doesn’t examine the real issues. They label the pain as a minor diagnosis and send you on your way. That’s HIM, the ideas are here, but instead of a thorough examination with the tools at hand, (incredible production design and cinematography) we’re left with more questions than answers. The cast does well with what I find to be a disjointed script. Marlon Wayans, as Isaiah, is an intriguing mystery, and Tyriq Withers conveys his pain, but even at times, it felt like a missed opportunity.
And then there’s there is the flat and overstuffed ending that leans on heavy-handed exposition, while introducing mysterious forces that never get explored. HIM left me disappointed but interested to know if studio interference had a hand to play in a film that could say so much more.
