Take 34: HIM

HIM is that latest from Jordan Peele and is the story of rising football star, Cameron “Cam” Cade (Tyriq Withers.) As a child, he grew up, his idol, charismatic Isiah White (Marlon Wayans) suffered a possibly life-ending injury while scoring the winning touchdown for this favorite team, the San Antonio Saviors. His father explains to his that “real men are willing to make sacrifices. While practicing alone one night, he is attacked by someone wearing a goat costumer and sustains a possibly career-ending head injury. He is invited to train at a secluded sports combine with Isiah White. In short time, Isiah’s charisma turns dark and Cam finds himself part of something much darker than he ever imagined for in his quest to become the new GOAT.

Tyriq Withers is new to me but he does a serviceable job playing a character that unfortunately doesn’t get to display too much range. Marlon Wayans is the bigger story here. We know him for comedy so this is definitely a departure. He plays bad very will, but to be honest, there isn’t much subtlety. You can tell from jump that he is not a good person so it’s no surprise when he does what he does. I would have appreciated more nuance, but the fact that this former Scary Movie White Chick can play such a decidedly different character is plenty.

Alright, that pretty much concludes the positive parts of this review. Truth be told, I REALLY didn’t much care for this one. HIM was not IT. It is a lot more Us than Get Out or Nope but really cranked up. Very supernatural , otherworldly. Dark and demonic are NOT my jam. And this one is HELLA dark and demonic. Goats/goat imagery. Check. Red. So much red. Check. Blood galore, check. It was disturbing, uncomfortable, and odd from jump. It was hard watching a character just becoming undone. The brain injury and the warning that went with it were made blatantly clear and it was pretty much ignored. Every head collision was a a gut punch.

There really isn’t’ anyone to cheer for. Yes, Cam is the protagonist but just barely. But to be fair, he never had much of a change. The infighting incident sends him spiraling before we even get any sense of who he is as a character. I didn’t really find myself rooting for him until the end. And as I said, Marlon Wayan’s Isiah was so one-note evil, I couldn’t root for him. When it come to my demonic movies, I prefer more of an Al Pacino Devil’s Adovcate kind of villian- despicable, but there were at least a couple of layers.

And speaking of the end, boy did it weird. As I look at reactions to the film, if people has negative things to say. It was about the ending. I am in the minority. Although it was crazy bizarre, it was cathartic at least and I found it strangely satisfying, or at least as I was a going to find this movie.

I am definitely not the target audience for this one. Personal bias aside, I can see where people who are into this type of movie could be higher on it, but for me, it’s a generous 4. There is a lot going on and usually I’d be willing to revisit to catch things I missed. For this one, I’m good.

Definitely not the GOAT in my opinion, but am I just being stubborn? What say you? Leave you review in the comments. And until next time…