What does it take to be the GOAT? You don’t get to be the “greatest of all time” simply by working hard, or because you have a family to support, or even because of your faith. It’s going to take a lot more than that. You need to “dig deep”, says the current GOAT, Isaiah White, played by Marlon Wayans in Justin Tipping’s stylish, messy occult sports horror HIM. Isaiah, an eight-time champion in a fictional football league, is the best who ever played the game, but now it’s time for him to hang up the cleats for good and someone needs to fill his considerable shoes. But damn if Isaiah is going to hand over the #1 quarterback position to just anybody. They’re going to have to give up a piece of themselves that they might not be ready to give.
HIM is produced by Jordan Peele, who personally handpicked Tipping based on his breakout 2016 debut, Kicks. It’s easy to see why. That unique indie adventure explored expensive sneaker obsession as an escape from poverty. HIM isn’t a movie that’s really about football, either. I mean, it is, but it’s about football as an obsession, a cultish tribal ritual that consumes the youth, spirit, and bodies of young Black men for the wealth and power of corporate slavemasters and rabid fans. It’s definitely not a subtle movie, and the more it leans into “elevated horror” to make a point, the less it works. But at its heart, the rivalry between the older generation vs. the new, the twisted head games and brutal physical challenges between Isaiah and rookie upstart Cameron Cade are enough to carry HIM into the endzone.
Enter Tyriq Withers as Cameron Cade, who we meet as a kid watching Isaiah in a big game for his beloved San Antonio Saviors. When Isaiah suffers a devastating, gruesome injury (the kind the networks would NEVER allow on air), Cam’s father, a devoted fan, points to the screen and says “That’s what a real man looks like.” Raised basically from birth to believe he’s going to be the next GOAT (“I am HIM!!” the kid shouts), with a no pain no gain mentality driving him forward, Cam grows up to be the top collegiate prospect and the one many think could be the best ever, meaning Isaiah has got to go.
I guess in this universe, players don’t move around in free agency? But then, that would crush the whole “kill or be killed”, ” king of the jungle” mentality that drives HIM. Before Cam can be drafted, he’s viciously attacked by a creepy mascot, leaving him with an ugly head wound and brain trauma. It’s then that Isaiah makes him an offer, to come to his isolated training facility, which looks like you’re passing through a gateway to Hell, for an intense week-long minicamp that turns into a nightmare.
Tipping and cinematographer Kira Kelly deliver a slick, vivid gridiron experience with flashing X-ray images that show the bone-crushing impacts of helmet-to-helmet collisions, the snapping of limbs like twigs, and worse. If you get squeamish over such impacts on the human body, or have a thing about needles being forcefully injected, stitches getting yanked, bags of mysterious blood transfused, and heads getting bashed by rocket footballs, HIM is going to be a rough one. All of this stuff is way tougher to watch than the gore that permeates the final act unnecessarily, as the film struggles to come to a cohesive finale. Whatever commentary it wanted to make about the NFL’s concussion protocols seemed like a glancing blow. As well as the dismissive reaction to actual deaths (including a murderous fan who infiltrates the compound) seems like a statement on the way the sport chews up and spits out its players without a second thought. Nice ideas that are never given enough time, with just 90 minutes on the clock. HIM is juggling an awful lot, and while the ambition is appreciated, a leaner story would’ve been beneficial.
Before that, HIM is actually quite effective in exploring toxic male culture that creates men like Isaiah and Cam. Both have been effectively brainwashed to believe that men are built to be a certain kind of way. They are to be warriors, the ones who make “sacrifices” to be the best, and let nothing stand in their way. Isaiah comes across as both a skilled mentor and a devious trickster, who may or may not be trying to lead Cam astray. He’s like a deranged Doug Flutie, but instead of refusing to teach his understudy he might be trying to kill him. As for Cam, he comes across as wide-eyed but driven, his focus on “God. Family. Football.” He has his late father’s motivational words to live by. But as he begins to experience nightmarish visions and freakish occurrences, one has to wonder what is real and what might be the result of damage already done to his brain?
It’s another solid performance by Wayans, who will probably never get the credit he deserves for the fluid, reliable actor he’s become. It’s also a step up for Withers, who is far better here than in his previous genre effort, I Know What You Did Last Summer. Withers, a former wide receiver at Florida State, has the smooth athletic build for the role. Wayans has also gotten into incredible shape. Both look like they might have struck a deal with the Devil to resemble gods chiseled out of marble.
I recently posted that my idea for a football horror movie would be to follow Billy Blanks’ tragic character Billy Cole from The Last Boy Scout, coincidentally starring Damon Wayans. In a way, I could almost see HIM as a prequel, a blood-soaked, psychotic warning sign to his eventual gun-fueled rampage. The money, the fame, the insane demands; football turns all of its players into killers at the end of the day. HIM ponders if those who aren’t willing to embrace it, truly deserve to be the GOAT?
HIM opens in theaters on September 19th from Universal Pictures.
