how far will you push yourself? - A review of HIM (2025)
I was delighted to have the chance to check out HIM courtesy of Universal Pictures Ireland at their advanced screening in The Lighthouse Cinema in Smithfield. The event itself was decked out with props from the film, an actor aura farming moving through the crowd quoting the film, and themed cocktails. The event was full of energy of people riding the buzz after watching a film that committed to its concept and was not afraid to take some swings.
HIM is a film that has been produced by Monkeypaw Productions, and throughout this film I had multiple moments where I had a strong feeling of "I can tell why Jordan Peele wanted to attach himself to this film". The director of HIM is Justin Tipping, and he has zeroed in on the world of the NFL as an allegory for America as a wider concept. The story of HIM revolves around a young up-and-coming football player Cam (Tyriq Withers) and his idol Isiah Washington (Marlon Wayans), the current top player of the league who is on the verge of hanging up his boots.
The opening of the film centres on young Cam as a child as he watches an important game for the team his family supports, The Saviours (a name which will later to be relieved to have a lot of thematic significance), and while watching Isiah gets badly injured. The scene pivots to Cam's father forcing him to look at the injured Isiah as a lesson in how a real man should act. This is moment is significant both for understanding Cam as a person, but also for getting the first sense of what this film is saying. Tipping is not afraid to pull his punches and offers up a film which comments on how the dogmatism often associated with faith and church is eerily present in sport, in particular how fans can idolize and worship elite players. The film goes further than this and also offers up a skewering of the performative masculinity which is locked in an inseparable embrace with sport. Tipping's direction makes us feel the tension when Cam's father turns his head towards the screen because this scene is dripping in a knowing familiarity of the toxicity that performative masculinity breeds.
We jump to the present day after watching a montage of Isiah's greatest sporting moments and rise to the top, to become the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time), and Cam has finished an incredibly successful season of college football, and is now rumoured to be going professional, so the media is circling, all wanting to get the first bit of footage of the next icon of the game. Cam is on the verge of greatness, with a future of infinite possibilities before him, and then as is the hero's journey, that future gets yanked from under him when he is violently assaulted causing a brain injury. When it feels like his world is going to come crumbling down, Cam is offered the opportunity to do a week's bootcamp with Isiah at Isiah's compound, and this is where the majority of the film takes place.
The story is broken up into different chapters which I think Tipping uses well to illustrate the Cam's state of mind as the week progresses. When Cam first arrives he is riding a high, but as the days go by and he encounters an increasing number of unnerving experiences, his mental deterioration is rather apparent. Withers and Wayans play off each other fantastically throughout, and Wayans in particular maintains a sinister and unsettling performance, constantly having you on the edge of you seat as you are unsure what the unpredictable Isiah will do or say next. We are also treated to some great supporting roles by Jim Jeffries as Marco the alcoholic team Doctor, and Julia Fox as Isiah's socialite partner Elsie. Fox and Jeffries help to break up the moments of tension with great humour and some iconic line deliveries. I will definitely find myself quoting this film a lot, and I think that is a testament to the great writing of Zack Akers, Skip Bronkie, and Tipping too.
HIM posits to the audience that the NFL (and by extension a lot of elite sports in general) is another vehicle for white supremacy to profit from the labour and off the bodies of Black people, while strictly dictating the rules of how anyone but them can access even a fraction of power and status. This is a film that does not hold its cards close to its chest and chooses to leave everything on the table. There are a few narrative beats that do not get fully resolved, and a few ideas that were not perfectly executed, but overall I was very much picking up what this film was putting down. I am excited to see what future projects Tipping will be attached to, and I am very keen to see Marlon Wayans in more genre roles, because HIM has shown that the man is a versatile actor.
HIM hits Irish theatres on October 3rd courtesy of Universal Pictures Ireland for Monkeypaw Productions, and I highly recommend seeing the film yourself.