Los Angeles, CA (News4usonline) – Following the release of the highly anticipated 2025 sports horror thriller film, “Him,” I harbored great expectations.
Directed by Justin Tipping (“Kicks”, 2026), and produced by revered comedian, actor, and horror director Jordan Peele himself (“Get Out”, 2017), many horror film fans, particularly those who have applauded the works of Peele, could only imagine what the summer 2025 film had hidden in store.
Or possibly, whether or not the film had the potential to live up to its own hype.
Distributed by Universal Studios and developed by Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions, I foresaw that regardless of the film’s contents, “Him” would nonetheless have me analyzing it to the core. In the aftermath of my viewing, I was left somewhat dissatisfied.
Visually a superb film, the story within itself falls flat on the measure of its perceived promises.
“No guts, no glory”, whispers Cameron Cade’s dad into the ear of his young son as they both cheer on the quarterback star, enigmatic Isaiah White of the San Antonio Saviors (played by White Chick’s Marlon Wayans), as he succumbs to a vicious leg injury that inevitably halts his career.
We then are shown a montage within the first 10 minutes of the film, laying out the groundwork of Cameron’s journey of becoming a famous quarterback (portrayed charmingly by the promising newcomer, Atlanta’s Tyriq Withers).
This dream his father dreamt for him is what sets the story in motion, foreseeing a climactic transformation he could not yet conceptualize for himself.
The theme of sacrifice serves as a key element, as the film makes it a point for the audience to be constantly reminded of it. It is well known that in the sports industry, self-sacrifice and pushing one’s limits are required for success.
It is the demand for success guided by echoing sentiments of his now deceased father when Cameron decides to put everything on the line for the dream to come into fruition.
After sustaining a brain injury from a mysterious, disguised assailant, Cameron’s initial chances at football fame nearly fade into obscurity. Then, his agent calls, and he is offered an opportunity of a lifetime: to train opposite his football idol in a remote facility.
As he prepares for the NFL combine under the tutelage of Isaiah, who has since retired from the field, Cameron is automatically faced with Isaiah’s intense and gruesomely unorthodox training methodologies.
The film is very direct with its humor and tone, along with the fact that it never shuns away from the racial factors that play into the sports industry. Black masculinity is displayed through a warped microscope, boiling down to how Cameron even has to strip nude for a physical exam.
It is eerily reminiscent of how slaves on the auction block were presented to slave masters before they bought based on their physical attributes.
It is clear from the start who specifically the film seeks to speak directly to. Knowing its intended audience, the film is intentional about how the sports industry exploits the bodies of black men for the sake of glory.
We see how Cameron’s pursuit of this so-called glory pushes for him to shred and gamble with his identity, calling for his integrity to come into question.
The blunt racial messaging works hand in hand with how the film plants the seeds of what is yet to come as it pertains to becoming the “GOAT,” a term we all have heard once before. The use of the word goat as well as how the film references sacrifice (even the Satanic imagery that is synonymous with it), and the mentioning of God adds to a layer of paralleled foreshadowing that is much more sinister.
The course of the story unfolds over the span of 6 days total, with captions of each day representing a core value Isaiah seeks to instill into Cameron’s psychological program: fun, poise, leadership, resilience, vision, and (of course) sacrifice. Isaiah is witty, eccentric even, and unyieldingly unhinged.
Cameron initially attributes his methods to the nature of the game, but soon comes to gradually understand that in the world of football, the game is everything. As Isaiah puts it, it’s “Football. Family. God.”
Isaiah forces Cameron to fully immerse his mind into the field, even to the point where Cameron nearly compromises his health as the training takes place in the aftermath of his brain injury.
At first, Cameron is willing, but following strange encounters with crazed fans attacking him in the sauna in which he witnesses Isaiah murder a woman, to even wrestling with temptation from Isaiah’s wife, Elsie (played by Julia Fox), Cameron realizes how vulnerable he actually is.
Tipping does not hold back on the severity of the horror genre, though oftentimes if mostly the gore’s impact feels as though it only exists for shock value and not to propel the story in an intricate direction.
The parallels of the violence juxtaposed to the story itself leaves a bit too much empty space in each act. As a viewer, I felt as though the film attempted to say a lot, while simultaneously lacking the substance to create a fleshed-out narrative.
This can be heavily accounted for by the fact that, even with a film that seeks to be ambitious, its characters mostly feel one note. Cameron’s character development throughout the film unfortunately feels very one-dimensional, and even though Withers worked well with what he was given, the writing of his character did not fully live up to his potential until the last 15 minutes of the film.
The film has many questions lingering in regards to the mishandled themes, such as the mentioned self-sacrifice that is constantly reiterated and demanded of Cameron.
Cameron is faced with ultimatums, measured between his desire to achieve his inherited dream, while also remaining who he is. There is a hidden element of radical detachment presented to us through the perspective of Cameron, who is persuaded to release himself from any morals that could possibly hinder him. Amongst many of his notable quotes, Isaiah grippingly tells Cameron to, “Find your own way to greatness. Don’t be me. Be better.”
Things take an insidious turn after Cameron attends a party with Elsie, in which he discovers the dark underworld that existed in the background all along. What is revealed as an elaborate
scheme to manipulate Cameron into selling his soul for fame and fortune is abruptly revealed to us. Tipping is unapologetic in this revelation, as you witness a ritualistic undertaking orchestrated by Isaiah and Elsie, costing the head of Isaiah’s personal doctor.
The film plants seeds of demonic imagery synonymous with the occult early (i.e. the goat and countless seen horned figures), and as we all know or have heard, the earth is the Devil’s playground.
The film itself can be interpreted as an allegory for idolized worship through self-gain in the name of football. In the veins of this story, football itself serves as a god that demands Cameron’s soul.
Tying back into the racial elements, the film shows us how impressionable black men are faced with a harsh reality; how far will they go to become the goat, and by what specific means necessary?
The final scene in which Cameron forcibly kills Isaiah in self-defense and stumbles across the elites and Elsie confronting him to sign a contract, is reminiscent of not just literally selling one’s soul, but an auction block for slaves, or in this case, Cameron auctioning himself.
The intersections of this imagery pull you in – and yet – you can’t help but feel as though the story has misaligned itself by jumping from one thing to the next all too soon. You could easily theorize that perhaps, in some paradoxical way, Isaiah attempted to swap destinies with Cameron to relive his days as an all-star quarterback.
Yet, the film is never quite clear with what message it wants to fully commit to. Regardless of the rich cinematography and convincing performances, Tipping fails to fully embrace what he is trying to make the audience understand throughout the film, until it is thrown into our faces at the last minute.
With a fascinating concept of a story, the lack of heart and intention drags the film’s weight, which can’t be supplemented with pointless quotes, visuals, and references that do nothing for the characters, nor the overall messages. Nonetheless, Cameron’s final testament to combat the elite in a blood-soaked ending does somewhat solidify Isaiah’s ideology, “Whoever has it is the goat.”
Featured or lead photo courtesy of Himmovie.com
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