‘Him’: Hot Damn! (Review)

Cam (Tyriq Withers) is a promising young football phenom who lives for the game. He’s been training practically all his life, and his hard work is rewarded by a chance to practice with the legendary Isaiah (Marlon Wayans). Cam heads out to Isaiah’s compound ostensibly for a week of conditioning, but in actuality he’s about to experience something far more sinister.

The film is awash in religious imagery. The link between theology and an unhealthy obsession with football is prominent from the opening, when we see Cam’s childhood living room, replete with a candlelit altar to Isaiah, whose team is the Saviors. Characters say things like, “It’s a miracle he’s still playing,” and “God willing, I wanna be the GOAT.” Isaiah has a painting of himself with a halo, and off the field his wardrobe is often pretty similar to stuff you see Jesus wearing in classic depictions of him. Isaiah’s fans are pathological and follow him with cult-like dedication.

A major theme in the film is racial inequality in the world of sports. The athletes we see in the film are Black, while the ones really in charge, the owners, are crusty old white men. Cam’s agent (Tim Heidecker), also white and also making a hefty profit off him, makes him bark like a dog.

There are multiple comparisons of football players to gladiators, which serves to highlight the exploitation of Black bodies for entertainment. The cruelty of the sport is emphasized, with assertions that it’s not just a game. It’s pointed out that “The game rewards violence.” The players are seen as godlike, but they’re also expected to make sacrifices for the fans, hence the comparisons to Jesus. Cam suffers a head injury at the beginning of the film that his doctor warns will destroy his career if he gets hurt again, but he swears it’s “just a bump” because his identity is rooted in football. Cam’s girlfriend, consistently the voice of reason when literally everyone else around him is trying to exploit him, assures him he has other options for greatness, but he ignores it. Isaiah is similarly tied to the game, refusing to give up his title of the GOAT because he would miss the adoration even as it destroys his body.

You can read the film as an indictment of how disproportionately Black boys are encouraged from childhood to pursue a career in sports. It’s well-established that they’re perceived in multiple systems as natural athletes and therefore for them the best way to get ahead in life is by playing sports in college rather than taking part in other forms of academics. If you don’t believe me, google that shit, I’ll wait. Below is Cam’s father forcing him to watch Isaiah winning a game with a bone poking out of his leg, telling him, “You see that, Cam? That’s what real men do. They make sacrifices. No guts, no glory.”

The performances are amazing, particularly Withers and Wayans. One of my favorite scenes is when Isaiah shows how unhinged he is, bouncing back and forth between furious and good-humored:

It’s not scary exactly, but there is some creepy imagery, like the inordinately monstrous mascots.

But most disconcerting of all is how Isaiah’s wife (Julia Fox) looks uncannily like Wayans’s character in White Chicks. I can’t decide if the resemblance is purposeful; there are clear visual references to Wayans’s film Requiem for a Dream. I also can’t decide which of the two is more unsettling:

A lot of people hated this movie. I freaking loved it. Yes it’s heavy-handed, yes the metaphor is a bit stretched and muddled, but overall I found it thought-provoking and fresh. There’s not enough discourse about how much playing football damages the athletes, physically and psychologically. And when the finale goes off the rails, it’s a sight to behold. The film’s visuals alone are worth the watch. Take this reference to Da Vinci’s Last Supper. This shot lasts a few seconds, look how much work they put into it!

Check it out if you’re in the mood for something powerful and disturbing, with occasional unpredictable wackiness.