★☆☆☆☆
With Jordan Peele as a producer, Him had some pretty high expectations from the start. Given Peele’s consistently admirable work, one would hope that his association with the film would have some positive influence.
But if the Peele name had any benefit for the movie, it was completely diluted by outrageous storylines, tacky dialogue, and a haphazardly tied-together ending.
Him explores ideas of determination and the willingness to sacrifice anything to achieve what one wants, similar to films such as Whiplash or Black Swan. The only difference is that there is a dark, satanic aspect to Him, and the film uses grotesque scenes to back that up.
Him attempts to do too much with too little. It takes itself too seriously to be ironically entertaining, such as The VelociPastor, but it also doesn’t have enough refined depth on themes of desire and sacrifice.
While the premise of exploring determination in movies is interesting and usually not overdone, this movie’s execution of these concepts is unexplored and disorganized. Rather than exploring tenacity in a single character or through a single arc, Him instead spews a barrage of unnecessary characters and half-baked storylines.
Him starts pretty well, immediately introducing the audience to the main character, Cam, and establishing his desire for greatness. But the movie shortly thereafter takes a poor turn when Cam is recruited to a mysterious training facility.
While, at first, the idea of Cam training at this facility was interesting, it quickly became outlandish—the movie likely would have benefited if it had moved on from this setting. Instead, the movie decides to spend the rest of its screen time drunkenly exploring the seemingly unplanned characters and arcs within the facility.
Many of the characters seem useless, such as the cult-like fans who do nothing except interact with Cam a couple of times, yelling at him and attempting to attack him. Other characters, like the sports-med doctor, had some interesting dialogue and hints at a backstory, but their stories were never fully fleshed out. This made the doctor’s part in the movie’s ending too spontaneous.
If there’s one thing about mysteries, it’s that they cannot be aimless, and unfortunately, Him is.
While the substance of the movie is messy to say the least, the filming techniques and cinematography are something that would be appealing to see in movies to come.
The movie often films scenes in various types of visions, such as X-ray or different grades of thermal. This technique was captivating, as it gave another dimension to the scenes that utilized it. Concussions or injuries could be further enhanced, and it allowed for more raw emotions to be brought out and displayed.
Additionally, the fundamental cinematography was well done, which further immersed the audience in Cam’s character. There were scenes where the audience sees out of Cam’s helmet, or where they would move as he moved, almost as if they themselves were playing football. While it may not have been as flashy as the X-ray or thermal aspect, it was still something to appreciate in such a chaotic movie.
Despite redeeming cinematography, a lack of thematic depth and half-baked storylines will keep viewers from coming back to Him. For fans of Peele, it was disappointing and should only be viewed as a last resort.
