I’ve been a fan of football since I was a little kid. As a Notre Dame Fighting Irish & New England Patriots fan, I’ve had my share of ups and downs in my fifty-plus years of existence. I’ve also coached football at the high school level, so I’ve been around the game in my entire life as a fan and coach. I even have a friend who played professional football and has suffered from head trauma due to several concussions, a serious issue in the sport. It’s sufficient to say Him hits very close to home for me, and I got the message the movie was saying perfectly. 

Cameron “Cam” Cade (Tyriq Withers, I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)) is a successful college football player and is expected to be a high draft pick, but he must demonstrate his abilities at the draft combine, a showcase for all teams drafting. While working out, he is attacked by a mysterious man dressed as a mascot, suffering a serious head injury, and endangering his chances of being a high draft pick. Unexpectedly, he gets a call from someone willing to teach him how good he can be by doing a private workout at his secluded compound with his childhood idol, former quarterback Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans). However, there is more going on at this boot camp than Cam realizes.

Immediately, I was blown away by how realistic the depiction of how head trauma in football can cause serious complications, especially with repetitive collisions as the sport requires to be playing it. It took a while, but the NFL finally came around to the fact that all the literal head-to-head collisions and inferior playing conditions, such as playing on thin astroturf over concrete, were causing the diagnosis of CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy), which can only be found after death. Him dictates that very evidently by all the headaches, nightmares, and hallucinations Cam suffers from after his assault. Next to the real thing depicted in the real-life drama Concussion (2015) starring Will Smith, this was the most realistic portrayal of consistent head trauma I’ve ever seen, albeit with a lot of metaphorical wrapping paper.

This is going to sound like a broken record, but from my experience with football players, including my own brother, I’ve seen a lot of kids who would do anything to become the best. Whether it’s drugs or some kinds of illegal substances to make them stronger, the drive to succeed is sometimes a disease as well. Overworking one’s body by running, jumping, weightlifting, and so forth are ways athletes have tunnel vision. They need to sacrifice everything and shut out everybody to get the success they want. There is a penalty to this, though. Alienating one’s family friends and loved ones can be detrimental to one’s life. Anybody who is striving for success needs these kinds of people in their lives to keep them grounded and not give them a big head. I’ve seen this happen, and it can go irreversibly wrong for athletes. This film once again gets this aspect of the story correct. 

Marlon Wayans is predominantly known for his comedic performances, along with his brothers Shawn and Keenen, such as White Chicks, the Scary Movie Franchise, and the groundbreaking TV show In Living Color. These were comedies for a specific subsection of society, but he and his family successfully crossed over to the mainstream. Now, Marlon has entered into a new era in his career as a dramatic actor with performances in Respect and Air. His performance as Isiah exuded what it is like to be a motivator, coach, and influence on others, giving the perfect amount of intensity of being an overbearing athlete upon an aspiring one. Clearly, the dramatic acting chops in him (no pun intended) are good, and hopefully, he continues on that streak.

Tyriq Withers had a supporting role in the latest I Know What You Did Last Summer film, but Him is his true breakout role. He was perfectly cast as a young man who had dreams of being a starting quarterback in the fictional professional football league that this film depicts on screen. Specifically, the San Antonio Saviers. Which is an interesting name for a team. It is like so many other things in this movie. It is a metaphor for a successful person, in this case, a quarterback or leader of a team. In which the quarterback position is deemed as in all divisions of the game. Withers exudes the traits of a quarterback all over the place. He looks and acts the part perfectly. This role will be the role that catapults him into a different level of stardom. He’ll be able to parlay this performance into many more roles, hopefully. He’s that good in this role. I loved what he brought to the idea of what a quarterback could and should be perceived as. This is a new public conscience that football fans will identify with in future years. Withers is a genuine revelation in this role. There is no other way to put it. I’m sure of that after seeing him here.

Director Justin Tipping, along with co-writers Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie, presents a specific vibe to this sports horror story. Its fast editing and incredible score give a good dosage of craziness of the wild visuals with plenty of blood, gore, and violence. There was so much in this ninety-five-minute film that I couldn’t catch it all, even though some of its obvious symbolisms don’t hit the mark. Comparing a quarterback to Jesus was a stretch, but to some people, like us Patriots fans, Tom Brady is an example of this. Sports fans put these players on pedestals, and it can be an adrenaline rush, though, for some kids who need something to strive for. Tipping gets to the point of what it all means, even though it will have gone over some people’s heads.

The movie is separated into six different distinct segments and those are 1:Fun, 2:Poise, 3:Leadership, 4:Resilience, 5:Vision, 6:Sacrifice.These are the six stages of a football player’s life if you will.The film delves into all of these equally well considering the ninety five minute runtime. I definitely see all the stages from all the football I’ve been involved in in my lifetime. These stages meant quite a bit to me while watching it because of where the main character was going in his journey.Tipping and the rest of the writers understood the levels quite well. They gave a specific direction that this film was going in. 

Him is a metaphorical and existential exercise in success and danger of striving for such a high bar of being famous. Think of this as a more grounded version containing the true violent nature of the sport, like Any Given Sunday and Friday Night Lights. Both lead performances were brilliant, and anybody who has been or is around football will get this film and everything it’s saying, while those who aren’t or haven’t been can easily get lost in its messaging. This is one of the best horror films of the year, on par with Weapons, and it’s one of the best football films in recent memory. 

4 ½ stars

Dan Skip Allen