#REVIEW: “HIM”

Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong

When Jordan Peele’s name is attached to a project, there is a certain level of excitement that it elicits, even if it is just a Producer credit it means something he saw he believed in and had faith in and wanted to back the movie. Whether that means the final cut of the movie lives up to that promise, is a different conversation. In the case of Justin Tipping’s latest, HIM, which he also co-wrote with Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie, we get some great performances, but it amounts ultimately to a 96-minute feature that isn’t saying enough.

Him focuses on Cameron Cade (Tyriq Withers) who from a young age has been told that the only thing that matters in life is football, every breath he takes is football. The Film starts right off into the visceral visuals immediately as a young Tyriq sees his idol Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans) have his leg brutally snapped in half – but fast-forward to modern day and Cameron is now one of the top college quarterbacks and Isiah mordaciously covered and is potentially starting his final season for the San Antonio Saviors. Cade wants to become the next GOAT, he wants the recognition, the fame, the status and after he gets brutally-attacked by a masked assailant running a training exercise, White agrees to take him into his intense, phone-free bootcamp but it is certainly not as it seems and the true ideology and chaos is revealed slowly and surely, leaving the audience to get clued-in to what they already knew.

Movies can be a lot like icebergs, they start under the surface and as we continue to climb them through the running time they go past the surface and reach the top or the tipping point. Unfortunately, here though, Justin Tipping struggles to reach the tip of the iceberg. While the direction is fine, it’s the Script he co-wrote, that lacks inspiration– it feels as if someone watched Jordan Peele’s body of work and tried to replicate it, without the message and intention.

Wayans is simply the best he’s ever been in his career here, making an extraordinary villainous performance that is perfectly juxtaposed by Withers’ Cade who wants to achieve greatness, but on his own terms. He understandably wants to work alongside and under his mentor and idol, but wants to do it on his own terms. With this being Withers’ fourth feature role, he’s really finding his name mentioned in conversations because he is the lifeblood of the Movie. Along with Wayans, he somehow redeems the Film. Him feels like a lot of good ideas without the proper development and fleshing-out.

Universal Pictures Canada release HIM in theaters on Friday September 19, 2025.