Throughout Him’s 96-minute runtime, director Justin Tipping builds tension as relentlessly as an NFL defensive line refusing to yield even an inch to the enemy. So when this Jordan Peele-produced football thriller finally hits a breaking point, the release feels overwhelming: a symphony of violence and gore so unrelenting it wipes away everything that came before.
Unfortunately, while that ending may seem cathartic for Him’s protagonist, it’s incredibly unsatisfying for the audience. By failing to unpack the movie’s beginning, Tipping undercuts the spectacle of his finale
Ed. note: Spoilers ahead for the ending of Him.
At the beginning of Him, we meet Cam, first as a boy watching football with his family and then as a young man (Tyriq Withers) on the verge of signing a major football contract. But mere days before the annual scouting combine where prospective new players compete for attention, a masked assailant attacks Cam and leaves him with a nasty head injury and a line of stitches across his skull that unsubtly resemble the laces on a football.
Him doesn’t waste much time dealing with the fallout of his attack, and if there’s any attempt to figure out who did it, we don’t see that onscreen. Instead, the story jumps straight to the combine, where Cam bows out at the last minute over concerns of further damaging his swollen brain. While it seems like his career might be finished before it even starts, he soon gets an invitation to train directly with legendary quarterback Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans) as an on-ramp to joining his favorite team, the Saviors, as their next QB.
Long story short: Isaiah’s training methods are nontraditional and violent. Meanwhile, his live-in doctor (Jim Jeffries) keeps injecting Cam with a mysterious red substance. We also see Isaiah banking his own blood — he tells Cam it’s currently high in oxygen levels and comes in handy later in the year when he needs a boost.
You probably guessed where this was all heading before Him’s big reveal: Isaiah has been transferring his own blood into Cam’s body, part of a long-running tradition to give each Saviors’ quarterback an advantage over the competition. It’s never stated exactly how far back this goes, but a room in Isaiah’s mansion features several older football jerseys, suggesting at least a few decades of blood transfusions.
As part of the tradition, Isaiah and Cam fight to the death. Cam wins and exits the building only to step onto a football field where his agent (Tim Heidecker), Isaiah’s widow (Julia Fox), and elderly owner of the Saviors are all standing in cult robes. They present Cam with a contract, revealing his entire life (including the injury) was carefully orchestrated to get to him this moment, and even threaten to murder his family if he doesn’t sign. Instead, Cam picks up a conveniently placed weapon and murders everyone in sight.
The movie ends here, with Cam triumphant, defiant, and covered in blood. There’s clearly supposed to be a sense of catharsis. Release. Resistance against the powers that be. But none of that really comes through. Instead, Cam’s victory rings hollow because there’s no real stakes in a story that feels so untethered from reality.
Why does Cam kill all those people? Is it because he’s been driven insane, or he’s just angry at them, or both? It’s never really clear, and, to be honest, that’s fine. Gory spectacle for its own sake is a perfectly decent way to end a horror movie. But in this case, it feels like a cop out. Why does Cameron do it? And how exactly did he get here in the first place? Him doesn’t offer an answer, which makes its ending feel unsatisfying, despite all that blood.
Him is in theaters now.
