Marlon Wayans’ performance is the only source of tension in this disorderly psychological sports horror

With Jordan Peele attached as producer, Him Assisting the expectation that this psychological sports horror could be complicated enough to dig more deeply in its themes – the price paid for glory and glory among them. After all, most films related to sport are full of hope. But it is not a film directed by Peele, and therefore the execution in layers and the prowess of narration are lost in what is, essentially, a thematic horror which does not have the cohesion necessary to collect its history.

Directed by Justin Tipping of a scenario, he co-written with skip bronkia and zak akers, Him To say a lot about the world of football. Obsessoring fans who are froking on worship, the disdaining with which injuries are treated and the pressure that is the greatest of all time (the film was initially titled GoatAnd there are visual heads to real goats, so you get the image). If nothing else, the film is a edifying story about never meeting your heroes. It is therefore a shame that these elements are treated at best at random.

Marlon Wayans offers a performance that raises him

Although it is not enough to make the film an interesting watch

Marlon Wayans carries most of the weight of the film as an Isaiah White, a quarter-rear which is considered the goat and who thinks of retirement. For most of the film, Wayans’ performance has the impression that it belongs to a better film, the one that corresponds to the tension and the intensity Him seems to think that it gives. The actor is all forced smiles and barely controlled emotion, traveling a fine line between passionate and disarticulated. The way he deals with Cameron Wade (Tyriq Withers), an upright quarter that should replace Isaiah and all that he has accomplished, is ruthless, although he thinks he hardens him.

The film is largely fixed at the Isaiah complex, isolated from the rest of the world, so that the accent is put on football. Once Cameron, who recently undergone brain trauma, between and his phone is confiscated, things become really bizarre, but Him I can’t maintain his tone. It is torn between being a strange thriller and a psychological horror. The latter is strongly underused, undermining the disconcerting elements of history to a certain extent that we cannot take it as seriously as he wants.

Horror aspects have so much potential, but they are wasted on a story that refuses to commit properly with its themes. Sometimes subtle and others too simple, the film leads to an end which seems simultaneously inevitable and poorly designed. He finds it difficult to hold attention, even if Cameron’s time on the enclosure becomes more and more bizarre.

The material does not help Cameron, whose passivity and lack of curiosity, it is difficult to attach himself to him or what the film tried to involve with his character. It is only in a few moments that Withers’ performance goes up on occasion, and it is mainly in the first 20 minutes, when he plays Cameron as sufficiently withdrawn to make us wonder if he really cares about football. It is a gain that approaches the end of the film, and which would have been better served as a foundation.

Otherwise, the film tells us that Cameron cares about his family, but we barely see them. We learn that his father (Don Benjamin) taught him everything he knows about football, but this relationship obtains a moment on the screen. Another interrogation from Cameron and his life would have made horror more disturbing. What we get instead is a lukewarm film that does not entirely qualify as a psychological horror.

At several times, whether Cameron beaten or that helmets collide on the field, the film uses an X -ray effect to highlight the impact of football on body and mind; However, it is used so often that it becomes ineffective. The moments that are supposed to be frightening are a little gadgets.

At just over an hour and a half, Him is so unbalanced in his execution that he feels much longer. Tilting and co-authors have a lot of big ideas and stimulating comments on how we treat the athletes, but the conduct of a conclusion certainly explosive does not work. Wayans and the score seem to make most of the tension creation. It’s a shame that the rest of the film cannot reach the same level.