Him (2025) Movie Review

Hello

everyone and welcome to the concession stand here on the KB radio network.

I am your host Kevin Reed and this is the review of the new supernatural psychological spirit.

sports horror thriller film him and this film is co-written and directed by justin tifton produced by jordan peel it stars marlon wayans tyreek withers

and julia fox this film is pretty much centered around the trials of a young up-and-coming football player who trains in an isolated compound or compound that's

with an aging near-retired football player.

So,

you read that synopsis and you're like,

okay,

it's your basic,

not horror,

but basic sports film.

How is this a horror film?

Well,

I wouldn't even call it a horror film.

I'm going to tell you that off the bat.

It's not really a horror film.

It's more of a psychological thriller than a horror film.

Now,

in parts,

it gets a little horrific.

you know in a scene or two but nothing i would classify as a horror film at least in my eyes but whatever this film was pretty high on my list i was excited to see uh

number one a football film being a huge football fan uh also being a jordan pill fan right that's another check and marlon weigh-ins.

you know i enjoy marlon williams for what he is and who he is as a performer a comedian and everything and every now and then he'll give us a a nice nugget of

a drama a serious role and he believe it or not marlon williams can act if you ever saw a requiem of a dream uh uh oh my god what's the other film it was just on the tip of my tongue but

the dude can act you know it isn't just scary movie and the wayans brothers and uh white chicks he actually is a really really good actor so i wanted to see him in this different type of role uh as the main antagonist

so i was i was excited about that i went into this movie blind so to speak

I knew about the movie I knew what the movie was about saw the trailers and all this here so I wasn't blind in that sense but leading up to the film's release the Rotten Tomatoes score dropped and when I say dropped it dropped uh

they released the the Rotten Tomatoes score and it was 31 percent and that was the day before I went to see it and the day I went to see it it dropped even more

to 28 i don't know what it is right now it really doesn't matter but it it it didn't look too good um i didn't read any reviews i didn't watch any reviews didn't listen to any reviews i just wanted to go see it for myself because

i was excited for the movie you know i wasn't uh over inflated with like oh man this is going to be great this is the next big jordan pill uh film i didn't go into it like.

that and thank god i didn't because this isn't get out this isn't no this isn't us this is him this is a this is a film uh from justin tifted uh

so it's not a jordan pill film per se yes he produced it but he that's it he just produced it this movie was good really really good

I don't know what the critics are tripping on.

I don't know what they saw that I didn't see or maybe they saw something or maybe

I don't know but vice versa.

I don't know how it went but

I really really enjoyed him.

Now

I will say this did it reinvent the wheel?

No it didn't.

You know was it on the nose with a lot of symbolism throughout the film?

Yes,

very on the nose.

You really didn't have to scratch your head too much with this movie.

Actually,

not at all.

This was paint-by-numbers symbolism.

You knew exactly what they were saying in this film.

And I guess that's why I appreciated it so much.

You know,

I didn't have to think too hard.

I was in it,

and I knew exactly what they were trying to tell me.

And

I loved it for that reason.

No,

it is not a...

thought-provoking film like that you know it's not one that's going to keep you guessing to the end and things of that nature it's just a movie and that's fine you know every movie doesn't have to be great you

know it doesn't have to uh make you question your mortality you know what i'm saying it's something just simple just sit down and enjoy

What I enjoyed the most about this movie was somebody that I ranted about a few seconds ago,

and that was Marlon Wayans.

Marlon Wayans,

bruh.

What a role.

This,

arguably,

and this is without me sitting down and re-watching all of his previous work,

but this,

you know,

off the top of my head,

memory-wise,

of everything that I saw him in,

his best performance.

Best performance from Marlon Wayans.

It was a perfect balance of Marlon Wayans.

Yes,

he was comedic,

but not comedic.

You know,

he wasn't,

uh,

what was his character name in

Don't Be a Menace?

I can't remember his character name.

That just off-the-wall goofy,

stupid character,

or his goofy character in the scary movie films.

Uh,

Daddy's making another one,

by the way.

Um,

no,

not that type of funny.

Just funny.

You know,

he'll crack a joke.

But his ability to switch from comedic to serious in a blink of an eye in a lot of these scenes was so seamless and so fitting

for the tone of this film.

It just worked.

Everything about his performance worked.

Best part of the movie,

Tyreek Weathers.

The only other thing I've seen him in,

well,

I think he was on Atlanta for like an episode.

One of the episodes of Atlanta a few years back.

But most recently,

and I mean super recent,

like last month or the month before last,

I know what you did last summer,

that kind of a...

not a reboot but legacy sequel to that uh franchise i i hated that movie and i hated everything about that movie including him i mean i can't everything about that movie i didn't like and so when when i realized that that was him that

no pun intended uh in the movie and he's gonna be the uh uh main uh protagonist in this movie i was like oh

That was the one day that gave me pause,

but he did a decent job.

Now,

what I will say about his performance,

he wasn't,

uh,

he wasn't all around great in this movie.

You know,

he had a couple of scenes here,

one in particular,

that was so good that

I immediately said,

okay,

this dude got it.

He's gonna be something bigger than what I...

What I ever imagined,

where was this?

And I know what you did last summer.

That would have helped that movie out so much if he would have gave this type of performance.

This dude is money.

But what bothered me about his performance and when I really,

after I left the movie on the way home,

I thought about it,

I don't think it was his fault,

I think it was the direction.

But he didn't really emote.

You know,

he didn't really...

His facial expression was like...

Stoic throughout the whole movie.

Every now and then,

he'll smile.

Or,

you know,

change...

Slightly change a facial expression.

But he had the same facial expression the entire movie.

I'll say for 80%

of the film.

It was...

like a little worrisome because some things were going on around him where i kind of needed him to emote and i didn't get that from his character but uh i was doing the emoting for him but like i mentioned uh two

or three scenes in this movie where he just he went all in man he he just gave himself over to this character where he has a speech.

and i think towards the middle of this movie where yeah he was talking about his dad and uh all this other stuff it was like oh my god this is gut-wrenching this is so good it was powerful it was so powerful i was i

was like man so so sign me up sign me up for every anything else he's in going forward loved his performance and i mentioned the direction uh i don't know much about justin tipping

But

I will say,

this movie looked great.

Visually,

this was a good looking movie.

The shots in this film,

I sat there and wondered,

man,

we don't deserve the visuals that we're getting in this movie.

This is a simple movie,

but there are some real epic shots in this film.

the the color palettes and everything look great where he stumbles is kind of the pacing you know the it seems like we get scenes where it's drawn out you know it it takes its time and then we get the very next scene and we're just flashing through it you know you

could have flushed out a little more of this story we could we could have spent about 10

maybe even 15 minutes more of this movie and it could have been excellent you know but it just felt rushed at parts but it is what it is but that that was my only flaw but like like i said i i don't think he's a seasoned director um maybe

they'll come over uh uh in more time but at one point just to deviate for a second at one point

He was strongly considered.

I mean,

they were in talks,

him and Marvel Studios,

to direct

Shang-Chi in The Legend of the Ten Rings.

But it fell through and it went to Dustin...

I forgot his name.

He's directing the new Spider-Man movie now.

But who did an excellent job.

But that's how visual he is.

That's how good of a director he is as far as that is concerned.

And so...

I'm not worried about him moving forward,

but this was a good,

good movie as far as the visuals and how he set everything up.

Sliding into the negative aspect of this film,

I touched in on a few pieces of it,

but that third act,

bro.

I just can't get over the third act of this movie.

And I think this is probably where a lot of critics bailed on this movie.

was the third act everything leading up to the third act was i mean so good it was so good and you know to keep it in football terms since this is uh technically a football movie they got to the goal line and kind of fumbled the ball they

didn't they didn't turn it over they didn't lose possession but they fumbled um uh did the movie just in the third act

it just went it just went full bore crazy and it didn't need to be you know um the tone that was set in the first two acts was a real good tone you know the psychological aspect of it all i

loved that and then it just went crazy you know it just went insane on us i don't know man it just didn't it didn't work for me the the climactic

showdown so to speak between our protagonists and antagonists that was so disappointing i was so disappointed by that because it went so fast it was a blink and you miss it type of scene it didn't the

build up to it was better than the execution of the final showdown and i was just let down by that.

I guess the greedy

portion of me wanted more i wanted more substance there and i didn't get it but uh it's not really that scene as much as that bothered me it was the scene after that that ended the movie you know the the real final battle at the end because the final battle wasn't the final battle but

so it was that last scene that just

just took me out i was i was like why are we why are we doing this in this movie i get

like i said i get the symbolism i get what all they was telling and it does fit the movie per se but it just went a little extra you know they they added salt to something that was already full of seasoning and

i didn't i didn't think it uh had to go as hard as it did in the end it was just too much it just felt like they were doing too much just for shock value

that's what i got out of it could be 100 wrong but i on first viewing that's how i felt but it is what it is aside from that aside for that depending on who you are and how you judge films or judge anything in life the

movie was great i'm not i'm not mad at it even with all that being said how the movie ended and normally when

movies hinge on that especially when you're reviewing them or or or uh critiquing them like i do i that can make and break a movie but this didn't really break it it bend it but it didn't break it for me and that's a rarity this is like the first time i actually feel this way uh because under normal circumstances i would have been mad but

i'm not i enjoyed so much of this movie

i can't even get mad him gets a letter grade of a beat yeah i'm i'm really enjoyed i'm shocked i'm shocked by what the critics are saying or whatever

however i guess after after i've uh finished my review i'm gonna go and listen to theirs because i i don't understand i don't understand why it was so much hate for this movie uh

It isn't perfect,

and I'll never claim that it's perfect,

but

I enjoyed it.

I enjoyed it,

but you know what's more important than that?

I want to know,

did you enjoy it?

Did you check out him,

and what were your feelings of the film?

Or have you not checked it out yet,

and you're still on the fence on checking it out?

I highly recommend it,

but I would like to know your thoughts.

Email the show.

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on the KB Radio

Network. Everybody,

thank you for joining me for this review of him.

Want you all to know that I love you.

Continue to love everyone.

And until we speak again,

you all be blessed.

Him (2025) Movie Review

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