“HIM” decries our false football Gods

In decorated NFL superstar Tom Brady signed a deal with rental car company Hertz to promote their newly purchased fleet of electric vehicles In one of the first ads Brady is for a few reason seen plugged into a charging station while a Hertz employee leads a woman to her electric car saying Our new EV rental fleet is the absolute GOAT at which point the customer replies Speaking of GOATs is that Tom Brady For the unfamiliar GOAT is an acronym that means greatest of all time And for the observant yes this ad is basically nonsensical Throughout his career Brady won seven Super Bowl championships five Super Bowl MVP titles three NFL MVP titles and a host of other accolades and statistical triumphs that have made him worthy among football fans of the GOAT title He s also been injured several times during his long tenure on the field with one severe knee injury taking him out of the football season entirely In Brady s then-wife Gisele B ndchen narrated CBS Charlie Rose that Brady had suffered a concussion in a trauma that had not been disclosed to the NFL which repudiated B ndchen s states Concussion or no concussion to become the GOAT Brady left it all on the field risking his life in its shining prime to eventually have the honor every star athlete dreams of peddling rental cars to travelers on television Parrish Lewis Universal Pictures Tyriq Withers and Julia Fox in HIM The acronym GOAT has become so common in colloquial conversation that it has practically lost all significance appearing so frequently that the idea of greatness has been dulled into something ordinary rather than exceptional If a fleet of rental cars can be the greatest of all time what can t be In the new sports thriller HIM director and co-writer Justin Tipping cleverly lampoons the intense fanfare of organized sports examining how much the pursuit of an intangible title like GOAT can cost an ambitious performer On the football field the deafening roar of the crowd and the buzz of adrenaline unify into one continuous hum a voice in the back of a competitor s head encouraging bloodlust and brutality Professional football isn t just about playing a event it s about satisfying the fans and the ego Playing to and through injury is an expectation and severe neurological damage is an occupational hazard If you think about it long enough the sport as it exists within American way of life is downright dystopic garnering fanaticism that drives players to violent ends As such football is the perfect subject for a horror-thriller And while HIM doesn t imply anything about football tradition s the greater part toxic elements that Americans don t already know its gestures at thematic depth scathingly mimic the hollow showmanship of the sport indicting players fans and professional organizations alike for a ruthless good time Related To be a fan is to be a parasite While I was initially resistant to how multiple times Tipping and co-writers Zack Ackers and Skip Bronkie repeat the term GOAT in their screenplay the word slowly becomes a smart sticking point for HIM to hang its outsized parody onto The acronym has become so common in colloquial conversation that it has practically lost all significance appearing so frequently that the idea of greatness has been dulled into something ordinary rather than exceptional If a fleet of rental cars can be the greatest of all time what can t be There s no stopping anything or anyone from achieving GOAT status and perhaps it s having that mostly abstract subjective concept just out of reach that keeps so multiple aspiring career players striving for the title Cameron Cade Tyriq Withers has had that possibility drilled into his head since he was a child Growing up Cameron s family gathered around their living room television to watch their favorite gang the Saviors play every week During a pivotal battle star quarterback Isaiah White Marlon Wayans is sent tumbling to the ground by a tackle the television cameras picking up the bone sticking right out of his leg for little Cameron to see That s what real men do Cameron s father tells him No guts no glory Parrish Lewis Universal Pictures Tyriq Withers in HIM Already Tipping is as allergic to subtlety as a forward pass right down the middle on the -yard line or whatever football play would be a really obvious one I don t know because I m not a football fan but you don t have to be clued in on the sport to pick up on the ideas HIM is getting at right from the jump the perils of masculinity the dangers of glorifying violent spectacle the parallels between hero worship and religion The fictional group at the center of the film is called the Saviors for crying out loud Depth has no home here But the scenario is the same for football And yet the sport is treated by its fans as if it were biblically potent each meeting a sermon every play a piece of scripture Should players be revered like gods for pushing themselves to physical extremes for an overcomplicated meeting of catch and can something with no room for imperfection reduced to simple terms of bad or good performance be treated like something as ambiguous as art Start your day with essential news from Salon Sign up for our free morning newsletter Crash Lesson Because HIM has little interest in nuance its answers to those questions are forthwith clear What s more fun is how Tipping finds gnarly avenues to drive home his critical point mostly through increasingly absurd interactions between Cameron and Isaiah With particular help from the special scene-stealing prowess of Julia Fox who plays Isaiah s jade egg evangelist wife Now all grown up and vying for the spot Isaiah is rumored to be leaving behind Cameron is shipped off to a Texas compound to spend a week with his favorite competitor who will assess if Cameron s got what it takes to fill his cleats As much as HIM is a very unserious movie it does manage to take stock of one important question that various in the sports world are too chicken to probe Is any of this sacrifice really worth it In Withers HIM finds a star more than capable of holding a just-fine movie on his rippling shoulders making it look better by association He s a delight to watch charming and appropriately intense when the material calls for it without being over-the-top Wayans is an admirable opposite turning in a performance that s restrained until Isaiah s facade drops letting Wayans pepper various Scary Movie daffiness into the role that comes in handy when the script starts to fall apart Universal Pictures Marlon Wayans in HIM But as macabre as it can be watching something go off the rails can be entertaining too If football fans can rubberneck at a athlete injured on the field so can moviegoers who are looking for little other than old ideas with a stylish new spin In a way HIM is a crafty antidote to the era of quote-unquote prestige horror we ve been steeped in certain of which the film s co-producer Jordan Peele who did not direct this movie in matter you neglected to read all of those billboards diligently enough is responsible for As great a film as Get Out is that movie helped push the genre to a new echelon where every satire-tinged horror must be smart and every film Peele produces under his Monkeypaw Productions banner is expected to be at the level of its founder s work Not so But what the screenplay lacks in depth the film makes up for in visual pageantry packing just enough style to rise above a truly curdled genre offering One might even argue that HIM effectively mirrors the all-style-no-substance sport it s lampooning Someone may call that a coincidence but I d say coincidence is unlikely in a film where achieving GOAT status means you ll become a Baphomet-like Satanic goat deity As much as HIM is a very unserious movie it does manage to take stock of one considerable question that countless in the sports world are too chicken to probe Is any of this sacrifice really worth it The demand for constant perfection and precision and the wreckage the human body must endure to attain such excellence in professional sports is entirely outrageous and unrealistic The industry swallows people whole promises them fame and fortune and adoring fans following them their whole lives but does little to prepare them for life after retirement Put on a poorly tailored suit and spit commentary on ESPN sell workout apparel and underwear or hawk rental cars in advertisements that make no sense the options are limited and they are bleak Like a large number of cults all the devoted followers need to move on is a new chosen one to worship Rapidly and oh so quietly that GOAT status is as much a thing of the past as the light behind a player s eyes after spending the prime of their physical wellness entrenched in psychological and corporeal hell HIM may be hokey sure but no more so than putting a cup in your jockstrap to sprint full-speed into someone s skull just for the mere chance that somebody somewhere might idolize you Running onto the field takes faith but that doesn t make football a religion Those low low prices on Hertz rentals on the other hand that s divinity Read more about what s going on in film How Demon Slayer Infinity Castle became an antidote to American fatigue Divorce Downton Abbey style Darren Aronofsky eventually has a few fun The post HIM decries our false football Gods appeared first on Salon com