He Went That Way – A Greatly Cast Misfire

He Went That Way is a true crime thriller that puts a whole new spin on buddy road trip films. Set in 1964, it follows 19-year-old serial killer Bobby (Elordi) who is picked up by celebrity animal trainer Jim (Quinto), on a desolate stretch of Route 66 with Jim’s TV famous chimpanzee, Spanky. As stress between Bobby and Jim quickly rises and their fiery personalities begin to go head-to-head, the road becomes more treacherous the farther they go. The film features an intriguing true story at its core suited for the big screen and one with the potential to be highly fascinating with its two leads. However, its execution is just off, and overall, is a bit of a mixed bag.

Quinto and Elordi are two extremely talented actors and their pairing on paper is a very compelling one, but despite doing their best, this is far from either of their finest work. That being said, they aren’t necessarily to blame here. Elordi has taken the world by storm this past year with impressive and wildly different turns in Priscilla, Saltburn, and even the criminally underseen The Sweet East, but here he feels a little miscast as Bobby. He’s stuck with a very off-putting accent that he never quite perfects, and despite being perfectly suited for the role of a sociopathic serial killer, he just never truly brings the character to life or offer much menace. This could very well have been the direction or the script itself, but he goes from underplaying his role to severely overcooking it which can become jarring to watch.

Meanwhile, Quinto thankfully fares better but even he’s been far better in the past before. However, it’s hard to get attached or care about Jim because of how thin he was as a character, aside from basic information by the end. One may think that his interest in Bobby was for a certain reason that’s heavily hinted at early on, only for it to never be mentioned again nor properly explained. This essentially makes Jim hard to read and/or fully understand his motivations throughout. Quinto does have good chemistry with Elordi, and turns in a solid performance, but there is a lot more to him that never comes out and his performance suffers by it.

Those familiar with any of the film’s marketing or even just its premise would assume it to be a tense white-knuckle thriller but in reality, it is very much a buddy road trip drama with a few thriller elements sprinkled in. Unfortunately, this combination only hurts it and will make audiences long for the film it could’ve been. Instead of building tension with each passing minute, it almost loses it the longer it goes and this is accentuated by the fact that most of its more intense moments occur early on. Its very episodic structure saw the story bouncing from one plot point to the next without much flow, and its tone is all over the place and never finding a steady balance between the different genres it is juggling. By the end, one can’t help but wonder what was the point of it all.

Though as negative as this review may seem, the film still has its merits. Despite neither one really being great, Elordi and Quinto do ultimately keep it afloat, and their chemistry keeps it watchable. Opening with a promising first act that does a good job at setting the table, everything that follows simply leaves a lot to be desired and fails to stick the landing. Its lone bright spots are that it is well shot by Sean Bagley and the chimpanzee that accompanies the two leads on their journey is arguably the best part and has a lot of great moments of its own.

In the end, He Went That Way could’ve been great, as strongly suggested by the casting of Quinto and Elordi. However, the end result is a bit of a misfire that is never as interesting or intense as it should be and really isn’t worth watching unless one is a massive fan of either of the leads.

still courtesy of Vertical Entertainment

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/