‘He Went That Way’ review: A psychological detour for Jacob Elordi

Based on true events, He Went That Way stars Jacob Elordi as a serial killer hitching a ride with a celebrity played by Zachary Quinto.

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Down-on-his-luck celebrity animal trainer Jim Goodwin (Zachary Quinto) is traveling cross country on Route 66 with his chimpanzee Spanky (Phoenix Notary in the chimpanzee suit and Jonathan Pitts as the voice) when he decides to pick up a hitchhiker, Bobby Falls (Jacob Elordi), a basic-training washout who fits the bill of beauty and beast as a tall, clean-cut, clear-faced serial killer with a hair-trigger temper looking for an excuse to lash out. Even after Bobby threatens to kill Jim, he’s determined to redirect Bobby’s impulses before they part ways. As someone who’s not accustomed to thinking of his needs and wants first, Jim also finds Bobby’s lack of impulse control eye-opening. It becomes a tense odd-couple road trip which could lead to Jim and Spanky’s demise.

He Went That Way is a fictionalized adaptation of poet-professor Conrad Hilberry’s Luke Karamazov, a true-crime book about two brothers who followed different paths but became serial killers with different modus operandi. This movie, which is the directorial debut of cinematographer Jeffrey Darling (who sadly passed away in 2022), follows in Hilberry’s footsteps by refusing to use the convicted murderer’s real name and changing it from Larry Lee Ranes to Bobby. Jim is loosely based on Dave Pitts, and yes, Spanky is the only character who gets to keep his original name. 

“Plenty of room out here to do some damage…”

Like Dave, Jim is a married man, but that may be where the similarities end. Everyone pushes Jim around because he’s gentle, soft-spoken, and reasonable, but the film sets it up as if everyone during the summer of 1964 was a little more deranged than usual, especially with the Vietnam War ramping up. A random motel clerk (Troy Evans from ER) hawks weapons in a sincere pitch that he wants to make the world a better place. A car mechanic (Christopher Guyton) brandishes a bat while diagnosing Jim’s vehicle. If Hunter S. Thompson drove by, it would not seem strange in this movie’s world. 

Jim is also a queer-coded character. Bobby constantly wonders what Jim wants from him, as if Jim’s intentions are more nefarious than the homicidal maniac’s. Jim’s brother-in-law, Saul (Patrick J. Adams) — a heavy drinking, trailer-dwelling preacher dressed like a priest with a penchant for little girls — has nothing but contempt for him and does not seem to accept Jim’s marriage to his sister at face value. He even spits, “God hates you.” Based on the phone calls between Jim and his wife placed on pay phones, she seems to share Saul’s skepticism. 

So it makes sense that Jim prefers Spanky’s company even though moviegoers are familiar with how lethal our simian relative can be after seeing Jordan Peele’s Nope. Jim bears the scars of the times when Spanky was having an off day. Spanky’s potential for sudden, violent outbursts adds additional tension to He Went That Way.

“Eh, you don’t know what I want…”

Because he’s swimming in a sea of undeserved or at least disproportionate resentment and finds solace in a wild animal capable of unpredictable behavior like ripping off faces, Jim not only misses the obvious warning signs that Bobby is a walking red flag, but Jim is drawn to him because danger is a familiar feeling. Even after Bobby wounds him, Jim accepts it as a quotidian hazard and does not seem too concerned about his broken, unusable hand. He even laughs off credible threats and only worries about Spanky.

Bobby navigates space and objects like an animal. Elordi really makes use of his long, lean body in this role by hanging outside of the passenger side window as if he is a cross between a golden retriever and a man lying with his back in an invisible hammock. He jumps on top of the vehicle always eager to get the high ground to survey unfamiliar territory. He kicks at cars whose drivers refuse his solicitations. He has no sense of personal space and often sidles next to strangers until he is almost touching them.

Bobby isn’t dumb. He’s aware when Jim tries to deceive or “train” him, but he also likes the company. Jim offers a kind of unconditional love while expressing disapproval and becoming an unwilling accomplice and getaway driver to Bobby’s crimes. Elordi plays Bobby as a man who truly enjoys hurting everyone who crosses his path, including Jim, and he struggles to stifle that impulse with Jim and Spanky. Bobby’s movements and behavior may resemble a chimpanzee’s, but Elordi refrains just enough that it is not obvious and he is undeniably human. He is a little man in a big man’s body with a huge chip on his shoulder, so Jim’s hopes for survival may be due to him never triggering Bobby’s sense of inadequacy.

“I’m not a bad person.”

He Went That Way feels like the kind of movie that would fit into nineties cinema because of the way that it refuses to fit in any tidy narrative path or genre. It zigs when it should zag, and just when Jim seems to make a clean break, he meanders his way back into the lion’s den to see how his friend Bobby is doing. Quinto, who had a history of playing a psycho killer in Heroes long before he became a household name for taking the mantle of Spock from Leonard Nimoy in Star Trek (2009), never slips into sinister mode or seems as if Jim will turn the tables. 

Jim is an inscrutable character. He’s convinced that anyone — animal or human — can be socialized, and therefore plays his cards close to the vest. Quinto homes in on a quiet desperation and loneliness within Jim that comes out as a generous, verging naïve openness and empathy. But he is also in showbiz. Bobby is deft at spotting the desperation and cunning in Jim’s sly ability to find the angle in every interaction to elicit the desired, ideal outcome. It comes out in a tense scene when Jim tries to give Bobby a normal night on the town even though he knows that he cannot stop Bobby.

Even when Bobby goes feral, Jim prolongs the social interaction, not curtails it. It is similar to when Jim lets Spanky walk around outdoors. He never considers the possibility of dangerous consequences. Two teenagers peg the two men as creeps, and Jim uses the fame card to stop the wildfire of ruining his reputation. This accusation is more alarming to him than the number of times that he helps Bobby escape. It is painful how Jim mostly accepts abuse, but his time with Bobby brings out something resonant and beautiful, his willingness to fight for himself and those he loves. 

“I was tired of people.”

Jim and Bobby’s time together leads to them mirroring each other and getting what they need by trying on the other’s characteristics. It opens the imagination to a possible alternate world where they could coexist, be friends and live free. Bobby starts to lower his voice and makes effort to be gentle although it does not last. Also Bobby enjoys when Jim believes in Bobby’s capacity to rise above his baser instincts and origins. Through Bobby, Jim begins to learn how to take what he wants. It is not until the denouement that writer Evan M. Wiener and Darling reveal the reason for Jim and Spanky’s road trip. Without his time with Bobby, Jim would not be able to truly assert himself and reject anything that did not serve his best interests. 

He Went That Way is an evocative time capsule and odd-ball movie, to be sure. The now departed Darling’s first and last directorial film is his swan song, a visually striking work that captures 60s America with aplomb: fluorescent neon signs, dusty desert roads, and turquoise blue skies. Wiener nails the mindset of the era; the idea of being able to tame a wild being and a chimpanzee is a notion that the 21st century can’t quite entertain and may make it hard for people to watch the film who don’t remember past sensibilities.

The bottom line.

The film also deserves kudos for only depicting violence against men instead of women for a change, though audiences may be uncomfortable with watching Jim navigate danger and not fight back. The mood turns on a dime whenever Jim and Bobby bond and have normal exchanges. Darling transitions with a thrilled scream from a newlywed bride whom her husband is carrying before cutting to the interior of a motel room with the two girls. Darling and Wiener know what is expected but defy stylized violence. The scene plays out as quickly as it would in real life, though Darling does linger on the bodies postmortem. Stay for the credits to see clips of the real-life counterparts.

He Went That Way shows how men are starved for kindness and friendship. Detractors may mock it and call it Touched by a Serial Killer, but if a shirtless Elordi cannot get you to watch a movie with surreal, oneiric notes, then society is doomed.

He Went That Way is now playing in select theaters and on-demand. Watch the trailer here.

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Images courtesy of Vertical Entertainment. Read more articles by Sarah G. Vincent here.