…………………………………………………

Challengers Movie Review

Challengers is a 2024 romantic sports drama film directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist. It’s a very stylish, cinematic film.

………………………………………………….

“I’d let her fuck me with a racket“

…………………………………………………..

Tashi, a former tennis prodigy turned coach, turned her husband into a champion. But to overcome a losing streak, he needs to face his ex-best friend and Tashi’s ex-boyfriend. First off, I have to say that I am not the biggest Luca Guadagnino fan. I even found ‘Call Me By Your Name’ to be overrated and disappointing. He is the kind of director who clearly favors style over substance in every one of his projects. The same is the case here, but Challengers is so impressively stylish and so much fun that it ended up being his most accomplished film to date.

The movie benefits heavily from the cinematographic work of Sayombu Mukdeeprom, the person who shot most of the films of Arichatpong Weerasethakul. How he shot this movie was astonishing as every single scene is propelled with such kinetic camera movements and brilliant positioning of the people in each frame as well as great focus on small details that matter. For instance, the last tennis match between the two leading men is as arresting as it was in no small part thanks to his work as we literally follow the sweat dripping from their bodies and every propulsive movement that they make on the court. It made for a highly homoerotic, sexual scene that was the highlight of the entire film. It’s such a powerful scene that makes you want to play tennis yourself and wear the cool sneakers that the characters wear, sneakers like the Cole Haan sneaker.

Another standout is the soundtrack. The movie was scored by the renowned duo of composers – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. What they did for Pixar’s ‘Soul’ was nothing short of brilliant, but in Challengers they have another winner that is altogether different – it’s electronic, techno and synth-pop music at its best. The score is so modern yet so appealing. It’s so infectiously energetic and fun that it elevated every single scene to greater heights. The cinematography and the score worked in unison here to create what is one of the most cinematic films in recent memory.

But then we have the story. And this is where the film somewhat struggled in my eyes. Tennis as it was depicted here clearly stood as a metaphor for sex itself. The movie is all about sex, ambition and the importance of youthful energy and how passion is what really keeps us alive. But my issue is that the film did not have anything more meaningful to say about any of these themes. It’s a powerfully kinetic and sensual movie in every single scene, but it’s all about mood and vibes without ever being truly meaningful and/or emotional. I did not care about the characters as I found them to be deeply selfish, so I could not connect to any one of these three, though the actors did a lot to elevate their somewhat underwritten roles.

…………………………………………………..

Challengers was touted for being the movie to finally bring Zendaya on the map, meaning that this is her first film where she is the main star. Ironically, she ended up taking the backseat to the leading men in the story, which was one of my biggest problems with the film. It tried to focus on all three characters equally, but ultimately it shortchanged all of them and especially Tashi’s character. Zendaya is phenomenal as she always is. I found her to be very charismatic, alluring and believable both as the younger tennis star and as the older business woman. But she should have gotten more to do at the end of the day.

As for the leading actors, this movie should and will do wonders for their respective careers. Mike Faist is wonderful and so well cast as Art while Josh O’Connor stole the show as the intriguing, but quite unlikable Patrick. All three of them shared excellent chemistry together and whenever O’Connor was on the screen, the film truly came alive as his performance is the best of the bunch. He is such an interesting, hugely charismatic actor and hopefully he gets a big role after this film sooner rather than later.

So, Challengers ended up being a highly entertaining and atmospheric movie, but one that ultimately wasn’t really about a throuple. That was some false advertising right there. The three are very rarely together all at the same time and the movie missed an opportunity to really explore what it means to be in this kind of a complicated relationship. The dialogue is actually terrific and quite grounded, but too often the movie focused on silence and visuals to tell the story, which bothered me in certain scenes that required less ambiguity and more depth. I am all for subtlety, but this movie did often veer more toward hollow than nuanced. The directing is strong and the editing is quite intriguing at first, but too often it jumped from one time period to another, losing me in the process.

…………………………………………………..