Through triumphs and defeats, “Challengers” tracks three tennis prodigies and their ever changing and twisted love triangle that blooms between them. Released on April 26, many different critics have given mixed reviews so I was antsy to sit down in the theaters myself and give it a watch.
I’ve followed Italian director Luca Guadagnino and his deeply intimate filmography over the years, so I was pleasantly surprised and excited when the trailer dropped for this movie that happened to focus on tennis — my favorite sport. Guadaginino was a fantastic person to pick up this movie because he claimed tennis is “quite boring… the way in which tennis is shown is rather undynamic,” so having an outsider perspective on the tennis world made each scene feel much more thought out.
The plot follows Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), a retired tennis prodigy, who, after suffering a career ending injury, is on a mission to coach her husband, Art (Mike Faist), who is on a decline from his previous Grand Slam victories. In an attempt to salvage his career, Art enters a challenger tournament and unexpectedly runs into an old pal, Patrick (Josh O’Connor).
How the plot was set up with switching between present day and flashback scenes was extremely intriguing. Watching pieces of the puzzle slowly come together made the movie fly by and time blurred. Cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom made it very obvious that each shot was carefully calculated and effortlessly showed off each personality.
All three leads brought a boat load of charisma on screen — Zendaya especially served as a magnet. Although I shouldn’t be surprised because she can smoothly steal any scene, Zendaya’s performances always impress me. Josh O’ Connor, who I have admired since his performance of the insufferable Prince Charles in Netflix’s “The Crown,” really added depth into his character.
The sole reason this movie was created was for entertainment, which was refreshing for a change. After watching a lot of recent movies, I feel like a common theme present is that there is always some encrypted message that the audience needs to uncover. This was just a messy love triangle with occasional scenes of some intense tennis shots. Now, it does need to be noted that this movie is steamy, so maybe don’t select this film for family movie night.
Overall, I found “Challengers” a very intimate but fun film. Guadagnino did a killer job executing the balance between “work and play” with this movie. Zendaya proves once again that she is the sun of the universe, and everyone else are the planets revolving around her.
“Challengers:” ★★★★★
