Challengers
Challengers
Starring Zendaya, Josh O'Connor, Mike Faist, Darnell Appling
Directed by Luca Guadagnino
In 2006, lifelong friends Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor) and Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) just won the boys' junior doubles at the U.S. Open when they meet tennis prodigy Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) at a party, and the three hit it off in their motel room afterward. She says whoever wins the next match will get her number, and she starts dating Patrick. Their relationship grows over the years until they have a fight and Tashi suffers a career-ending accident where Art helps pick up the pieces. Even more years pass and Art and Tashi reconnect, and she agrees to be his coach. Patrick, meanwhile, falls off the tennis grid and resorts to living in his car. Art and Tashi eventually get married, have a daughter, and Art becomes a top professional tennis player thanks to Tashi's coaching, and is one U.S. Open away from a Career Grand Slam, but his confidence is shaken. Tashi enters him into a lower level Challengers event that Patrick is also in, unbeknownst to Art, and the two former friends-turned-foes face off against each other in the tennis court where old wounds fester, rivalry grows, and Tashi sits as the net between them.
I'm not a sports guy, and I personally find tennis to be a bit boring, although I do appreciate the athleticism that goes into it. I tried tennis one time and lasted about two minutes before quitting, but I did play a lot of table tennis in my college years - basically because I didn't have to run back and forth. So going into "Challengers" I was a bit apprehensive as to how they would make me excited for tennis, but by golly did they ever make it as intense as you could imagine. Yet tennis is just the backdrop against the story of three young people who's aspirations, obsessions and insecurities bubble to the surface in extravagantly dramatic ways that surprisingly doesn't go toward melodramatic but keeps them rooted in reality.
The heart of the film centers around Patrick and Art, and their lifelong friendship that gets broken thanks to Tashi and their own personal desires. They never pined for the same woman before, and even though Tashi says she doesn't want to be a "home wrecker," that's exactly what she becomes as she serves as a wedge between the two. It's fascinating to see their dynamic, as Patrick has a deeper fondness for Art that doesn't seem reciprocated, or it could be Patrick's way of antagonizing him. We're not entirely sure, but a fleeting hand on the knee, a playful grab of a churro, or how a banana is eaten symbolizes something more erotic than just friendship. Guadagnino is a master at not showing all his cards, and the movie is all the better for it.
Tashi's own resolve is something of an enigma and a mystery, as aforementioned she said she didn't want to be a home wrecker, but is she telling the truth? We don't know entirely, and that's thanks to the stellar performance from Zendaya that mesmerizes the screen. She sheds any ounce of teeny bopper status from her Disney days and goes full femme fatale, always staying one or two steps ahead of everyone, and even when her own career is cut short, she finds a way to still be relevant and powerful behind the scenes. As Art says in their hotel room, "aren't you everyone's type?" Zendaya proves that she is, indeed, everyone's type.
Art and Patrick also have deep characteristics that go way beyond their stereotypical norms. Art is the nice guy who gets everything in life - success, the girl, the family, everything. Yet he suffers from his insecurities that he's not good enough, leading Tashi to enter him in the Challengers competition to boost his confidence. Mike Faist leans into Art's role with gusto, giving him a multi-layered character beyond the nice guy persona that makes him enigmatic to watch.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Patrick is the brooding bad boy of tennis. He's suave, cocky, arrogant, and honestly doesn't have any reason to be. He can't get a hotel room because he has no money, and he has to sleep in his car before the Challengers competition. He's the guy who never got over being popular in high school and still thinks he is, and thinks he can still get whatever he wants. Josh O'Connor as well goes all in with his role, blending Patrick's smarmy attitude with an underlying attraction that draws you in.
The story is saucy, steamy, and full of seduction and intrigue, something that "Fifty Shades of Grey" could take note of. It's the best erotic thriller out there - filled with betrayal, lust, and desire. "Challengers" is easily the most sexualized tennis movie ever. The film is told in nonlinear format, meaning it goes from the past to the present like an expert tennis match where you're moving your head from side to side. It's intense and exciting, moreso than you'd probably expect.
The cinematography is top-notch, as there's numerous scenes that work like living works of art, especially a heated confrontation between Tashi and Patrick in the windy streets, or the film's denouement tennis match that's as explosive as you'll ever see. The camera takes the role of the ball as it gets hit back and forth in dizzying motion, and Patrick and Art's duel is shot generally, but also done from below and above in expert artistic fashion. To top it all off is the electrifying score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross that is a techno-infused feel that blares through the screen - which serves as the film's only small fault, as the music is so loud in places it was hard hearing what the characters were saying. Yet with that being the film's only fault (plus it could've shaved off about ten minutes), "Challengers" more than rises to the challenge of its lucrative pedigree.
The Score: A+
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