Challengers (2024) Review!!

Synopsis – Follows three players who knew each other when they were teenagers as they compete in a tennis tournament to be the world-famous grand slam winner, and reignite old rivalries on and off the court.

My Take – Though filmmaker Woody Allen‘s 2005 psychological thriller ‘Match Point’ had Jonathan Rhys Meyers play a former professional tennis player who gets into illicit activities with Scarlett Johansson‘s character, however it is this latest from director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name, Bones and All) that actually makes the sport sexy.

Well-structured and uniquely shot, this one is a sexually charged film that romanticizes the game with a tale of competition on and off the tennis court. Oozing with sweaty and good looking people, writer Justin Kuritzkes‘s script indeed presents a fresh take on dramatic sports films that will truly hook in the audience during its runtime.

An utterly compelling drama that tackles love, lust, ambition, toxicity, and jealously with so much precision that it feels like each scene was made to serve all of these themes at the same time.

And as one would suspect the film is mainly driven by the electric chemistry between Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor, who right from the first trailer drop, which teased the jaw-dropping threesome scene, made it obvious that they are the biggest key to making this a very good watch.

Set between 2006 and 2019, and structured around a 2019 Challengers match in New Rochelle, the story follows Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) and Art Donaldson (Mike Faist), three tennis players.

Since a very young age, Patrick and Art have been inseparable, the two not only grow up to remain best friends, but also tennis partners who end up winning the boys’ junior doubles title at the US Open.

However, things begin to complicate when the two find themselves attracted to Tashi, a highly lauded young tennis prospect. And when jealously and a terrible injury are thrown into mix, everything finally crumbles down.

Years later, Art is a pro tennis player on the outs, looking to regain his confidence after an injury puts him out of commission for a while. His wife and coach, Tashi believes playing a challenger against a lower player will be the best way to do that. She’s not punishing him for losing his recent matches like he thinks; she’s just looking out for him.

Little do they know that he’ll have to face off against his former friend Patrick, who is virtually homeless, living out of his car, hoping this challenger match will be his ticket to the US Open.

By adopting a non-linear approach, the film takes us back and forth through time, bouncing rapidly just like a tennis ball crossing the court. Here, director Luca Guadagnino takes the conventional love triangle and stuffs it with a cartload of relationship dynamics and lovemaking to give an intense motion picture rooted in the world of tennis.

But there is more to the film than just tennis. With the biggest highlight being its layered script and screenplay writing. It is a film about obsession, a love story presented in a manner that mirrors the sport at the center of its narrative; fierce, kinetic, and competitive, but also indescribably intimate. And as the film slowly unfolds, you understand how everything from ambition to envy and lust to love is intertwined in this tale.

This one is also director Guadagnino‘s most visually intense feature yet. And even if you don’t understand how tennis matches work, the game itself is filmed with such zest you can’t help but be on the edge of your seat. The tennis metaphor, and the literal matches, fill the film with excitement and tension that never gets old or tired. The camera is fast and intense, which creates a dazzling experience. Caught in the crossfire as the tension between the three builds, is so involved in the climactic match between Art and Patrick that it shoots from the perspective of the ball at one point. E

ven, the score by Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Boys Noize is fantastic, especially in the genuinely riveting conclusion. That sequence may be one of the best uses of a score I’ve seen in a film in a very long time.

And yes, the film hinges a lot on Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor’s chemistry with each other and they deliver marvelously. Zendaya once again reminds everyone why she’s among the best in the industry and deserves her current superstar status. There isn’t a single scene that she doesn’t ace. There has been an effort to find a film project that shows she can carry a film, and this one is finally the right fit.

The film also acts as perfect mainstream launch pads for both Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor. And their performances are masterful. While their chemistry with Zendaya is excellent, it’s their chemistry together that keeps the film pulsing with anticipatory tension. Whether they love each other or hate each other, the best scenes are those when the two play off each other, whether it’s on the tennis court or a battle of wits and the battle for Tashi’s heart. On the whole, ‘Challengers’ is a sexy romantic sports drama that is entertainingly electric.