Movie Review: Challengers

In 2019, top pro tennis player Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) is struggling to regain his momentum after recovering from an injury. His wife and coach Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), who was herself once a rising star in the sport, is trying to figure out what would motivate him to get back to the top of his game so that he can make a run at winning the US Open, and ultimately decides that he should enter a small Challenger tournament in New Rochelle, New York to boost his confidence. To their surprise, Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) is also signed up, a player who was once Art’s best friend and Tashi’s lover, but whom they now no longer speak to.

Challengers begins as Donaldson and Zweig find themselves facing off in the event’s final matchup, and then as it begins to play out, we learn how we got to where we are now in a series of flashbacks that fill in the details of the trio’s relationships with each other. To say that things between the three of them are complicated would be an understatement, as Justin Kuritzkes’ script uses their messy relationships to serve up a masterful examination of obsession and morally impaired, selfish love.

The three leads have an intense chemistry with each other, clearly all drawn towards one another while still subtly repulsed by one another, with the exception of Art who would do almost anything for Tashi. Their bonds grow close and then fracture with the back and forth momentum of the tennis match woven throughout the film as they carreen towards an unpredictably emotional rush of a finale that feels like the perfect end to the story.

Director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name) and his cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (Thirteen Lives) make sure every moment the cast is on screen is beautifully shot and oozes with sexual tension, but it’s their tennis scenes that truly impress. No sports movie has ever really brought the viewer into the action like this one does, using some truly bravura camera work to float, weave, and soar through, over, and around the game. Every time they awe the audience with one seemingly impossible shot, they somehow manage to up their game even further moments later, moving into the opponent’s first person perspective and ultimately even offering up a sequence filmed from the perspective of the ball. Set to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ brilliant, thumping, eurodisco-inflected score these are some of the most memorable scenes captured on film in recent memory, and they thrill on the big screen.

Life and love are complicated, especially with people who can be so single-minded in obtaining a goal. Watching this trio seduce and betray each other is a uniquely thrilling and brilliantly staged experience and it all crescendos in a moment that sees them hoping to once again lose themselves in their sport and recreate their past highs, both in tennis and with each other. In a year that has already had quite a few truly great movies, Challengers is another winner. ★★★★★