Challengers was released on April 22, 2024. The film has a 74% rotten tomatoes score and a 7.8/10 on IMDb. I rate this movie a 9/10.
The main cast includes Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor. The film was directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes. The film is a fictional tennis drama but Justin Kuritzkes does exclaim that a few real-life tennis players inspired him.
The film is mainly about a love triangle between the main characters. To simplify it, Patrick (Josh) loves Art (Mike), Art loves Tashi (Zendaya), and Tashi loves tennis. However, there was a few affairs among the three of them.
The plot twist and the foreshadowing were very clever. It kept me engaged and nervous.
Not only is this a drama film but it is also a tennis film. Many viewers bring attention to the plot although I loved the shots of the tennis rallies. The soundtrack of Challengers was amazing and I think that is what a tennis rally sounds like.
The cinematography in Challengers was amazing as well. If I could give one example to describe the vibe of the film, it would be late spring on the East Coast.
One thing about the movie is you can’t just watch it once and be done. You have to watch it multiple times to get satisfaction. When you watch it your second time you start to notice lots of foreshadowing and perceive the characters differently. The director even stated this. I think that is brilliant. Having that foreshadowing in a movie is just another way to make more money and an incredible film.
The only negative takeaways I have from the movie are the volume of music at certain times and the awkward shots. I would say 2 songs were sort of loud while a dialogue was happening which made it slightly hard to make out what the characters were saying. And there were some awkward scenes and lines. Specifically when Art said, “I really want to kiss you right now.” That made me laugh a lot. And when Art plopped on the bed and for a good 3 seconds was Art’s butt.
Other than the awkward scenes and a few seconds of loud music this movie was incredible. I can see lots of tennis players emerging this summer which hopefully combat pickleball.
