From Jeff Nelson

Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers is his best work since 2017’s masterful Call Me by Your Name, trading Italy’s tranquil summer beauty for the competitive world of tennis. His alluring direction feeds immaculately into a movie that is just as sexy as it is pulse-poundingly suspenseful and addictively playful. It’s an early contender for one of the best films of the year.

Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) was a tennis prodigy until a tragic knee injury cut her career short, transitioning her knowledge into the role of coaching for her husband, Art Donaldson (Mike Faist). A losing streak knocks his confidence and sets Tashi’s sights on a strategy to get him back on track. However, his journey to redemption takes a shocking turn when he’s matched against his former best friend and Tashi’s ex-boyfriend, Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor).

Challengers is a non-linear story that immediately drops the audience into the final match before jumping back 13 years in the past. The narrative continues to bounce back and forth across the timeline in what can initially be considered jarring, but it later serves a purpose. The stakes persistently evolve and take on new forms as perspective and context morph, altering what is actually on the line in the final match. Art and Patrick’s friendship began as pre-pubescent boys in boarding school, where their shared passion for tennis further strengthened their bond. Tashi’s talent, confidence, beauty, intelligence, and charisma draw them both in, but what starts as flirty competition boils into a fierce rivalry on and off the tennis court that quickly positions Tashi in a seat of power. 

It wouldn’t be a Guadagnino film without some degree of titillation under the surface, and Challengers is overflowing with it. He plays with the voluptuous bisexual tension between Tashi, Art, and Patrick. Just see how the boys eat phallic foods while giving one another a suggestive smirk. Tashi intently listens to the story of their first time masturbating together, soon pitting the boys against one another in a battle for her affection. Tashi describes tennis as more than a game but a relationship where, for a time, the players are entirely in tune with one another. Challengers shifts that volley from the court to a love triangle, where she acts as the referee in a game between Art and Patrick. Tashi says that she simply wants to see a good game of tennis, but it’s clear that she’s talking about more than hitting a ball back and forth with rackets.

The intense tennis sequences and the love triangle are equally dynamic and intense, although the characterizations take a back seat. Tashi, Art, and Patrick all have contradicting aspirations that obstruct each other’s dreams, generating more tension. They’re entirely defined by their goals, giving us a limited scope of who these characters are, and denying us peaks and valleys in their journey.

Guadagnino doesn’t forget that he’s still making a sports movie, but he does it in his own way. He subverts genre tropes, executing one of the most thrilling climaxes in recent memory. He once again joins forces with Call Me by Your Name and Suspiria cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, who plays with varying techniques in the tennis sequences to inject rousing movement as the ball is hit from one side of the court to the other. The camera is in love with its cast, highlighting Faist and O’Connor’s sweat-drenched bodies. Perhaps the slow motion is relatively overused, but the suspense and eroticism benefit from it. Challengers captures an unparalleled level of sexiness in the heat of tennis matches and through moments of magnetic intimacy.

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ electric score pulsates over the tennis sequences, elevating the film’s tension to new heights. The music also provides a haunting, bewitching quality to the dialogue-driven moments that flawlessly fit this world. It’s Reznor and Ross’ best work since their Oscar-winning score for David Fincher’s The Social Network. 

Zendaya, Faist, and O’Connor are all at the top of their game, successfully weaving between sports drama, dark comedy, and a chaotic romance. Guadagnino’s direction and Kuritzkes’ screenplay are a winning match, once again proving the well-established filmmaker can extend his steamy charm to a genre as far as the sports drama. Challengers is a superlative stunner brimming with intoxicating seduction and rip-roaring splendor. It’s an absolute serve.

Rating: 4.5/5

Challengers hits theaters on April 26th, 2024.

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