Challengers Movie Review

Challengers (2024) Movie Review

Writer/Director Luca Guadgino has made a name for himself as one of the best talents to watch behind the camera. With ‘Suspiria’, ‘Call me By Your Name’, ‘Bones and All’, and now ‘Challengers’. His distinct style, and ability to tell grounded character stories, to the backdrop of very distinct and unique settings, for instance, the world of professional dancing in Suspiria, a cannibal, love-story in Bones and All, a LBGTQ+ love story in Italy, with Call Me By Your Name and now the world of professional tennis with Challengers. His ability to dance across different genres is admirable and there aren’t too many directors working today who can do it this well. 

His latest film Challengers has proven to be his biggest success to date as well, grossing over $50 million at the domestic box office, and $94 million at the worldwide box office. The film has an impressive 88% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes and 73% audience score, with both critics and audiences both loving this romantic, thriller. Challengers follows Tashi (played by Zendeya), a former tennis prodigy, who’s career is tragically cut short due to an injury, is now a worldclass coach who is focused on turning her husband, Art (played by Mike Faist), into a champion. But to overcome his current form slump, he will need to do battle on the tennis court with his former best-friend and Tashi’s ex-boyfriend, Patrick (played by Josh O’Connor). A love-triangle, and competitive battle ensue, but there can only be one winner… ‘Challengers’ went viral this year, with its steamy marketing campaign featuring front and centre. Before the film had even released, it had a massive, and dedicated fan base. In the past, I would have criticsied these fans for jumping the gun, but I am pleased to report, that they were right on the money.

‘Challengers’ is an absolute blast. For starters, the world of tennis, proved to be a stroke of genius from Luca Guargino. The competitive world of tennis is the perfect backdrop here for this story, not only elevating the drama, but also giving the audience a solid backdrop for some great sequences. I knew this film had played in IMAX theatres and it wasn’t until the third act until I realised why. The now infamous match point sequence is the end set-piece of the film and what Guadgino does with the camera is nothing short of stunning. He moves the camera in every direction, with it positioned from the racket, the net and even the ball as it’s being hit back and forth. Inventive, innovative, and impressive filmmaking! 

Whilst director Luca Guardgino and his innovative filmmaking is definitely a highlight of the film and a huge reason why it works as well as it does, the real standouts are the trio of lead performances. Zendeya owns this movie. She commands the court if you will. She is just stunning, showcasing her range and proving she is one of the most formidable leading ladies working today. The two male leads do well to standout and share the space on-screen with her. Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor do a great job here of portraying best friends, turned competitors. As the film progresses, and we see the two pitted against each other both in a personal capacity and professionally, it escalated and draws to a riveting and satisfying conclusion in the films third act, where the two must duke it out in front of Zendeya’s Tashi and win to both impress Tashi, but also win for their own personal reasons and keep their competitive edge. It is glorious to watch it all unfold on screen! 

‘Challengers’ is one of the best films of 2024 so far. The film is anchored on its non-linear plotting, Guadgino’s excellent direction, its amazing cast with Zendeya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist all giving wonderful performances, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s pulsating, techno score and the unique backdrop of competitive tennis. It all culminates for a truly memorable movie-going experience. I can’t wait to see what Luca Guargnino does next, he continues to impress with subversive, genre-bending films that challenge (no pun intended) audiences. If you’re a film fan this is a must-own, be sure to secure your copy from Sanity today on DVD or Blu-Ray, you won’t want to miss it! 

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Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here