Monday, I got lucky enough to go to an early screening of Challengers, the new Zendaya movie, in IMAX, thanks to Regal. It is always exciting to see a guaranteed banger, like this or Dune Part II, early. So I am thankful for these events, and for another reason to go to the movies on a Monday. Sometimes it is better to know what you are in for, instead of a Mystery Movie Monday, which is typically just an okay movie hoping for some good press. Also these events usually pull a good crowd. Dune Part II was filled, and this screening had a larger than usual crowd as well.
Challengers has three main players: Tashi (Zendaya), Art (Mike Faist), and Patrick (Josh O’Connor). The movie starts during championship match of a challengers tournament, which is a step below the highest level of tennis. In the match, Art and Patrick are facing off, and Tashi is in the front row watching from the middle of the court, and she is clearly garnering attention from both men playing, then the movie proceeds to go through a multitude of flashbacks to show how these three got to this point.
Going back a decade, they were all playing in the same armature tennis tournament, and Tashi throws a party, that Art and Patrick both attend just hoping for a chance to meet Tashi, and when they do, a relationship sparks between the three of them that persists through their careers.
Of the three, Tashi is by far the best tennis player, and she says that she will give her number to whoever wins the championship match the next day between Art and Patrick. Patrick wins, and thus starts a relationship with Tashi. This lasts for a while, but once in college, Art and Tashi both go to Stanford, and when Patrick comes to visit, he gets into a fight with Tashi over how seriously he takes tennis, and shortly after, she destroys her knee and never wants to see him again.
Now her relationship with Art starts. Fast forward back to modern time, and Art is struggling to keep his top tier professional career alive with the pressure of Tashi on him, but Patrick is just trying to have any level of a tennis career, so the match between them is huge, for both of them for different reasons, but the night before Tashi and Patrick meet up, and it throws a wrench in everything.
That might be a little hard to follow without seeing the movie, but basically the three of them are in a weird thropple, and it has spanned a decade. It not only affects their personal lives, but it also affects their play on the tennis court as well, As far sports movies go, it feels very unique. There have been sports romance movies before, but this level of relationship between three people has not graced the sports screen.
As fun as the romantic element is to this movie, I loved the tennis parts of this movie. The opening tennis scene is incredible, especially in IMAX, the screen is so massive that just like the people in the crowd at the match, my head was whipping back and forth following the ball. They did a variety of different shots during the tennis action that were awesome. One of the best is where they make the camera the ball, so the screen is spinning in one directions, then a racket hits the ball, and it is going back the other way. I have no idea how they did this shot, but it was awesome. There were also so many close ups of faces where the players were dripping in sweat and emotion. It was all so well filmed that I do not want to watch tennis any other way now.
Also throughout the whole movie, they are playing this upbeat techno soundtrack off and on. It is not only during the tennis scenes, but it is also when exciting events start to occur off the court. This music helps to make the whole movie feel fast paced. It is two hours and ten minutes, but the whole thing flies by. There is always something happening, which is great. The music has lived in my head since watching the movie, so I might just start playing it on days that are moving by too slowly to help speed it up. The rest of the sound is awesome as well. Listening to the tennis ball get smacked over and over again with the booming IMAX sound added to the experience and the signature tennis grunts also. It felt like these were real tennis players leaving it all on the court, and there was more at stakes than just winning a match.
Towards the beginning of the film, Tashi tells the two that she does not want to be a homewrecker, and of course like anyone would say, the boys say that she would not be a homewrecker. Over the course of the movie however, the two boys slowly lose their relationship, and the final straw is when Tashi gets hurt, and she tells Patrick to get out, and he is out of their lives for years after that. Without context, it would be easy to feel like it was their intertwined romantic relationships with Tashi that led to the evaporation of their friendship.
The problem is Tashi, but it is her ego, not the romance, that is the problem. At the end of the day, she only cares about tennis and being great. So when she was with Patrick, and she was successful, and he was successful, that was perfect enough for her, but she thought he could be better, so she tried to coach him, but he was not that interested in hearing what she had to say. Thus their fight, then she destroyed her knee, which is what really sealed the deal that their relationship was done. In the modern day, she is with Art, and she is his coach and wife, and before his match with Patrick, she tells him that if he loses, she is going to leave him. She must be on top, and she must be successful, it has nothing to do with romance.
The advertising in this movie also really sells the idea of the thropple, and they use the power of sexual tension in the advertisement, but honestly the commercial shows most of the intimate moments from the movie. The scene with the three of them on the edge of the bed just involves them all three making out, but then Zendaya pulls back, and two dudes are just kissing each other, but they do not realize it until they open their eyes, so it ends up as more of a comedic moment. The only nudity of the film occurs in the men’s locker when some dudes are showering and chirping at each other over their tennis play.
None of that takes away from the power of the main three and their acting ability, because that is really what makes the tension palpable. Zendaya acts like she runs the world, and it truly feels like she does. Each of her words carry so much power over those two guys. The way she carries herself is intimidating, and they are both under her spell. O’Connor, who surprisingly is not the red headed actor, and Faist are also good looking themselves, and they also must have an air of confidence to be able to get Zendaya’s attention, but it is clear who is in charge. She is bad for both though. So it should have ended up with a bromance.
There was only one issue I had with the movie, and it came towards the end. Back when they were in present time, the night before the match, they show Tashi go to meet Patrick, and she asks him to lose the match on purpose. She said Art needs a confidence boost, and she thinks that he will be able to do well in his next big tournament, if he wins this one. So the tennis match that we have been watching interspersed throughout the movie might have been fabricated the whole time, which is a little annoying, and it takes away the competitive integrity of the game. So now every part of the tennis match that occurs after that moment made me wonder if he was fully trying, or if he might lose. The movie ends before we find out who wins, and there is a weird bro hug after an incredible point that was a little confusing.
So the whole movie I thought that this was an easy four star movie, and in the higher tier of those with four stars, but after that scene I struggled with deciding whether to keep it a four or to lower it to three and a half, but I kept it at a four. The atmosphere is so electric, and the people all look so good that I could not peel my eyes from the screen. I never looked at my watch during the whole thing, which almost never happens, even in the best of movies. The music and the sound was incredible. Everyone looked like a passable tennis player, except Zendaya’s two handed hits seemed a little weird, but I just assume that it is due to her lankiness. The ending was a little bothersome, but the other two hours are incredible, so I would say that this movie is well worth seeing, and it works well in IMAX, so do yourself a favor and enjoy some great looking cinema!
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