As a younger man, I was quite enamored with tennis. My favorite player was Andre Agassi. I had a bit of stamina, and I could run for a long time, which was conducive to playing tennis. I loved playing this game when I was a teen and young adult. Tennis movies are few and far between, though. Bog Macenroe, Battle of the Sexes, and Wimbledon are all that come to mind. Until now, that is. Challengers is the latest film from acclaimed auteur director Luca Guadagnino.  He takes this incredibly fast-paced sport and gives it a life I haven’t seen before in film.

Using a framing device the film picks up as two tennis rivals Ben Donaldson (Mike Feist, West Side Story) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor,  Mothering Sunday) are playing in a Challenger sponsored by Phil’s Tire Town in New Rochelle, New York. A Challenger is a smaller tennis tournament for up-and-comers or those on the downswing of their careers. Then, the movie flashed back to 13 years earlier when these two men were younger, and they had an infatuation with a female tennis phenomenon Tashi Duncon (Zendaya). 

Guadagnino creates a dynamic of a three-hander. Which is basically three main actors who constantly interact with each other. That’s the dynamic of the film from beginning to end. The movie explores these three people’s relationships, from good to bad and everything in between.  The two men were friends for years before this young sex symbol came into their lives. Even though they have had separate relationships in the past, they can’t help but be infatuated with the beautiful tennis phenom.  She decides to give them an ultimatum when they play against each other as youth, whoever wins gets to date her. That is a big plot point moving forward in the film.

The rivalry at the center of this movie is a key element from the script written by Justin Kuritzkes. He puts these two men at odds with each other with Zenday’s character pulling the strings. She has motives all her own that put the duo at odds with each other. She’s a bit conniving and manipulative which causes a lot of problems for the two tennis players. Guadagnino puts her into sexually awkward scenes that even while watching the film was a little bit aroused by. She is a pretty woman, there is no doubt about that fact. I can see this happening in the real world for sure. 

Guadagnino used a few tricks up his sleeve to try to give this movie a flavor all its own. One Of them is close-ups. He used a lot of close-ups to get right in the character’s faces to see their emotions or looks they may have given the others. Another trick he used was point-of-view camera tricks. Where we the audience were the tennis ball or the racket hitting the ball. These techniques put us a lot closer to the match that was going on. I felt like I was actually involved in the main tennis match. Not since The Greatest Game Ever Played have I seen such a point-of-view camera work such as this in a sports film. 

Two technical things that Guadagnino helped get for the film are the composers, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who have become great in their own right. They created a synthetic electric score for the movie and I couldn’t help but love everything it played. The score ramped up in the more intense situations between the trio. If it was just two of them the score was very powerful and you could cut the tension like a knife. This is one of my favorite scores of the year so far. One other technical thing I noticed was the sound design. Craig Berkey led this team and what they did was amazing. The sound involving the tennis rackets hitting the ball was pulse-pounding. It felt like a hammer hitting a nail. The sound involved with all the tennis being played was incredible. It felt like I was watching a real tennis match live, sitting in the audience. That’s how good the sound design was. Add that to the score and you have some technical things that should be up for awards next year.

Based on the script there is sexual tension going on in this movie from beginning to end. How Guadagnino decided to film these scenes, at times, was a little bit cringe. An encounter where the trio met up at the guy’s hotel room was a bit unexpected.  Maybe some people will like this. I just thought it was manipulative. A couple of other scenes in locker rooms and a steam bath may get women all a flutter but I was turned off. The unnecessary male nudity was something I didn’t need to see. At least if you were going to show male private parts then you should have shown Zendaya naked as well. Maybe others would have a different opinion on the matter, but that’s just my take.

Challengers take a sport in tennis that hasn’t been on film many times and makes it come alive. The technical aspects in the sound design and score were awards worthy. The camera  work not as much. Too many close ups for my liking. The three stars of the film were fine. I didn’t have any complaints about what they were doing with their characters. They made the most of what they were given in the script. Some unnecessary male nudity aside this wasn’t a bad movie. Guadagnino used some things I didn’t expect to bring this film to life. It’s going to be one people will be talking about for a little while then they’ll move on to something else that peaks their curiosity. This is a fine film, nothing more nothing less.

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen