Challengers

Last year’s SAG and WGA strikes resulted in many movie releases slipping by a few months, in some cases completely changing their context and blowing up the normally carefully considered strategic timing. Warner Bros. decided that Dune: Part 2 deserved to be the start of the movie-going season as a consolation for no longer releasing during awards season. Tom Cruise didn’t want to give up his summer slot, and so the now untitled eighth Mission: Impossible film was bumped back a whole year. Sony took another tack, dropping Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse off the schedule entirely (although presumably for multiple reasons).

Challengers went the Dune route, although not until the initial trailer was dropped over the summer. This could have led to the exhausting experience of constantly seeing it for months and months, as happened with Strays last summer or Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes presently. But it had two things going for it. For one, it was delayed long enough that they instead pulled the trailer until earlier this year, giving us a months-long break. But probably more importantly, it was selling us a genre that we don’t get often any more: erotic thriller. Only a handful come to mind, and with the exceptions of Deep Water and Sanctuary, I don’t recall any in the past five years or so getting much buzz.

On top of that is the cast and crew. Director Luca Guadagnino, who’s had an incredibly strong past fifteen years, including providing Timothée Chalamet with his breakout role. Score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, so you know it’s going to be high energy and synth heavy. To say nothing of leads Josh O’Connor, Mike Faist, and of course the true movie star of the cast, Zendaya.

With the high anticipation around it, what fascinates me most is the ways it both does and doesn’t deliver on those expectations. Most people know their taste in art. If your movie is sold as one thing, and they get another, how will they react? What portion of the audience is willing to just go with the film versus write it off? Maybe more interestingly, what if the movie is sort of what was promised, but not entirely?

That latter piece is what happened here. It’s not quite an erotic thriller, not in the traditional sense. Sure, it centers around a love triangle. There are some intense make-out scenes, and characters in their underwear or implied nudity. But that’s about it. We don’t see any sex, under the covers or otherwise, and there’s only one scene where they’re clearly post-coital. The only nudity is a couple of background characters in a locker room shower. Even the scenes of romance feel more like a game of chess than dangerous passion.

Additionally, it very quickly emerges that this isn’t simply a love triangle. A love triangle is specifically when two people are competing for the affections of another. And while the driving force of the movie is Art (Faist) and Patrick (O’Connor) battling it out over Tashi (Zendaya), there’s a third pairing. At some points, especially early on in the flashbacks to their teenage years, the level of intimacy between Art and Patrick is very explicit. It’s in the embarrassing story they tell Tashi upon meeting her, it’s in her repeated (not so?) tongue-in-cheek comments about not wanting to be a homewrecker. But far more frequently, it’s unsaid. Not subtext exactly, as the filmmaking is pretty clear through the framing or blocking or how long it holds on a look. We get the sense that Patrick is a bit more free and open to…well, everything, and even a handful of indications he’s somewhat bisexual and may have a crush on Art. But Art is incredibly uncomfortable with the idea, seemingly in denial, as he seems to react strongly to any time they get too close. He seems generally terrified of his emotions, of letting his own wants and desires drive him, and that includes any possibility of exploring whatever it is he and Patrick have.

The timeline of the film is jumbled around in order to heighten the tension, and it works beautifully, dispensing bits of information at just the right moment for it to have maximum impact. Present day is the finals of a minor tennis tournament in 2019, as Art tries to rebuild his confidence following a severe injury and a poor season which frustrates achieving the final piece of a career Grand Slam, and Patrick continues to struggle to even qualify for the majors. As their dramatic match plays out and the momentum swings back and forth with Tashi looking on, we jump back in time to various points which unspool the complexities of the relationships between these characters, how they began, how they developed, and how they changed even over just the weeks and days before this match. While the present day match is the dramatic motivation, we spend most of our time in various parts of the past, as without the context this match is far less interesting.

So much of the magic of this film is in the writing and the performances. Tashi is a rare character in cinema, a woman who is ruthless and driven, harsh and 100% sure of herself and not looking to fall in with a man, but not a villain. She is a complete competitor, reminiscent of Michael Jordan in her single-minded focus. Hell, as she makes out with Patrick in one pivotal scene, she’s critiquing his game as pieces of clothing come off, much to his annoyance. She lives and breathes tennis. She knows nothing else, and that’s fine by her. It propels her to the top of the amateur rankings, and her coaching pushes Art further than he ever thought possible. But the price is connection. She lacks empathy and compassion and any expression of how to be a friend, not even seeming to desire companionship of any sort (save for one key moment), using it as means to an end. That side of her is in there somewhere, though, as she seems to be a warm mother to Lily (A.J. Lister), albeit with the aid of her own mother (Nada Despotovich).

Every single ounce of that Zendaya slays. She’s pretty good in the Dune movies, but Chani doesn’t embody the complexity to allow for a great performance. And I’ve never watched Euphoria. So although I know people are huge fans, I hadn’t seen what she was capable of. Tashi is an incredible introduction. The ferocity, the passion, the speed with which you feel her toss people to the curb when they serve no further purpose. It’s in the way she carries herself, with confidence and swagger and a knowledge that the whole world is looking at her. Because of it, regardless of whether or not your find her sexy, you understand the power she holds over others, how she captivates them, and you cannot possibly tear your eyes away.

As for the men, while Faist does an excellent job, it’s O’Connor who really stands out. In part, more is asked of his character, given that he’s the odd man out for most of the film, and he nails it. He has secrets and plans and desires. There’s a deep sadness in him, but also a mischievousness. A longing for what might have been, a refusal to accept what is. O’Connor must thread the needle of keeping us aware of his emotions even as he goes toe to toe with Tashi and Art, yet we never for a second lose track of where his head is.

All of this is heightened by the craft of the thing. The score is incredible throughout: I found myself bobbing my head along with a bunch of the tracks. The transitions between time periods is often done via a serve in the presenting morphing into receiving in the past. The blocking and shot composition lead to some wonderful imagery. The climax features a bunch of shots I’ve never seen before. A couple times, cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom looks up from underneath the court at the boys mid-match. But the most eye-catching is probably the half a dozen strokes during which we’re in the POV of the tennis ball during a point. It’s fantastic.

And this movie’s funny! Sometimes in dialog, more often through ironic juxtaposition or the boys acting like doofs around Tashi. Which should be no surprise: its features three people engaged in mind games, a battle of wits, so of course they’re gonna land a bunch of shots on each other. There are editing jokes, jokes using sound and score, and just whip-smart dialog. They’re not the focus of the movie, no, but they absolutely keep the tone light until it needs to start to spin darker.

From start to finish, the movie has energy and style and engaging characters and unique dynamics. Even the tennis scenes do a phenomenal job of character and relationship development. There are all the bits of matches we see in flashback, of course. But made even more important by the structure is that finals bout between Art and Patrick. Guadagnino does a remarkable job of communicating that it’s not the tennis that matters, it’s the drama that unfolds between the players. He uses it to build tension, dragging out key moments, even ones we know are coming, forcing us to lean in to see how it’s going to play out. The fury, the intensity, the sweat, all of it communicates that this is not “just a tennis match”. It’s as Tashi says early on: you and your opponent briefly enter a relationship, one in which you understand each other more than anyone ever could. No place is that more clear than this battle between two old friends, as their shared love interest looks on.