STUDIO: Warner Brothers RUNNING TIME: 2hrs 11m AGE RATING: 15
STAR RATING: 4 Stars
VERDICT: GAME. SET. MATCH. Challengers is unlike anything you will see this year. Luca is back. And he’s back at the top of his game.
“You don’t know what Tennis is” Zendaya’s terribly tenacious Tashi Duncan muses, sat on a rock down at the beach, lit not too dissimilar to how one would light a siren. Deeply mysterious, alluring as hell. But also able to lure you to your death. By the end of the movie, I declared that I truly don’t know what Tennis is; but what I just saw for the last two hours isn’t it. It was instead a battle for dominance. Both on, and off, the court.
After a ridiculously long delay thanks to the 2023 actors and writers strikes, Luca Guadagnino’s latest sensational film has arrived in theatres seven months after it was supposed to. But luckily for all involved, it’s worth the wait. In gold. Despite being Guadagnino’s weakest film for me, his reimagining (I refuse to call it a remake, they’re so incredibly different!) of Dario Argento’s seminal Suspiria still being my favourite, Challengers is exactly what you want it to be.
Challengers isn’t exactly anything new, it’s not particularly groundbreaking or special. Luca retraces old steps from his previous romantic works of Call Me By Your Name, and Bones And All. But somehow, at its core, Challengers is still an unmissable lightning strike of sexuality, tension and love. For love is a game with no winners, only losers. And no-one wants to be the loser. Especially not Tashi Duncan. She hates nothing more than losing. She won’t lose. Ever.
Zendaya infuses her Tashi with such passion, such ferocity, that I know many will walk out of this film calling her a villain. Calling her bluff. But while you all argue about whether you’re “Team Art” or “Team Patrick”, her two spectacularly sporty suitors, I’m through and through “Team Tashi”. Seeing a female character with such rough edges, continues to be absolutely refreshing. Forced to physically sit on sidelines in her adult career due to an injury, she certainly won’t be doing that in her love life. Not if she has any say in the matter! And seeing a female character take such agency in her story, and how it will end was a revelation. While I still struggle to identify with Zendaya as a true leading lady, she attacks this film with such passion that I’d doubt I’ll be struggling with that much longer. She co-leads this film for me, with another true star. The score.
Reznor and Ross’ Challengers score is an electrifying mix of house music, 80s synth, and drum and bass. It’s a panting, shuddering highlight to this film. And the film would be nowhere near as strong overall without it. It punctures through speakers, it makes the screen shake with such ferocity. It pulls you in, and it spits you out. Maybe one of the most refreshing and engaging scores of the entire decade so far. And it will be on repeat in my house for months, it’s on as I’m writing this review actually, if you must know!!!
The cinematography, as always with a Luca film, is top tier. Sayombhu Mukdeeprom brought a new light and perspective to tennis. What could’ve been a very visually stale film, with the script and acting taking centre stage, isn’t in his hands. Some of the most inventive, intense and awe inspiring cinematography I’ve seen in a hot minute.
Supporting Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor also do good work. They’re very dependable performers, and you can see that in this too. However, I can’t help but feel Faist was really given the short end of the stick. Certain sequences he shares with O’Connor are career highlights for the pair of them, however they are quite few and far between. Faist is never granted time to scratch beyond Art’s surface, unlike O’Connor. Who probably gets the best material, and arc, of the film.
You’ve been sold on this film as a sexy movie. And it totally is. But I feel those going in for that will leave a little underwhelmed, what Challengers *really* is, is a tale of love and lust. A carnivorous love. That eats and destroys your soul until you are nothing but a shell of a human. And how is that shell of a human meant to function? How are they meant to move on after that lighting strike? Luca ponders that, and more, in what is maybe his most accessible work to date. It left me with my mouth on the floor, several times. Passionate, real, and raw. Challengers is everything you want from a Luca Guadagnino concoction. Is it particularly groundbreaking from him? No. But it’s bloody outstanding.
Reviewed by Lewis Powell
‘Challengers’ is in cinemas now
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