Challengers

I have been anticipating seeing Challengers for a very long time and I was really excited to finally have the chance last night.  I loved it even more than I was expecting to!  Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) is a champion tennis player who is in a slump after recovering from an injury.  His wife and coach Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), herself a former prodigy, suggests that he play as a wild card in a lower level challenger event to boost his confidence before the U.S. Open.  Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor) is a down-on-his-luck former prodigy who sleeps in his car and plays in challenger events for the meager prize money.  Art and Patrick end up facing each other in the final of this challenger event and, through flashbacks as they play in this heated match, the audience learns that they have a complicated past with each other and with Tashi and that the stakes are even higher than they realize but not what they imagine.  Zendaya gives an absolutely riveting performance and both O'Connor and Faist match her in intensity.  The three of them have absolutely insane chemistry with each other and I honestly cannot decide what was sexier: a scene in a sauna or a scene involving a churro.  The use of tennis as a metaphor is very clever with all of the back and forth that happens between the characters and I loved the exploration of power and what happens to relationships when the power dynamic shifts.  Having a nonlinear timeline, which can sometimes disrupt the pacing, is very effective in this movie because the flashbacks slowly reveal events that directly inform what is happening on the court in the final match and the tension is palpable (I laughed out loud when I realized how Patrick was going to serve the ball and what it meant within the context of the past).  I don't follow tennis or understand much about the game but the way in which the tennis scenes were filmed is incredibly dynamic and exciting.  I especially loved the scenes from the POV of the ball!  Finally, the techno score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is amazing and really amps up the energy in every scene ("Compress/ Repress" is basically a NIN song and I loved it).  I am sure that this is going to be one of my top movies of 2024 and I highly recommend it!