Challengers tells the story of Tashi (Zendaya), a former college tennis star whose career was prematurely interrupted due to an injury, and her love/ power triangle with Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O'Connor), two tennis players and long-time best friends.
There might have been a story there, around Tashi's obsession with tennis and winning, how she manipulates Art to achieve her personal goals, and how Art lets himself be manipulated without fully ever acknowledging it.
There are glimpses of that story in Challengers, and that is certainly when the film is at its best, but they are barely carried forward and get lost in a continuous back and forth in time that may have been aimed at engaging the audience by uncovering pieces of the story progressively, but in practice just deflate the tension inside and between the characters.
Instead of that story, most of the film focuses on filming a lot of tennis, from every possible angle, without fear of ridicule (the underground camera angle, the subjective ball point of view shot, etc.). And it ends-up turning into a celebration of male bonding around a sport, contrasting with the divisive impact of a woman entering the two boys' lives. Such early teenage boy philosophy of life naturally fails to intrigue us much.
Certainly, Zendaya has screen presence and delivers a strong performance, but she is also weighed down by a pretty mediocre screenplay, and constant slow motions aimed at admiring her cool movements and beauty but that end up becoming repetitive and annoying.
There might have been a story there, around Tashi's obsession with tennis and winning, how she manipulates Art to achieve her personal goals, and how Art lets himself be manipulated without fully ever acknowledging it.
There are glimpses of that story in Challengers, and that is certainly when the film is at its best, but they are barely carried forward and get lost in a continuous back and forth in time that may have been aimed at engaging the audience by uncovering pieces of the story progressively, but in practice just deflate the tension inside and between the characters.
Instead of that story, most of the film focuses on filming a lot of tennis, from every possible angle, without fear of ridicule (the underground camera angle, the subjective ball point of view shot, etc.). And it ends-up turning into a celebration of male bonding around a sport, contrasting with the divisive impact of a woman entering the two boys' lives. Such early teenage boy philosophy of life naturally fails to intrigue us much.
Certainly, Zendaya has screen presence and delivers a strong performance, but she is also weighed down by a pretty mediocre screenplay, and constant slow motions aimed at admiring her cool movements and beauty but that end up becoming repetitive and annoying.
Tell Your Friends