Review – Challengers (2024) directed by Luca Guadagnino.

Watched on April 28th, 2024
Rating: 5/5 Stars

FINALLY. I was thinking after I got out of the theater, have we ever had a truly great tennis movie? Well there’s no need for uncertainty anymore: Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers is the definitive tennis movie, in every way imaginable. I feel exhilarated, absolutely flowing with adrenaline. This movie was everything I wanted and more. FUCKING INCREDIBLE.

I’ve played tennis for almost my entire life, and if there’s one thing that would be the most important takeaway from everything I’ve learned about the sport, it’s that at the end of the day, tennis is a mental game. Obviously there’s a lot of physical expertise and training required, but there’s an equally (if not more) intense psychological battle happening during every single match. Even the tennis academy that I trained at for the majority of my time in middle and high school had a “golden rule” that only further emphasized the psychological game of tennis: “use your strengths against your opponent’s weaknesses.” That’s truly evident here in this film, and it was incredibly satisfying and riveting to see.

What’s so brilliant about Challengers is that it understands just how psychological tennis can be. And the equally brilliant juxtaposition of pairing the psychological turmoils of sex and romance was such a captivating and effective way to further evoke what is already present in the sport. It makes this such a gripping and compelling film, and it wraps you in its thrilling narrative so effectively. What’s even more impressive is that on top of the overarching psychological game going on, every scene is filled with subtext, undertones, subtlety, and nuance that just further strengthens the mind games at play. Example: I foresee an amazing video essay about every scene with food in this movie and how they reflect the psychology of a conversation or a sexual desire or subtext.

I’m honestly amazed at how effortless this movie feels in everything it does. The framing device of everything revolving around the present moment of a tennis match, jumping in time to reveal more and more was a brilliant way to slowly add an incredible amount of stakes to what started off as a seemingly normal tennis match. The movie is so fantastically directed and edited; despite these time jumps, the movie never felt confusing or difficult to follow. Every time we went somewhere, it was perfectly done and always intentionally motivated. I cannot commend Guadagnino and his editor (Marco Costa) enough for pulling off such an incredible feat with this film.

And the cinematography is absolutely incredible. It adds so much drama, variation, and mood to tennis, a sport that some could argue is boring and repetitive. It’s so visually dynamic, all of the more special filmic techniques are so well-used, and there’s one POV that’s just absolutely bonkers in the best way. 

As the movie was nearing the climax of the conclusion, I found my heart racing realizing what might happen; in my head, I saw the perfect ending, and felt so unbelievably excited seeing that the movie was potentially headed in that direction, yet anxious as to whether it would happen or not. Paired with an already suspense-ridden, nerve racking, and anxiety-inducing conclusion in and of itself, the movie fulfilled the prediction and I was overjoyed. The perfect ending.

And I haven’t even mentioned the trio of actors, all of whom are just sensational. Zendaya, Mike Faist, Josh O’Connor. All names that should reverberate in the industry. Unbelievable what they do here, channeling such nuanced performances, carrying the weight of their character’s history in every scene.

Nuanced, sensational, brilliant. I feel as though I’m overusing these words but I can’t state enough just how blown away I am by how fucking good this movie is. Yes, there are personal biases at play given my love for tennis, but it’s truly incredibly to see just how well the psychological aspect of that sport is represented. I truly don’t think you could make the same movie if you replaced the sport; it had to be tennis. This movie is so incredible and Luca Guadagnino is flexing just how talented and gifted he is at directing. This might be one of my new favorite movies, ever.

Check out the original review posted on Letterboxd here.