If I had to pick a woman, hands down, I would choose Zendaya. I have watched her from K.C. Undercover on Disney Channel to MJ in Spider-Man, and now in Challengers.
I knew two things when I walked into the movie theater Friday night, I was going to see a movie about tennis and that Zendaya is in it. I walked out of the theater, knowing that I had just watched one of my new favorite movies.
Challengers follows two best friends, Art and Patrick (Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor), who play tennis and fall in love with the same girl, Tashi Duncan. Tashi is a tennis star who bounces between the two boys.
The love triangle is so entertaining to watch, but what makes it better is that it is hard to decipher who is in the wrong: Is it Tashi for leading them both on (and more)? Is it Patrick who saw Art liked Tashi and sometimes even encouraged Art’s flirting? Is it Art for not stepping back and being happy for his friend? I believe Art was in the right the whole movie and is wronged far too many times.
Besides the characters and plot, the setup of the movie, the camera work, and the form of storytelling is what truly sets this movie apart from the rest. The story is about tennis players, and it has a lot of tennis match scenes, but they are never boring because, as Tashi says in the movie, tennis is a relationship, and during matches, it is easy to see the relationship between the characters. The most prominent way of using tennis to show off relationships is the final scene between Art and Patrick, and the ending that, at first glance, looks like a cliffhanger emphasizes how important it is to pay attention during every match and every hit of the racket.
Another interesting choice with tennis was when the camera was the tennis ball, it made me slightly dizzy, but it was such an amazing choice. The camera work in this movie made it truly stand out.
This movie has taken over the internet, and rightfully so. So many people are analyzing every bit of this movie, and per Zendaya’s advice, are watching it multiple times. I cannot wait for it to come out on streaming so I can re-watch it over and over again.
In this world of lazy Hollywood and subpar movies, Challengers broke free and graced the big screen with an amazing film. I have been waiting for a movie like this, one that I need to pay attention to, one where I will enthralled the whole way through, and one that has rewatch-ability. Challengers went above and beyond all of my expectations.
Now, I will be sitting and waiting for a movie to ever be as amazing as Challengers, and I will be left in disappointment as I cannot foresee anything surpassing this movie any time soon.
Now, I wish to go rewatch and watch Zendaya and her two tennis boys in their love triangle as they fight for a win over decades.
