Challengers (2024)

A tennis match can be a personal battle, a clash not only of athleticism but of mind, and Guadagnino gives every game and set the gravity of gladiatorial contest.

The film is fun. It’s smart and sexy and engaging.

It’s a collective simmer of sight, sound, sweat, and sensation about fascinating, complex people pushed through their paces on and off the court.

Challengers must be the most purely pleasurable film of the year so far.

Operating at the peak of his powers, Luca Guadagnino has the time of his life with this practically sadistic exploration of unrelenting obsession. It is horny, it is hungry, it is phenomenally exciting filmmaking.

In Challengers, tennis is sex, and sex is tennis. The two things are never separate, and their concurrence is what makes the film such a fascinating, lithe creature.

Challengers is a sharp and snappy movie, full of big emotions expressed through fast-paced dialogue in some scenes and through silent, sensual physicality in others, all shot with creative verve and aggressively in-your-face energy. Everyone in this movie is chasing sex and success, and conflating those things with each other in unashamedly provocative ways.

Right to the final exhilarating moments, Challengers plays a bold game — sports action so visceral you can feel the sweat dripping off the screen, along with the emotional rallying that occurs off the court.

It’s the most gripping sports movie in years.

These competitors only feel alive when they’re bound together by the mutual intimacy of being edged to the break points of their desire, and Guadagnino’s deliriously enjoyable movie doesn’t let any of its characters get off until even the most sophisticated Hawk-Eye line-calling technology on Earth would be unable to pinpoint the exact spot where tennis ends and sex begins.

Underrated film. The meaning behind the film was amazing. There was an injury scene that was unnecessary but besides that, one of the best films of the year.

Someone says it’s probably the worst film they have ever seen, I’m sure that’s the worst of my life, and it’s not the actors’s fault. The problem of this film it’s so basic that I don’t really know how they ended up spending 55 millions dollars for it, it has no story, it’s only a collage of sex scenes ad some bad tennis, ad I talk as a tennis player, even at the end it was nonsense in a situation like that we wait to do a smash in our side we don’t jump as a kangaroo in the arms of the opponent, it is a shame that this weird “film”(I only see an adult movie not a film) is associated with a beautiful sport for gentlemen like tennis. Even the messages that are inside the film are nonsense and horrible, the men are waiting happily their turn to be used by a woman that has zero emotions and zero respect for her, the husband and her daughter.

tennis balls tennis balls... tennis tennis balls.. balls balllsss ballls tennis ballllsss

At first glance, Challengers could be mistaken for a trashy Disney Channel movie with no gripping plot and a cliché love triangle. But that’s only during the first half. In the second, the film finally starts to reveal itself though it gets tangled up in constant time jumps, unnecessary slow moments, and blaring music. I do acknowledge a few interesting ideas here and there, but the fact that Zendaya delivers the film’s best performance only highlights its overall weaknesses.

"Challengers" is a pretty good movie" It surpassed my expectations,the film has really good characters and a very interesting plot and backstory.

Visually INCREDIBLE - but the line between tennis and relationships blurs to a solid gray... until I don't really care about them anymore... STRIKING - TENSE - TECHNICAL - SHALLOW Let me start by saying... Challengers is riding with three stars for the filmmaking craft of this film alone. Technically - this is a gripping masterpiece. I've never been more excited about tennis in my life. The back and forth of the timeline mimics the tennis ball flying between Art and Patrick, subtle costuming and on-screen typography inform the audience to follow the storyline. Every shock of electric tension is due to the cinematography... this transcends just another 'tennis movie'. This film is sophisticated... Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross supported these aspects in every way with their score. WOW. *adds to playlist. They can do no wrong. The graphic nudity from the rating, isn't what you think it is... and it doesn't add anything to the film itself. Why write that into the script? It's minimal and unnecessary. If you're looking for a 'threesome' teased in the trailer, you'll be disappointed. This film is all about the tension. I was impressed that Luca didn't push a graphic sex scene in our faces; the story didn't need it, and he stayed true to that. The rest of the script gives the cast excellent dialogue, especially in scenes with high energy and conflict. Pacing was on point. This excellence set up the cast for an instant success. Zendaya is absolutely brooding as Tashi. There's a perspective of Challengers that she was setting up Art and Patrick the whole time, but I didn't see that. She was a player, and they fell right into her trap. Faist and O'Connor were perfectly cast in their roles... their love triangle rivals that of Katniss, Peeta, and Gale. From an acting craft perspective, great work. (Award worthy? .... eh, maybe.) However... I didn't really care about the characters. While the filmmaking is sophisticated... it's characters were not. Their choices didn't have any meaning. They were driven by teenage fantasies and the romantic conflict they experienced in college defined the rest of their stories. That is basic and trivial. Within the first 25 minutes, I was hooked on this film, and desperately wanted it to go somewhere, to push these characters to their limits. Instead, they bounced back and forth just as much as the tennis ball between them. Nearly every shot is a work of art, making the camera a part of the story - *I* feel a part of the story. But... this isn't a story I want to be a part of. While I enjoyed the cinema of this film, the storyline wasn't my favorite. After raving about the technical aspects of Challengers... I can't say that I actually like the film, just parts of it. I definitely understand the rave, and some of the nominations this film has garnered... but perhaps its still a bit out of its place, in comparison to the rest of the films that 2024 gave us - The Fall Guy? Twisters? Better films.

Tam bir vakit kaybı desem yalan olmaz sanırım. Sektör iyice bozulmuş, bozulmaya da devam ediyor....

Really exciting film. Great directing and performances. Score was the standout. The music itself but especially how it was utilized. Not really about tennis as much as it is about toxic people and relationships.

It was okay. Definitely over-hyped because of the "spiciness" of it all. I think the promo was much better than the movie itself. The movie is easy on the eye mostly. The soundtrack is also really cool and fitting. Other than that there's not much. The timeline shifting over and over is slightly confusing. My main issue is the plot. It was average. The characters are unlikeable and eventually it just became boring. Hated the ending also, theres no real resolution to it. Just an okay movie really.

Well, on the surface, this was a deep dive into what does or can go on behind the scenes in tennis at its win all/lose all competitive worst. However the tennis competition turns out to be a literary device to finding and accepting love. I admire the effort. But unfortunately for me, the story devolved into boring and irritating exercises in slow motion and overly long scenes to a climax which perhaps comes as a surprise to no one. Getting there though requires a competitive push by another character whose desire to be a tennis winner must impart it to her male partner/lovers. But what if her proxies don’t go along? Who are the losers or winner/s then and does love conquer all? Kudos to Josh O’Connor for a valiant effort.

What if you made a movie about sports and men that was written poeple who did not really understand either. This is it.

Patrick Zweig (Josh O´Connor) und Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) waren Kindheitsfreunde. Beide treffen sich nach Jahren wieder bei einem Challenger Turnier. Art ist Tennisprofi geworden, durch die Hilfe seiner Frau Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) und Patrick wollte es zwar mehr, wurde jedoch kein Profi. Im Finale treffen sie aufeinander. Doch neben der einstigen Freundschaft verbindet beide die Liebe zu Tashi. Wer wird gewinn und können sie sich versöhnen?Wie das Tennisspiel gefilmt wurde, ist überragend. Man steigt aus der Perspektive des Spielers oder sogar des Balles. Das Tennisspiel ist, allerdings nicht der Hauptfokus des Films. Die Beziehung zwischen den drei ist hier der Fokus. Zendaya zeigt hier ihre bis jetzt beste Performance. Eine Oscar-Nominierung wäre verdient. Meiner Meinung nach ist das Jahr 2024 nur Demi Moore besser gewesen. Die beiden Männer haben eine innige Freundschaft, an einigen Stellen wird eine mögliche Homosexualität zwischen den beiden Freunden angedeutet. Der Film macht es schwierig, sich zu entscheiden, wen man die Daumen drückt. Eigentlich sollte man dem Underdog anfeuern. Bei diesem Duell ist, es auch schwierig den Underdog herauszufinden. Da Patrick noch nie gegen Art verloren hat, aber Art ist der Profi und Patrick nur der Amateur.Challengers ist ein gutes Beziehungsdrama und auch ein guter Sportfilm. Der Fokus und gut gewählt worden. Und man hat die Charaktere gut kennengelernt und man kann alle Entscheidungen nachvollziehen.9/10

At the beginning of Challengers, I was a bit worried that my expectations for Luca Guadagnino's new film might be too high—after all, with Call Me By Your Name, Suspiria, and Bones and All, he’s delivered the best directing trifecta of the 21st century. But initially, everything Guadagnino and Kuritzkes threw at me felt so direct, flat, almost banal. Was this really just about the drama between this tennis trio? Would I actually enjoy this for over two hours? Yes, and oh yes! At a certain point, the film had me—I was as trapped as the three protagonists in the game of life (=tennis?). And what a joy it was to unravel how the script works, with its unexpected pay-offs, some of which had been set up 90 minutes earlier. How the film can be viewed from three different perspectives, making it a drama at times, a comedy at others. How Faist and O'Connor let themselves be used by Zendaya like loyal Labradors. How everything slowly builds up and culminates in that decisive scene—the 15 seconds of real tennis that erupt the entire volcano of character build-up. While watching, I could feel the screenplay grinning mischievously at me. Then there’s Guadagnino, whose dominant directing style made it a particular delight to see how he controlled what I could and couldn’t see, and when. The dialogue makes the audience’s gaze dart back and forth like in a tennis match. The depth of the frame is utilized like a serve that somehow crashes straight into the net (the hotel bar scene is especially brilliant here). Phallic food, endless sexual tension, slow-motion sweat dripping onto the camera—everything about this is the best tennis I’ve ever seen. I won’t even get started on the film’s structure, the phenomenal score, or the staging of the finale. What’s clear is this: rarely have two hours flown by so quickly, rarely has a sport I don’t like captivated me so much, and rarely have I wanted to rewatch a film the second the credits rolled. Challengers will stick with me for a long time. Simply put, it’s an erotic tennis film—and pulling that off is an achievement in itself...

Challengers is just a chaotic film to watch as the acting, script and soundtracks is just out of this world to watch as it's one of my top films from this year.

I seriously think I watch enough movies through the week. There’s some many psychological movies that are so weird but keep me on edge . Ie : Little things was weirder than ever however extremely well directed, produced and acted . This movies is the weird type but bad bad bad in every way . I had to fast forward some parts mid movie to see if there was something towards the end to justify the boring 1st hour.

The greatest success of this film is to combine romantic comedy with sports, tennis specifically. What stands out the most was that the tennis games are narrated as in a live sports chronicle.

Is there a way for a movie about tennis to be exciting? This movie is. It's essentially a simple premise, a love triangle between 3 tennis 'champions' that somehow became a contender for the best movie of the year. If this is being recognized by the Oscars next year, it would have made Zendaya one of the 'shrewdest' young actress in Hollywood right now. This and Dune has made her a force to be reckoned with. Mind you, the Oscars while a showcase of great talent but also 'choosing' the best project that's suitable to your talents. As such, for her, it's just a matter of time before she recieved accolades in this area.

I really don't know why: #1 critics liked this, and #2 how it was listed as a "must see" in Metacritic. (I'm kidding...I know they are related.) This film was both embarrassing and excruciating for both my wife and me. Melodramatic, overdone, excruciating score, and poor acting from all those involved. Excessive overcranking became very tiresome. We are tennis fans, but this wasn't really about tennis and was only marginally accurate about the game. We have liked the actors in the past, but this was their worst work ever. We were planning to see this in a theatre but thankfully watched it at home. And had to skip forward numerous times just to make it through the film. Easily one of the worst comedies we have seen this year. Oh, it wasn't supposed to be a comedy?

It’s a Reasonably entertaining movie, but very shallow in the story and does not get to any depth in the characters. There are much better movies to watch!

It really shows about love triangle and also exciting to watch but it can be boring at some times