By Miguel Mike Medina
Photo: Courtesy of Metro Golden Mayer.
Challengers is a sports drama movie starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faust. It’s a thrilling tennis romance. Luca Guadagnino is the director for Challengers. His other credits are for directing Call Me By Your Name and Suspiria.
If you’re a fan of Tennis or sports movies, you might want to take a chance on this one. You’ll probably enjoy it.
Aside from being the leading lady, Zendaya is also one of the producers of this movie.
One of the best things about this movie is the use of flashbacks. The brilliance of flashbacks works in this movie because there’s a meaning to every detail of why things happened the way they did and what led to the situation. It’s one of those movies where you can’t take your eyes off the screen for not even a minute.
However, certain parts of the movie will make you fast-forward because they could be disturbing and cringeworthy.
Zendaya’s performance is one of the best of her career. She does a great job playing a complex character, Tashi. Her number one love and passion is Tennis. Tashi has a strong attitude. She is no BS mentally, but she has made some lousy mistakes when it came to Ari and Patrick.
Tashi was an exceptional tennis player until she injured her knee. Then, she became a tennis coach.
Tashi helps her husband, Ari, become a better player and win matches. It’s a love triangle between three characters, and the tension is at an all-time high.
Many fans are upset because Challengers didn’t receive enough support from the Academy Awards. The movie didn’t receive a single nomination.
Zendaya could’ve been nominated for Best Actress, but the problem is that not everyone can be nominated. There can only be five actresses nominated for the category, and there’s too much competition. It’s not easy to stand out.
Challengers should’ve at least given some consideration for Best Original Score. It’s one of the best of 2024.
Challengers have impressive cinematography, editing, and soiled camera framing. The movie has intense drama and decent writing.
The ending was interesting and avoided cliches. The three characters got everything they wanted. Satisfaction, love, and forgiveness define the movie’s conclusion.
Overall, Challengers will get a 4.2 out of 5 stars. Rotten Tomatoes has the movie at 88 percent, making it one of the most praised movies of 2024.
Miguel Mike Medina is the publisher of The MMM Journal. He can be reached at medinamiguelmike@gmail.com and themmmjournal@gmail.com
X: @mmm_sportnfilms, Instagram: @miguel_passionforsports and @themmmjournal, LinkedIn: The MMM Journal, TikTok: @miguelmikemedina
