"Challengers" is not ground-breaking but it does offer some interesting things to talk about. Simply put, it's a love triangle (and they come in all sorts, starting with Camelot) anchored on a professional tennis trajectory. Style-wise, there are moments when it looks like it is winking at the arthouse fans but it does not take long for one to realize that it is targeting the mass audience after all. In terms of substance, after the sound and fury, what it really aims to do is to give you a good entertainment. The top leads are excellent in achieving a perfect balance. After all, they are selling charisma and glamour, not philosophy.
"Challengers" is more character-driven than event-drive. Indeed, the contrived back-and-forth flashbacks create an impression that it is a complicated story. Reimagined in linear fashion, however, it is not complicated. Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O'Connor) are as close a pair of buddies as you can imaging, and their intimacy may take various subtle shades. In other words, nothing unusual. Enters Tashi (Zenday), who comes between them, literally (like, on a bed). Still, nothing unusual. The trio are all top-notch tennis pros. Tashi ends up marrying Art and coaches him towards Grand Slam championship, when her own career suffers a setback from injury. Then, Art fumbles (sorry about the vocabulary; this is tennis, not football, I know) into an existential crisis. Tashi tries to remedy it by entering him into a low-level championship, to regain confidence. There, they reencounter Patrick. Things get complicated, emotionally not the least. That's basically the story, which starts in the movie at the championship finas between the two men.
On the other hand, the audience is never let into any depth of the emotions of the characters. Art is the least complicated. "He is a good guy" maybe says it all. One may even question the reasonableness of his having a strong enough killer instinct for cut-throat competition of professional tennis. For Faist it is a reversal of character persona from his Riff in "West Side Story", an all alpha, flamboyant street gang leader. Faist did well in both.
In "Challengers", Patrick is the nearest to a villain although it is perhaps a bit too much to categorized him thus. But he is certainly a schemer, aggressive and flashy (sometimes literally). While a good guy often becomes a bore, it's the bad guys ooze alluring attraction. Even dominating Tashi sometimes falls for it. O'Connor, who plays unappealing Prince Charles in The Crown, plays unappealing Patrick in a different way - you take the high road and I take the low road. While Patrick is in fact not a poor kid, he tries to look like one, a stark contrast to Charles's regal presence.
It's Zandaya's Tashi who takes center stage, not only takes it, but also owns it (except for the final scenes when she surrenders the spotlight back to the two facing-off players). After Spiderman and Dune, she finally gets a movie role for her acting chop, and one that is worthy the pedigree an Emmy winner and glamour celebrity. A role just about custom-made for her, one may say.
"Challengers" is more character-driven than event-drive. Indeed, the contrived back-and-forth flashbacks create an impression that it is a complicated story. Reimagined in linear fashion, however, it is not complicated. Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O'Connor) are as close a pair of buddies as you can imaging, and their intimacy may take various subtle shades. In other words, nothing unusual. Enters Tashi (Zenday), who comes between them, literally (like, on a bed). Still, nothing unusual. The trio are all top-notch tennis pros. Tashi ends up marrying Art and coaches him towards Grand Slam championship, when her own career suffers a setback from injury. Then, Art fumbles (sorry about the vocabulary; this is tennis, not football, I know) into an existential crisis. Tashi tries to remedy it by entering him into a low-level championship, to regain confidence. There, they reencounter Patrick. Things get complicated, emotionally not the least. That's basically the story, which starts in the movie at the championship finas between the two men.
On the other hand, the audience is never let into any depth of the emotions of the characters. Art is the least complicated. "He is a good guy" maybe says it all. One may even question the reasonableness of his having a strong enough killer instinct for cut-throat competition of professional tennis. For Faist it is a reversal of character persona from his Riff in "West Side Story", an all alpha, flamboyant street gang leader. Faist did well in both.
In "Challengers", Patrick is the nearest to a villain although it is perhaps a bit too much to categorized him thus. But he is certainly a schemer, aggressive and flashy (sometimes literally). While a good guy often becomes a bore, it's the bad guys ooze alluring attraction. Even dominating Tashi sometimes falls for it. O'Connor, who plays unappealing Prince Charles in The Crown, plays unappealing Patrick in a different way - you take the high road and I take the low road. While Patrick is in fact not a poor kid, he tries to look like one, a stark contrast to Charles's regal presence.
It's Zandaya's Tashi who takes center stage, not only takes it, but also owns it (except for the final scenes when she surrenders the spotlight back to the two facing-off players). After Spiderman and Dune, she finally gets a movie role for her acting chop, and one that is worthy the pedigree an Emmy winner and glamour celebrity. A role just about custom-made for her, one may say.
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