Post Strike Cinema 24' - Challengers

The 2024 IT girl is back. Zendaya is a queen! As we wait for Euphoria season three, this little romp might keep us hooked on her. Well Dune: Part II was Zendaya in sci-fi mode, in Challengers she is a glamourous former tennis champ, now her husband's tennis coach.

However with flashbacks we see a love triangle play out between Zendaya, Josh O'Connor, and Mike Faist.

Challengers comes from Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes. 

Throughout the film, we follow a professional tennis champion who plots a comeback with the help of his wife, a former tennis prodigy who retired after an injury, as he goes up against another player, who also happens to be his former best friend and wife's former lover.

Challengers opened last week. An interesting school holidays film really. It has some seriously homoerotic imagery throughout. That sauna scene! So it is no wonder, the film received critical acclaim. While having a banging, brash soundtrack by legends Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross. 

Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), a former tennis prodigy turned coach after a career-ending injury, is married to a champion on a losing streak. Her strategy for her husband's redemption takes a surprising turn when he must face off against his former best friend, who is also Tashi's former boyfriend.

So if you are fans of tennis, love triangles and/or Zendaya, this film is totally for you!

I enjoyed it, even though it was a later Sunday evening session. The session was also largely packed into a smaller cinema. Even though it was a smaller cinema, it had engaged young things watching every full on scene without playing on their phones. That is a win for director Guadagnino if you ask me.

This last few weeks cinema has really picked up. The year started fairly bleak following the strikes on 2023. I am happy to say cinema has it's mojo back!

4 Stars.