Challengers

This is a tough one. I liked the concept and the overall story. However i feel like it missed the mark on occasions.

The acting was decent. Felt like each character was built upon chemistry and realism. It kept me entertained for the most part.

The times jumps at the beginning worked and created suspense. Leaving the viewer unsure of what the history our 3 characters share however, the time jumps became a bit too rapid and i personally found it harder to keep up with where we are in the story. I feel like they could've left out a few scenes to make the story flow smoother.

The soundtrack was interesting. Not sure if it suited the mood of the film. But my biggest gripe is the ridiculously slowed down ending. Not sure what the director was thinking with that one.

The conclusion felt like it was going on for 1 hour and i felt it a little cheesy with the last scene of the film.

Overall I see a lot of influence from the film "Match Point" starring Scarlet Johansson. In my opinion that film was far more successful in what "challengers" was attempting.

Overall, bit hit and miss. Some decent moments but nothing to get you excited about or talk about after.

I felt that three of them were good but Guadagino chose to focus on (a) the product placement (god.. could they be more obvious?) (b) the annoying soundtrack accompanying the endless scenes in slow motion of people staring at each other, and (c) cool camera angles. Don't get me wrong. I understand film is another language in itself but I think the acting is far from the priority of the filmmaker. In the few moments where we get to see them interact with each other there is chemistry. I don't understand why he (or Amazon) chose not to focus more on that. I was so over that annoying soundtrack of gay 90s club. Did he choose to cut the story like that because he knew there was not much story to tell to begin with?

The only reason I went to see this movie was to see if Zendaya could hang with the big dogs. To see if she can carry a film all by herself. She has the talent, she has the looks. She has it all. I think this movie is a good start to launch her career as a bonfide movie star. That being said, the movie itself was okay. Just okay. Not great, not bad but okay. I thought Zendaya was good. Her performance was something I expected, which I guess is a good thing. Didn't blow me out of the water but overall good. The actor who played Patrick, in my opinion did a great job. However everything else about this movie just fell short for me. Too much style and not enough substance.

I went to see this yesterday although it was not my choice.

I tried to disregard that tennis mostly bores me.

Usually perceptive, but I did not get the point of the film.

A love triangle spanning 13 years with Zendaya as the master manipulator. What was she doing? Making the chaps better tennis players, making them grow up, making them aware that their long time friendship was more than just that. I do not know and then you ask yourself, why?

On the plus side, Josh O'Connor was mesmerising, turning in a good performance. The music was good, if on occasion a tad overdramatic for the scene being played out. Some titters.

On the minus side, the tennis montages grew tedious, the time jumps a little too often, particularly towards the end of the film.

There was one scene in a locker room, where I could not understand a word that was being said, I thought it was not in English, but I could not understand the gist or the purpose. Very frustrating.

The film was too long (I saw people leave) and, dare I say it, a little pointless.

First of all, this movie has an 80s-style vibe that we have seen many times before that could have well been told in a conventional 90-100 minute movie. This movie truly was not "important" enough to tell it over 131 minutes. Add to that there were pointless extended shots that you were begging to end. At about 100 minutes in, audience members were looking at their cellphones either to check the time or they were getting restless.

Second, there were excessive timeline jumps. It is often a useful story-telling device, but here it was excessive and distracting - so much so that when they did another timeline jump there was a consensus "groan." Making matters worse, is that there were time jumps as long as 13 years. However, Zendaya --- bless her heart --- as much as they tried to "age" her and "de-age" her through hair and make-up, she never looked, to me, older than about 17 years old regardless of the time era.

Third, while I credit Zendaya for tackling such a meaty role, and as much as I otherwise adore her, she just simply seemed to young to be so "weathered" and "jaded" and "cynical" and "ruthless" and "calculating" as she was. Further, I really don't remember her smiling once throughout the movie. And as I have read in other reviews, she seemed to have a resting "scowl" throughout the movie - ironically very much similar to the scowl she had throughout both Dune 1 and 2.

And lastly, by the end of the movie, none of the three characters were likeable, and, perhaps, oddly, sadly, Zendaya was, to me, the least likeable. And from a film character study point of view, the viewer is never given a reason or backstory for this.

With all these distractions in mind, I was so eager for the movie to end that I lost all investment whatsoever in who won or lost in the story's big moment.