Challengers

Luca Guadagnino means something to me. Elegance and daringness for instance. His movies introduce you to something new even when it feels terribly familiar. Challengers is no exception. Tennis? Well yes whatever Luca Guadagnino wants to tell us because I know is going to be a portal to something unique, something personal. Zendaya is. I don't want to say revelation because I already knew she's very, very special. Josh O'Connor too. What moment for this wonderful young actor. I've already seen him in in two or three parts that I will never forget and. Mike Faist, I must confess, is totally new to me but I already love him., The first three way scene they have at the motel is just sublime. I know I will watch that many time. So I haven't said anything about the film yet and I'm not going to. Discover it, just like I did. I loved it.

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.

"Im doing this for both of us. You know that, right."

Idk if this was the straightest gay movie or the gayest straight movie.

• The thing that stopped this film from feeling incredibly boring was the way it played with time.

• Took 30 minutes to slow down and breathe. But if it didb't, I would've given it half a star less.

• Bad acting in trailers, far from the case in the actual film. Trailers didn't sell me but this was a good movie. Wouldn't go back to it though.

• The trailers spoiled the midpoint.

• I think Tashi should've agreed to train Patrick as a way of tricking him to lose. I also thought the guys were the real ones playing Tashi. I was waiting for a flashback scene where the they plan the whole thing. That might've been generic but I also wasn't expecting a "hug and walk off into the sunset" type of ending.

This was my first Luca Guadagnino film, so I'm not sure if any of these criticisms can be explained by "it's just his style" but who knows. The trailer makes the movie look fun, and while there are humorous moments, these are few and far between.

We have two young tennis players - one successful and the other is not for various reasons - both in love with the same woman who seems to jump between them in what makes for a complicated love triangle. Add in electronic music played loudly over scenes where not much is happening, gratuitous nudity (so many penises), and neverending slo-motion in an overlong running time and you have Challengers.

I liked Zendaya when she was playing the role of mature mother and retired tennis professional, but she all too easily slips into an angsty teen who feels too young to play the character.

My favourite moments were the two male leads just hanging out (they had more chemistry than Zendaya with either one), but I wasn't exactly sure what the seemingly homoerotic moments added to the story.

Despite the above points, this movie held my interest and had me wondering exactly where it was going. When it landed, however, I felt cheated of 2 hours by watching a movie that thought it was smarter than it really was. Severely lacking payoff.

I had very high expectations for this movie to come out and planned weeks in advance to see it. Perhaps that was unfair to factor in for my rating, but overall it missed the mark.

I had trouble following the timelines of certain scenes and felt confused throughout. Also, the movie basically has only three characters that have any role of significance which I felt was odd. Perhaps the umpire would be considered the fourth character that you see and he has a very small part.

I thought Zendaya was brilliant, but I didn't particularly like her character or the two competitors. There was nobody that you wanted to root for. For a tennis movie, rather go for Wimbledon than this one unfortunately.