'Challengers (2024)' is a love-triangle drama focused around three tennis players at various points in their lives and careers as their interpersonal relationships impact upon - and are reflected in - their on-court escapades. Framed through what ought to be the lowest stakes tournament either of the male leads has ever played in, the film slowly peels back the layers behind their match and reveals why it's actually the most important game of either of their lives (or, at least, it feels like it). Although its timeline hopping is occasionally a little clumsy, the film's structure does a good job in keeping you invested in its events by turning them into a sort of puzzle. It keeps you guessing as to why these once friends now seem to despise each other; the more backstory it reveals, the more invested you are in the competition that it keeps coming back to. It's a well-made movie, but it sometimes plays things so straight that it almost circles back around into parody. This is especially evident during the immediate buildup to the climax, which is comprised of so much sweaty slow motion and repetitive techno music that it pulls you out of the experience. At a certain point, you can't help but realise just how silly its melodrama really is. Of course, its melodrama is purposefully over the top and it tends to work really well in most scenes. Some of the interactions between the three leads are straight-up brutal, and - although none of them are really all that likeable - you go back and forth on who you're aligned with (or, more accurately, who you feel sorry for). The drama is generally compelling and the flick does a good job of making its tennis seem plausible, not just in terms of the sport itself but also in terms of the politics surrounding who plays what match where and why. I'm conflicted on the movie's use of its soundtrack when it comes to scoring its more intense off-court scenes, as it makes the unconventional choice to drown out key conversations (mostly arguments) with way-too-loud electro music so that you're literally straining to hear the dialogue. It's an interesting concept and it's effective the first couple of times it occurs, but it eventually gets a little grating because it's way louder than the characters and it makes several scenes physically uncomfortable to endure (again, a strong idea in theory). It doesn't help that it's the same piece of music - or, at least, the same motif - that occurs over each of these scenes, something which again pushes the piece further towards parody than it ought to be. Where the film really comes alive, totally and unequivocally, is during its actual tennis sequences. Luca Guadagnino injects a lot of formalistic flair into these scenes, putting us on the court with the players and making every single ball hit sound like a gunshot that shakes you to your core. The finale, in particular, is a fantastically frenetic, surprisingly experimental and genuinely exciting piece of action-oriented filmmaking that does things with its camera that even the most Avant-garde of directors would find surprising. It's a vital, compelling and almost jaw-dropping culmination to all that has come before, a cathartic explosion that shatters the suspense built up over the previous two hours in an edge-of-your-seat rally that reflects what one of the characters has been after all along: some really good tennis.
Review of Challengers
