'Challengers': Challenging in Good and Bad Ways

In Zendaya's latest cinematic venture, Challengers, she plays Tashi Duncan, a former tennis prodigy caught in a professional and personal dilemma between her tennis player husband Art Donaldson, played by Mike Faist, Riff from Spielberg's West Side Story, and his former best friend and another tennis player, Patrick Zweig, played by Josh O'Connor.

Zendaya (center), Mike Faist (left), and Josh O'Connor (right) in Amazon MGM's 'Challengers'. Photo courtesy of MGM.

The good parts were Zendaya's passion for tennis, like a young Venus Williams-type player, the conflicting foreplay with Zendaya, O'Connor, and Faist, O'Connor's character's antagonistic behavior, and the electronic background music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, whom you may recognize from Nine Inch Nails and films like The Social Network or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. You might have some fun watching Zendaya dancing to some cool 2000s hip hop throwback music.

The not-so-good part for me was the story, because though Zendaya was billed first, it seemed like the focus was more on O'Connor and Faist's tennis careers than Zendaya herself. It didn't even give enough background as to why she was so intense about tennis, like who was her inspiration or something.

Having said all that, I would give the film a 7.5/10. After her stint with Tom Holland's Spider-Man films, it felt good to see Zendaya break the type and cover some mature territory. The film was good challenge with Zendaya maturing, but bad with the story and screentime not adding up in some moments. If you want to see Zendaya in other dramatic territory and have fun, watch Challengers. Rated R.

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