'Challengers' is a heady, vibrant mix of sex and sports

Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and his wife and coach, former tennis prodigy Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) arrive at a low-ranked tennis tournament to prepare for the US Open. Though highly ranked and successful, Art is on a losing streak and nursing several injuries while Tashi is reconsidering their relationship, professionally and romantically. However, when their former friend Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor) arrives at the tournament, their shared history of intense bonds and sexual rivalry comes to the surface on the tennis court...

'Challengers' is a rare treat, in that it's a movie that plays the tennis, the sex, the intensity, and the competition all at the same speed. There's a point, early on in the movie, when Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist have first met Zendaya and find themselves enamoured. "I'd let her f**k me with the racket," O'Connor remarks in a breathless trance. When the balls snap back and forth on the court, and when the dialogue ping-pongs between two of the characters, the pulsating electronic score kicks into rhythm. In 'Challengers', it doesn't matter where it's sparring on the court, off the court, in bed or in the back of a car, everyone's in competition because everything in this world is competition. It's the only thing that keeps the three main characters moving.

As you'd expect, each of the three characters are clearly distinctive in a way that makes them easy to read once the tension flies up. Josh O'Connor's Zweig is hungry and desperate, eyeing everything around him hungrily and devouring it just the same. Mike Faist's character is, by definition, calculated and efficient in contrast to O'Connor. Zendaya is planted in the middle, pulling the strings and ultimately a better player than either of them - on or off the court. Much of 'Challengers' is in how Zendaya's character is able to skilfully manipulate them, not just to being the best at what they do, but almost being the best against themselves. It's as though she's playing both sides of herself through them, having them battle it out on court and off court for her affection, when it's never entirely clear who she's drawn to at any given point.

In the hands of a lesser director, 'Challengers' would probably be much less opaque and far more conventional. Yet with Luca Guadagino, it's all deliberate. There is a clear commitment to making these characters sharp and the momentum of their eventual confrontation charges the whole thing. The colours are charged and vital, the cinematography captures the physicality like it's a dance sequence, and the score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross shoots it to life. Stylish erotic thrillers like 'Challengers' only come (no pun intended) along every so often, and when they're here, it's a wonder why we don't see more of them. The reason is simple - it's perilously easy to make unforced errors (pun intended) with them, often resulting in exploitative or derivative works that are neither thrilling nor titillating. 'Challengers' sets the bar for the modern iteration, blending an intelligent script from Justin Kuritzkes, talented actors firing on all cylinders, and a director willing to go the distance with all of it.