While I have found Zendaya to be an attractive and stylish young woman, I haven't really warmed up to her as a serious actress all that much. She was fine in the "Spider-Man" franchise since it didn't require any great stretches for her. I feel that in the "Dune" series she is overshadowed by other, more talented actors. And in the more serious "Malcolm and Marie" she was in over her head in the cheap imitation of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
"Challengers" is a big step for her as an actress. And while I do still feel as though her two co-stars were more convincing, I think that this part is a brave move into meatier and more challenging roles.
The film is told over a thirteen year period. Zendaya plays Tashi a rising star in the tennis world. She seems to be the next great thing. At one of the tournaments she meets Art and Patrick, played by Mike Faist and Josh O'Connor. They are also competitive tennis players and best friends. And they both fall for Tashi. Who wouldn't?
Over the next several years they each start a relationship with Tashi. Not surprisingly they grow apart, but their stories continue to intersect as they both move closer to an inevitable confrontation...both off and on the court.
It's the kind of movie that Hollywood rarely makes anymore. It's about people and their feelings, and their ambitions. It's not a sequel or a remake, or comic book. This is why I find stories about real human emotions to be so much more exciting than the latest, generic action retread. The plot is advanced by the things the characters say and how their emotions guide their futures.
The film offers ambiguous motivations. On the surface we see them caring for each other, but what lies deep beneath is a much more selfish reality that put them in a survival mode. Each of them is a well written being. There is no hero to the story...nor a villain.
While Zendaya holds her own, Faist and O'Connor are the best part. They move the story and are also the central interest to me. This is, after all a love story, but we don't really understand early that it is also an unconventional one between the two male characters as well. All three of them hold a certain amount of sexual tension between them.
If I was to have a small gripe, it would be that the last twenty minutes is stretched too long. I'm glad that the filmmakers didn't rush it like many films do, but...they do milk the final in too many slow motion and trick shots. It adds tension, but it gets close to making us lose a bit of interest as well. Just get on with it!