Challengers (2024)

[Gacivory]

Saw it and loved! I don’t let box office dictate how I feel about a movie! Can’t wait for the Blu-Ray!

[Hedrox]

Originally Posted by slumcat

This movie still lost money. It's a failure.

Most big releases lost money this year, this one is close enough to break even territory that it'll easily turn a profit with ancillary markets (streaming, physical sales, TV broadcast rights).

[rooboy78]

Very true, this movie did just fine and certainly better than I expected it would. I’m just happy so many people clicked with it!

[StarWarsIsAwesome123]

I didn't love this one as much as seemingly the whole internet did, but it still has more positives than negatives. The 3 lead performances are pretty strong, really selling the toxicity and jealousy of these characters. It's genuinely impressive how much mileage director Luca Guadagnino gets out of simple tennis matches, with the dynamic camerawork and editing making these scenes feel thrilling. The great pulse-pounding score by Reznor and Ross also adds an extra layer of intensity to various scenes, but not in an aggressive way. Although, how deeply unlikable the characters are (obviously by design) made this a bit frustrating on the whole, as it made me not care about the potential outcome and I was not rooting for anyone. Non-linear narratives can work for me, but I didn't think it worked that well here, the jumping back and forth between time periods every other scene was unnecessarily confusing at times. The movie felt like they were trying to heavily stylize a fairly basic story. Despite these gripes, this was still a totally fine watch, just not one that left a really high impression on me like it did for so many others. 7/10

[Hedrox]

Originally Posted by StarWarsIsAwesome123

I didn't love this one as much as seemingly the whole internet did, but it still has more positives than negatives. The 3 lead performances are pretty strong, really selling the toxicity and jealousy of these characters. It's genuinely impressive how much mileage director Luca Guadagnino gets out of simple tennis matches, with the dynamic camerawork and editing making these scenes feel thrilling. The great pulse-pounding score by Reznor and Ross also adds an extra layer of intensity to various scenes, but not in an aggressive way. Although, how deeply unlikable the characters are (obviously by design) made this a bit frustrating on the whole, as it made me not care about the potential outcome and I was not rooting for anyone. Non-linear narratives can work for me, but I didn't think it worked that well here, the jumping back and forth between time periods every other scene was unnecessarily confusing at times. The movie felt like they were trying to heavily stylize a fairly basic story. Despite these gripes, this was still a totally fine watch, just not one that left a really high impression on me like it did for so many others. 7/10

Maybe there is a thematic purpose to it?

The back and forth narrative mimics the back and forth tennis match between Art and Patrick, and if you pay close attention you'll notice how each flashback is dominated by a character which then translates to said character winning the set (Patrick "wins" Tashi's phone number and they get together, resulting in him taking the first set).

[eiknarf]

Despite what the Austin Chronicle said about this film, this movie was fantastic!! Well done! It had me hooked. The energy, The pacing, the time jumps, the score, the three main performances…etc

[Cremildo]

Voted Best Score by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association

[Bolo Seagull]

I wanted to revisit this film and I'd been holding out for a delayed 4K release, but the blu-ray got super cheap and I find drama films have lower odds at getting delayed 4K releases than other stuff, especially the horror genre.

Revisiting this film, almost a year since I saw it in cinemas, I liked it even more. It absolutely whizzed by, I was never bored. I found it steadily engaging and got into each scene.

When all the year end discussion of last year's best films was happening, I kept leaning towards this being the strongest overall 2024 release I saw. 'Anora' was fresher in my mind, was getting more buzz, and ultimately swept the Oscars, where 'Challengers' was ignored. But my gut kept telling me 'Challengers' was the film I preferred.

I do intend to revisit 'Anora' this summer when I pick up the Criterion release in the July sale. But now I feel my gut was right that I like this film overall more. I wouldn't call it a towering masterpiece, but it is a really solid and focused film. The fractured timeline is put to perfect use in terms of bringing pieces of the puzzle together without ever feeling like it is playing keep away with the audience. Glad I picked this up.

[slip220]

This movie was much better than Anora. The editing, the pacing, the soundtrack, everything.