“Challengers” is a challenging movie to watch for those with a lack of imagination. 

One of summer’s blockbusters is not for viewers with morals. Director Luca Guadagnin managed to create a film that takes tennis and turns it into a match about relationships. 

The movie is not about tennis at all. Tennis is a distraction that Luca uses to keep your eyes tracking the movement of the relationships between “Tashi” played by Zendaya, “Art” played by Mike Faist, and “Patrick” played by Josh O’Connor. 

But why is this movie not for those with a lack of imagination or those with extreme relationship morals? The movie is toxic. “Challengers” has a very hard foundation based on toxicity between the players, the game, and themselves. For those who “don’t believe in that kind of thing,” they might have a hard time processing the intense messy moments between the main characters. 

Now, did the marketing team entirely fool us into believing that the movie was just about tennis and threesomes? It definitely did, but the movie is about what it looks like to direct all of your feelings towards a sport and sex and never actually resolve them over normal conversation. 

Tashi wasn’t necessarily good at tennis because she was just good, but because her inner emotions kept her driven, at least up until she couldn’t play anymore. Even then, she directed her emotion to coaching her now husband Patrick. At first, you’re on the edge of your seat waiting for the spectacle of Zendaya having a threesome but instead given the spectacle of a spectacular ending. It’s a resolution of emotion in the most indirect way ever. I absolutely adored “Challengers” and thought it was one the most adrenaline-filled, imaginative movies I’ve seen in a while.