Zendaya finally secures her place as a Hollywood superstar in one of the sexiest films of all time-Tori Brazier-Entertainment – Metro

Challengers is the film that sees Zendaya truly arrive as a Hollywood superstar (Picture: MGM/Everett/Shutterstock/Metro.co.uk)

You’d have to have been hiding under a rock for the past several years to not have an inkling who Zendaya is – but Challengers is the film that finally serves up her star quality to an audience in the most undeniable way.

The latest film from Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino, Challengers examines the tightly interwoven relationship between three young tennis starsacross more than a decade.

Ably supported by The Crown’s Josh O’Connor and West Side Story Bafta nominee Mike Faist, Zendaya’s mastery of her craft has never been more confident.

A former Disney Channel child star and singer, the 27-year-old has been making waves in Hollywood for a while thanks to her roles in The Greatest Showman, the Spider-Man franchise and the Dune film series.

She’s even scored a double Emmy win for her turn as recovering teen addict Rue Bennett in the headline-grabbing TV series Euphoria.

But it’s now, with Challengers, that it feels like her moment has truly arrived, breaking through from a Gen Z idol into mainstream success.

Zendaya has already impressed in Dune, Spider-Man and other films, but this is the one that squarely rests on her shoulders (Picture: Getty)

As Tashi Duncan, a hotshot in the sport destined for the biggest titles before she’s forced to retire after a career-ending injury, Zendaya gives us a nuanced, adult performance.

We watch her coach her less naturally talented husband Art (Faist) in the near present day, while jumping back 13 years to discover the start of her acquaintance with him and his close friend and doubles partner, Patrick.

Strategising for her husband’s comeback after a losing streak, things take a surprising turn when he must face off against Patrick – who is also Tashi’s former boyfriend – in a challengers match.

Of course Guadagnino has managed to infuse the film’s dialogue and sizzling chemistry with the intensity and rhythm of a game of tennis, as well as keeping the literal volleys, serves and backhands themselves engaging with energetic camerawork, accompanied by a pulse-poundingly stirring soundtrack from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

She plays tennis prodigy Tashi Duncan in Challengers (Picture: MGM/Everett/Shutterstock)

Tashi is torn between Mike Faist’s Art Donaldson (L) and Josh O’Connor’s Patrick Zweig (R) (Picture: MGM/Everett/Shutterstock)

This steamy scene of the three together has been used extensively in publicity (Picture: MGM/Everett/Shutterstock)

Genuinely, it is no shade to anything else in the movie to call its music one of its standout features, alongside Zendaya.

Much has been made of the tease of a threesome between her and co-stars O’Connor and Faist in the trailer, but Challengers might possibly be one of the sexiest films you’ll ever watch without any actual sex scenes. Everything lives in the hornier but (mostly) clothes-on grey area of steamy make-out sessions and grinding.

There’s also an extremely graphic description of how Art and Patrick came to – ahem – know themselves as curious tweenagers. But a lot of the tension is saved, and utitlised, for the tennis court.

Zendaya excels at portraying the complicated temptation that lies between all three of them, gingerly dipping her toe into the boys’ friendship when they both first meet her.

Also – she’s funny. Her timing is exquisite when it comes to making scenes pop off the screen. There’s nothing especially humorous on the screenplay’s page about Tashi’s pauses during her first encounter with the boys, but Zendaya invites viewers into her thought process.

Zendaya demonstrates an impressive nuance in her acting throughout Challengers (Picture: MGM/Everett/Shutterstock)

The movie serves up a platter of horny steaminess, without any actual sex scenes (Picture: MGM/Everett/Shutterstock)

It’s also only fair to give the compliment of Challengers’ true love story really lying between Faist’s Art and O’Connor’s Patrick who, while they each boast sizzling chemistry with Zendaya, share a genuine rapport with one another onscreen that has an undercurrent of intriguing tension.

However, you still completely believe they would both be as head over heels as they are for Zendaya’s Tashi thanks to her undeniable charisma.

Among its many aces, Challengers’ only faults include the unconvincing age range its stars are required to play, going from 18 to 31 with only really their haircuts helping to mark the passage of time between jumps to flashbacks.

As well as not changing enough in the intervening years, to a distracting degree, none of them make particularly believable teenagers and Zendaya still reads a little too young to be playing in her thirties.

The film’s ending also feels a little abrupt, although once you reach Challengers’ match point, so to speak, it’s hard to see how it could finish in many other satisfying ways.

Challengers has Zendaya’s 185,000,000 Instagram followers as a hoped-for in-built audience, but older, more offline film fans shouldn’t ignore her (Picture: MGM/Everett/Shutterstock)

The rhythm of the movie is important to its narrative, and fans’ enjoyment, so the choice Guadagnino makes at least serves that.

Challengers’ publicity campaign was always built around Zendaya and her social following, with the studio even dropping out of a prime slot at the Venice Film Festival last September after the US Sag-Aftra actors’ strikes, pushing back the release until she’d be available for promo.

Zendaya will undoubtedly attract those younger fans, persuading them to visit the cinema (how quaint!), and just a fraction of her colossal 185,000,000 followers on Instagram checking out Challengers would make producers weep with joy.

However, older film fans should absolutely seek out the movie too, for a sexy, entertaining watch and the satisfaction of seeing an actress come into her own.

Let’s roll out the red carpet to welcome the arrival of Zendaya’s star.

Challengers is out in UK cinemas on Friday, April 26.

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