Wiz HIGHLY RECOMMENDS Challengers

The marketing for Challengers doesn't begin to actually describe what the movie is truly about.

From the trailer to the poster, Luca Guadagnino's tennis drama gives the impression that this was to be a steamy, sultry sex capade with rackets and jealous.

Now, there's some of that, but it's really not the biggest story of the film.

What the film is really about is a multi-layered character study on three incredibly flawed people and how their motivations seem to cross-sect each other in destructive ways.

There are a number of ways to look at these characters and their relationships: we can look at the fact that, of anyone, Tashi (Zendaya) is clearly the dominant person of the three: a clear alpha amongst two unwitting betas.

There's also the story of both Patrick (Josh O'Connor) and Art's (Mike Faust) debilitating co-dependence and need for approval from Tashi.

On top of that, there's the whole dynamic with the three of them where literally everything is a competition whether it's on the tennis court or off.

In fact, some of the most tense conflicts have zero to do with the sport: it's the verbal sparring the three get into and how Toshi breaks them down verbally.

Hell, you can look at the film as a story of an incredibly toxic person who latches onto poor souls and sucks their will dry.

But here's the rub: exactly who's the toxic person?

And that is what makes Justin Kuritzkes' screenplay so excellent: it weaves all of these different stories, connects them so expertly and captivates when you want to figure out what is going to happen next.

There is a great amount of depth to these characters that makes you love, loathe and captivated by all three characters.

Another positive factor of the film is the energetic music and how it is placed. The bumping bass and techno pulse soundtrack is placed in some of the most tense films of the film...which are scenes involving dialogue.

It's strange to think that some of the most tense senses are dialogue, but the music pairing with the verbal jousting fits incredibly well.

The performances paired with the screenplay are also excellent.

All three actors play theri roles well on the court making it feel believable when they are competing.

Faust's performance as Art is both painful at times and deep; it shows a man who is breaking down both physically and emotionally due to Tashi and his slumping game.

As the more arrogant of the two guys, O'Connor plays an over-confident douche well. He's a hard guy to really feel bad for, but the film doesn't give you much to really make you feel bad for him anyway.

But the performance of the film,. hands down, goes to Zendaya. In every scene, whether it's the seductive soon-to-be college girl or the dominating coach of her husband, her performance is the film that pushes the film to other levels.

Easily the most complex of the film, Zendaya needed to portray Tashi in such a way to fit in all sorts of situations while making her believable. And man, does Zendaya pull it off so well.

There is one minor issue with the film: there were questionable decisions regarding the cinematography and camera movement.

Some scenes have a rather unnecessary slow down that adds nothing to the scene. But the worst decision of the film was the final point at the end, where parts of the match is done under the court.

But those issues are so minor compared to how excellent the film is.

if you want to see a movie with complex characters and an even messier relationship dynamic, Challengers is a film that you should definitely give a watch.