TENET:
NOT ONE OF CHRISTOPHER NOLAN’S BEST, BUT STILL A VISUALLY DAZZLING AND INTELLIGENTLY CRAFTED ENTRY IN HIS FILMOGRAPHY!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: *** out of 4
WARNER BROS. PICTURES
John David Washington in Tenet
Time travel gets even more chaotic than the Hulk’s explanation of it from Avengers: Endgame in Tenet, the latest film from director Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Dunkirk) and the final film in his unintentional Infinity Stone hunt consisting of Mind (Memento), Space (Interstellar), Reality (Inception), Power (The Dark Knight trilogy), Soul (Insomnia), and now Time, sorry I couldn’t resist. Anyway, this was originally intended to be a Summer 2020 release but was delayed three times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, now it’s finally released in theaters, how does it hold up compared to some of Nolan’s other films? I like it…but I don’t think it’s one of his best movies.
As is normally the case with most of Nolan’s films, Tenet is a visually dazzling and intelligently crafted spectacle that’s filled to the brim with his signature tropes. You know the ones, non-linear storytelling, practical special effects in front of the camera, shooting on IMAX Film, exposition-heavy dialogue, the presence of Michael Caine, and a lot of thrilling, edge-of-your-seat action sequences, for better or for worse all of this is present in the film.
The film follows a mysterious Protagonist (John David Washington-Ballers, BlacKkKlansman, The Old Man & the Gun) who is armed with only one word “Tenet” and fighting for the survival of the entire world, journeys into a world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold into something beyond real time. The Protagonist and his handler Neil (Robert Pattinson-Good Time, The Lighthouse, The Batman) teams up with auctioneer Kat (Elizabeth Debicki-The Great Gatsby (2013), Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2, Widows) and fixer Mahir (Himesh Patel-EastEnders, Yesterday, The Aeronauts) to do the unthinkable, manipulate the flow of time in order to prevent World War III and bring down a ruthless Russian oligarch (Kenneth Branagh-Hamlet (1996), Thor, Murder on the Orient Express (2017)/Death on the Nile).
The film also stars Michael Caine (The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Kingsman: The Secret Service) as Sir Michael Crosby, Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass 1 and 2, Godzilla (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron) as Ives, Martin Donovan (Simple Men, Insomnia, Weeds) as Victor, Fiona Dourif (The Blacklist, Curse/Cult of Chucky, The Purge (TV series)) as Wheeler, Clémence Poésy (Harry Potter franchise, In Bruges, 127 Hours) as Laura, and Dimple Kapadia (Being Cyrus, Luck by Chance, Finding Fanny) as Priya.
Overall, Tenet is definitely the black sheep of Christopher Nolan’s films and will most likely require multiple viewings to fully get the picture. It’s arguably the most complex and non-linear of his work that probably won’t get the same amount of praise as something like Inception, The Dark Knight trilogy, or even Interstellar, this film pretty much makes those movies look like walks in the park by comparison, but for those willing to use their brains a little will find an exhilarating thrill ride wrapped around a thought-provoking mind puzzle of a film.
I’m not kidding about the “exhilarating thrill ride”, the action sequences in this movie are spectacular and very creative (Not quite Inception hallway fight or the car chase in The Dark Knight where the truck flips over, but still very exciting stuff), because this movie is about time travel, Nolan gets to play around with it a lot during these moments, from a plane crash scene that rocks the auditorium when watching it on IMAX had me on the edge of my seat to various fight scenes, car chases, and battles all done in reverse (Buildings reassembling themselves while blowing up, bullet-holes from a shot-up window that disappear after being shot by a gun, cars driving and crashing backwards, etc.) which I completely fell in love with, it’s a movie that warrants an IMAX viewing, if you’re watching it on a TV, smartphone, or tablet, guess what? You’re not seeing it at all!
It will exhilarate you and also make you scratch your head because as we all know Christopher Nolan loves a good mystery and keeping things from the audience so they can figure it out themselves, I just saw the movie today and I feel like there are certain details about this film that I may have missed. Much like Inception, it’s possible that Tenetwill start to make more sense after multiple viewings of it…which I will gladly do because I enjoyed this film.
The performances by the lead actors are great especially from John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, and the highlight being Kenneth Branagh who goes full over-the-top crazy as the film’s villain. However, my biggest issue with this movie (and this is a common flaw for other Nolan movies) is that while the acting is legitimately good and the plot is conceptually fascinating, the character development kind of falls flat for me.
It isn’t lazy or bad, at this point the heavy exposition dumping in place of character development is also a standard of Nolan’s filmmaking, but to me the people in his movies don’t always talk like human beings and because many of the characters are very mysterious, the film doesn’t really give me much time to grow attached to them or care about what they’re fighting for. That’s basically why I think Batman (1989) has stronger character moments than The Dark Knight because they sound more natural and feel more alive (I love both movies, by the way!).
Tenet will give Christopher Nolan fans and film enthusiasts what they’re looking for, a thrilling, head-scratching puzzle with a lot of fascinating themes and concepts, a booming musical score by Creed and Black Panther’s Ludwig Göransson that eerily sounds like the music of frequent Nolan collaborator Hans Zimmer, and plenty of exhilarating action sequences. You may have to think harder compared to his other work to completely understand it, but that’s a small price to pay.
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