Tenet - Review

 

Christopher Nolan is a director near impossible to review. Not because his films are unworthy of your time or they are bulletproof to criticism. Most, if not all, are based around such tightrope acts of delirious plotting and high concept action. He makes the thinking man’s blockbuster, and with “Tenet” he’s created, for better or worse, his most cerebral and ambitious project yet.

John David Washington (“BlacKkKlansman,” “Ballers”) stars as The Protagonist, the lead character who goes without a name for the entire film. He’s cool and collected, giving off the same gravitas that one might expect from a James Bond type spy, yet he’s also not afraid to express when he (often) has no idea what is happening, allowing the audience a small semblance of solitude as, if he doesn’t know what’s happening, neither do they.

Robert Pattinson (“Twilight,” “The Lighthouse”) is his handler, Neil, and the pair have great chemistry as they loop through the events of the film, shutting themselves off from quips when it comes time to get work done and allowing an easy rapport to evolve off the clock. Elizabeth Debicki (“Widows (2018),” “The Night Manager”) is also great as Kat, an art appraiser and abused wife of Kenneth Branagh’s (“Dunkirk,” “Hamlet (1996)”) antagonist Sator.

Debicki’s performance is the most uneven, mostly due to the whiplash her character goes through. She’s without a doubt the character who knows the least of what’s going on, and it shows in her performance, for better or worse. Branagh, meanwhile, is chewing up the scenery with a thick faux Russian accent and long philosophical monologues throughout the film. He’s certainly doing a lot of acting here.

From a technical standpoint, “Tenet” is an absolute beast to behold. Like his previous films, Nolan is a stickler for using as little CGI as possible. That would normally make scenes like a Boeing 747 crashing into an airport free point thrilling enough but knowing that this and numerous other sequences were filmed multiple times, syncing everything up to get the flow of time mechanic of the film just right is mindboggling.

It’s a film full of technical wizardry. Smoke is sucked back into the ground as people fire guns normally. Even just a simple moment where the Protagonist steps into a puddle, only to have it splash in reverse as he moves forward is incredible. The music is also exceptional. Composer Ludwig Göransson (“Black Panther,” “Creed”) continues his meteoric rise to the top of every filmmaker’s most wanted list and delivers a stirring score in both the calmest and most pulse pounding sequences.

From a technical standpoint, “Tenet” is immaculate. However, its in the plot that things get far stickier. No plot information will be given outside of what little is detailed in the film’s trailers but suffice it to say this is Nolan’s most ambitious film narrative yet. It’s the kind of movie that you might understand when its over, but if you were asked to explain it, it would be nye impossible.

This means it lacks the sort of easy explanations of films like “Inception” or “Interstellar.” Not only that, but both of those films were also easily digestible to audiences because their concepts were doled out much more slowly as the film went on. They didn’t differ in density, merely were explained more slowly. “Tenet” doesn’t hold your hand at all, even in the sound mixing department, merely throwing you headfirst into its action and saying, “try to keep up.”

For some, this will work. If you’re into the kind of films where you throw your hands up and succumb to the experience, “Tenet” will be thrilling. By the end it does make sense, in its own way, and yet there are still massive gaps in the plot that don’t so much feel like a director inviting the audience to piece it together, but more a director saying, “If you don’t get it, I can’t help.”

It’s an auteur blockbuster film if there ever was such a thing. It’s a film that is so clearly one man’s vision, with no compromises. Even if you don’t understand what’s happening, its impossible not to get swept up in the action as it unfolds, as its truly like nothing else that has come before in cinema.

Yes, it has more than its fair share of “holy shit” moments of realization, but its also the kind of film that reminds what’s possible with the medium of film. Love it or hate it, a movie like this could only exist now, with today’s technology and today’s movie audiences.

In its own special way, “Tenet” is a fabulous reminder of the magic of the movies; when a creator is given free reign to do whatever they want, money and logic be damned. It helps that Nolan has some great actors and technical merits to back up his most bonkers story yet, and whether or not you like it, its inarguable that you won’t forget “Tenet.” 4/5