“tenet” film review

DISCLAIMER: OUR PAPA BOUGHT THE 50% CAPACITY FOR THE THEATER SO WE COULD SEE THE MOVIE IN A SAFE ENVIRONMENT

By: Keaton Marcus

Christopher Nolan is finally here to save cinema from the Covid-19 pandemic with his new hotly anticipated espionage thriller Tenet, but does he do it? Will the filmmaker who defies blockbuster tropes really bring a steady stream of moviegoers back? I guess. This is his most confusing film by far, and at a lengthy 2 hours 30 minutes, audiences are left in the dark for about half an hour. Then the puzzle starts to really come together as viewers get more answers to its almost tediously fast-paced start. Due to the fine cast, especially John David Washington and Robert Pattinson, and the consistently impressive action sequences and set pieces, we get what we want: a convoluted, yet entertaining and heart-pounding adventure. I didn’t even understand half of the thing, but the good thing is: you don’t need to, it just requires a lot of focus, perhaps too much.

Right from the get-go you’re plunged into a nuts adventure with The Protagonist (Washington). That’s right, our hero isn’t even given a name. The movie rapidly starts with a terrorist attack on an opera house in Kyiv, where one of the assumed attackers ends up being Washington’s CIA agent in disguise, who’s come to save an asset. Then a curious thing occurs: a bullet, fired by an unknown ally, reverses out of a nearby seat. It leaves our Protagonist, and audiences, completely confused. The character is quickly educated on the term “inversion”, the movie’s term for a process where an object’s entropy can be reversed — making it appear backwards to us moving forward in time. Trying to keep up? Don’t.

His new inversion-related mission leads him to Neil (Pattinson), a fixer of sorts, useful for his field experience and master’s in physics. Then he’s plunged into India to find a Mumbai arms dealer (Dimple Kapadia), whose literal fortress of an apartment can only be scaled with a bungee jump. That scene gives us some magnificent stunt-work by Pattinson and Washington where they are sling-shotted off one building to another. Finally, the duo get to the real deal, the mastermind behind the villainous “inversion”: rich Ukrainian Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh), who can only be accessed by his wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki), a miserable, controlled arts dealer. There is a lot more happening in this massive, messy film that I’m explaining to you, and that is because I want readers to experience this on the big screen, not read everything there is to know on a computer.

My contorted plot explanation covers some of the basic plot points leading up to the real climax, but it only scratches the surface. What I can say, however, is that this film is technically groundbreaking. From Hoyte van Hoytema’s intensity in the cinematography, Jennifer Lame’s excellent editing skills, to the pulse-pounding score from Black Panther’s Ludwig Goransson. Occasionally, the soundtrack and sound mixing are so loud and bombastic that it’s nearly impossible to hear certain lines of dialogue, but generally, it really works. Christopher Nolan once again plays with booming noises almost assaulting your ear drums, he messed with it in Interstellar, and most recently WW2 epic Dunkirk. The thing is, Nolan knows how to make it effective, unlike a certain somebody (Michael cough Bay cough).

Me, my dad and brother drove two hours just to see this thing. Maybe it wasn’t incredible, but for the first movie in the cinema I’m seeing since Disney’s Onward, it was a total blast. I was thrilled to be experiencing something on the big screen once again, a bit tired of seeing all these would-be theatrical releases going straight to VOD. That was a nice gimmick back in March, maybe April…but us moviegoers need a movie we can truly feel, and there’s no better way to do it then head to the cinema to see a Christopher Nolan film in 70mm. This isn’t a flawless ride, none of Nolan’s works are, though folks cannot argue against the fact that this guy has revolutionized the run-of-the-mill action blockbuster, and turned it into a smart, if impossible to follow affair.

Speaking of issues I have with the movie, there is a few. First of all, Elizabeth Debecki, clearly a capable actress, was disappointingly underused on a character that didn’t deserve her undeniably committed performance. Nolan is clearly trying to put a little bit of emotional spark into an otherwise emotionless film, and it doesn’t fit in unfortunately. Oh, then there’s those exposition dumps. A whole chunk of the first act really falls flat, largely due to the attempts to explain some stuff audiences didn’t catch on to with expository dialogue, a massively lame way to help us grasp the concept of it all compared to some other awe-worthy moments we’re seeing on-screen. As mentioned, the mixing can get a little irritating, but it’ll also get you sucked right in to the world of Tenet.

Fortunately, there are much more factors to praise than criticize. The action sequences are absolutely gorgeous, epic in scale, and high on ingenious “how did they do that?” moments. Because of the heavy use of practical effects, and solid work behind the camera, everything looks unusually realistic for something that costs 225 million dollars. With objects moving backwards, forwards, inverted, this creates a big wow factor during the best scenes of the movie, and proves Nolan to be one of the best directors working today. John David Washington is a total star, Pattinson and Branagh have a total blast with their roles, and this cerebral puzzle has enough dazzling moments to make it another successful project to come out of the most twisted mind of Christopher Nolan.

The final opinion is: Though complex to a fault, Tenet is an otherwise visually impressive puzzle with fine performances, impressively filmed, entertaining action, and a masterfully-crafted puzzle at its core for viewers to unlock…$PLURGE IT

"Tenet" is a Confusing, Dazzling Puzzle for Christopher Nolan Fans

“tenet” film review

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