Victor: “All I have for you is a word: Tenet. It'll open the right doors, some of the wrong ones too.”
Boy it does it feel good to be back at movies. With much precautious going in for the first time since March of this year, I was thrilled beyond my excitement to be back in my favorite place in the world. And to say the least, it was beyond weird and confusing being a theater where I was sharing a film with a decent size crowd for the first time since March. Being there in that theater made me feel like I was at home again. Most people who know me know that I love being in the theater and will always advocate for the continuing existence of them. Just hopefully people actually go and support films like they were doing before this pandemic.
Now, enough of my rant, and onto the big picture that is opening theaters across the US is Tenet (2020). Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, famous for the mind bending films like Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014), The Prestige (2006), or his prominent Dark Knight Trilogy. But most recently with Dunkirk (2017), that film explores the tragedy of war through a convoluted plot line dealing with time while also showing an event take place and not deal with a select amount of characters and giving them backgrounds.
That is exactly how Tenet is played out. This is not nearly Nolan’s best film, but certainly his most intriguing to say the least. Nolan again is dealing with the elements of time and even reversing it, since the film is centered around a core group of characters who are easily defined as “time traveling agents,” at least in my opinion. The Protagonist, which is John David Washington's character, who does not have a name and is referred to as “The Protagonist” travels and discovers this world of ‘time travel” and has to stop a certain situation to save the entire world.
As for as the storyline progresses, one can gather that Nolan makes it seemingly difficult to grasp what exactly is happening on screen. For about the first hour of it, I found myself checking in and out trying to understand what exactly the film was trying to be. It isn't until a key moment where they introduce the reversing of time when one can finally start comprehending clearly what is happening.
This is where I struggle with it. I do not mean to sound harsh in this criticism because I firmly believe Nolan is an intelligent filmmaker. However, I think with Tenet, he went a little too far conceptually. Nolan is the kind of filmmaker who loves the practical and realism when it comes to his signature. And even in films like Inception, Interstellar, where he involves scientific notions to help add to the realism of his plotlines, in Tenet he tries a little too hard instead of letting go of some of the details.
Not to mention, if he wants these details to be heard, the sound design might want to change. Nolan in this film, and in Dunkirk, has been bellowing the soundtrack over characters exchanging important dialogue that helps further the story. Again, Nolan is a clever and smart individual who knows how to write dialogue, but he seems to be going down a route of experimental material where he is messing with the technical side of filmmaking to create a puzzling experience. As if his movies weren’t slightly confusing already.
The spectacle of course is awh-inspiring. That is what makes Tenet a little disappointing in my eyes is because it was like Nolan was trying to cover up dialogue with unique action sequences where people are fighting in reverse and forwards in time. There is an amazing car chase sequence where time is reversed. And the finale itself is a unique experience itself as well. The main problem here is that the finale is emotionally not investing. Nolan deliberately keeps his characters' progress to a minimum throughout this 2 hour and 30 minute runtime of a film. Which to me was irritating considering the main antagonist of Tenet plays an extremely important role with how the resolution plays out. But when characters don't offer much growth or background, the film can seem dull when it slows down.
Tenet is not Nolan's masterpiece that everyone was expecting, but it is definitely thought-provoking and original. However, with this original material he tries to play against cliche character tropes and focus more on a world building outlook, which that viewpoint can work like it does in Dunkirk. But even Inception has an overlining character motivation that brings the urgency for the viewer to follow DiCaprio’s Cobb throughout the multiple dreams he goes through. Here I was expecting the same sort of deal with Washington’s character since he is our main character.
But going against tropes does not always make you clever. Sometimes it wont play to your favor, which happens in Tenet. People will admire the risks and experimental elements Nolan brings to the mainstream audience, which in my eyes is exciting. And that is what makes Tenet a slight disappointment in my eyes. I like what I saw, I think the action is inventive and exciting, pragmatism will always resonate with myself because it feels real which builds that suspense level. But with overpowering sound, and conceptually over its head, Tenet becomes a unique action movie that could have been much more. It's not necessarily “safe” like many critics are calling it, but the film can definitely be seen by a large crowd and people will walk away excited by what they saw from the intoxicating action sequences. Hence being a blockbuster where people can enjoy it. I want to revisit it, but not until it comes out on digital.
Rating: B-
Run Time: 2 Hours 30 Minutes