Christopher Nolan is certainly one of the biggest filmmakers in cinema today, skirting the line between experimental and mainstream. Nolan first arrived on the scene with 1998’s Following, but it was his 2000 film Memento that got him attention. The success of Memento led to him directing 2002’s Insomnia through Steven Soderbergh, a remake of the 1997 Norwegian film. Insomnia made over $100 million against a $46 million budget, leading to him getting to reboot the Batman film franchise. His Dark Knight Trilogy (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises) further established Nolan as a household name. In between his Batman films, Nolan also made The Prestige, Inception, and Interstellar, each earning critical and financial success. Nolan followed these up with the WWII epic Dunkirk, which earned Nolan his first Best Director Oscar nomination. After numerous delays due to COVID-19, 2020 finally sees the release of Nolan’s Tenet.
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Synopsis
A CIA agent known only as “The Protagonist” (John David Washington) is recruited by the secret organization, Tenet. He’s introduced to the concept of “inversion”, essentially objects have reversed entropy so that they can move backward in time. With the aid of British intelligent agent Neil (Robert Pattinson), The Protagonist learns who’s controlling the technology behind inversion. Russian arms dealer Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh) has been in contact with an unknown agency who’s been supplying the technology. The Protagonist tries to get closer to Sator by developing a kinship with his estranged wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki). He learns that her relationship with Andrei is an abusive one to the point where she can’t see her son. Along the way, time continues being distorted as The Protagonist learns more about what Sator’s ultimate plan is. Will our protagonist succeed in stopping Sator, or will Sator manage to start World War III?
Review
Given that the film deals with time manipulation, Tenet is a hard film to talk about in terms of summarizing. The film never really explains much of what’s happening, which is both a good and a bad thing. While it’s good that the film doesn’t spoonfeed everything to you, there isn’t enough information given to go off of. Christopher Nolan is usually known for his unconventional storytelling, but here, it’s hard to follow the various plot elements. This extends to the characters, who are given little to no characterization aside from Kat and Andrei Sator. You learn so much about their relationship and how controlling Andrei is that you gravitate more towards Kat. It helps that both Debicki and Branagh give fantastic performances, the same goes for both Washington and Pattinson. You can tell the actors are giving it their all, even if there isn’t much to their characters.
On a more positive note, Nolan once again shows just how masterful of a director he is here. The action sequences are well-staged and well-edited, and the concept of inversion offers plenty of opportunities for these sequences. Given how the film plays with time, it’s interesting to see how scenes are played out from two different perspectives. Admittedly, the action doesn’t really pick up until the second half, and at two and a half hours, it’s taxing. This is a film that would probably benefit from multiple viewings, which is something I know most audiences aren’t into. That said, I’m glad this is the first big film to get released to theaters given the 2020 pandemic. Even if the plot is convoluted and much is left in the dark, it’s still an impressive feat of filmmaking. Overall, Tenet is prototypical Christopher Nolan, so take that for what it’s worth.
Buy tickets for Tenet through Fandango: https://fandan.co/2R2MEUx
