Here at Screened, we've been huge Christopher
Nolan fans for many years.
And like many of you, we've been looking forward
to watch Tenet on the big screen and have
our minds be blown away and then spend time
afterwards dissecting the film.
And now that we've had a chance to watch it,
we want to share our thoughts with you without
going into any spoilers.
Overall, the plot is quite convoluted, so
in order to not give anything away, I'll just
say that in Tenet, we follow The Protagonist
(yes that's his character's name), played
by John David Washington, as he tries to prevent
a world ending event.
Nolan's non-linear narratives now have an
added variance with the inclusion of time
inversion.
In essence, it's the ability to make things
flow inversely to the way we perceive time.
The film feels like a high concept sci-fi
James Bond or Mission Impossible: Fallout.
And If you go in with that mindset, I think
you're going to find more enjoyment to be
had.
Now, Let's begin with the positives:
Ludwig Göransson's score rises to meet the
daunting task of continuing in Hans Zimmer's
place as composer, giving the film a sense
of urgency and importance.
Hoyte Van Hoytema's cinematography is beautiful
and complements the set pieces.
It really is impressive how much Nolan managed
to pull-off in camera.
Technically, this film is a grand achievement.
And now for the negatives...
Unfortunately, this movie is a bit of a letdown.
I mentioned earlier that the plot is very
convoluted.
It's also confusing at times.
It's not so much because of the concept of
time inversion, which in itself is very interesting
for the most part, but because when important
elements are explained, there is no time to
take them in or to let a scene breathe, we
move on to an explanation and then a set piece
and then the next explanation and so on.
There is a lot of "And then this happens"
"And then this happens" kind of storytelling
going on.
Some of the dialogue scenes are like a ping
pong match between two characters: It - cuts
- at - every - single-reply-.
Wide shots are seemingly in short supply.
There is a lot of fast traveling, thin character
introductions and we're still being told the
rules of the world halfway through the movie.
Even the characters feel like they exist only
to advance the plot.
It's like the train in the beginning there
are no stops.
The story moves along even if you're not onboard.
There is going to be a lot of comparisons
to Inception and unfortunately this movie
doesn't rise to that level.
Inception was a very convoluted movie with
big action set pieces, but the ending was
personal, that's what made it resonate with
viewers.
It was a high concept movie with low stakes
(meaning not world-ending).
Tenet is very ambitious and has extremely
high stakes but doesn't really manage to make
us care as much.
We are kept at an emotional arm's length throughout
the movie.
Even Interstellar, which is often mentioned
as a film that lacks an emotional element,
made us feel more.
In Tenet's case, there is no real emotional
anchor...no character that is the audiences
true surrogate to help navigate this interesting
but confusing world.
Having smaller stakes or more of a human touch
might have helped bring the film's message
home.
We feel that this is one of those cases where
style and spectacle are chosen over substance.
Nolan flexes his directorial prowess and industry
pull but his worst inclinations, of which
we've seen hints in his previous works, come
to the surface and are on full display.
I wonder, if this movie was made by anyone
else, might we be as forgiving?
It's not a bad movie, but it's not great either.
It's a spectacularly, loud, expensive "okay".
And sadly, for Nolan the deck is stacked against
him when even an okay movie can mean it's
a let down because people keep expecting the
next Inception or The Dark Night.
Under any other circumstance, I would encourage
you to watch the film (probably not at full
price) and judge for yourself ...but seeing
the world situation as it is, and knowing
the risks involved in going to the movies...I
would definitely recommend that you wait for
it.
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