‘Tenet’ Review: No Spoilers (Couldn’t If I Wanted To)

UPDATE: I re-watched 'Tenet' and changed some (but not all) of my thoughts.

I am fortunately in a country/region (Canada) where the pandemic has been managed to a point where movie theatres have re-opened. I've written all about my experience returning to the cinema detailing the good and the bad.

Of course, the movie to bring me back to the theatre was Christopher Nolan's highly anticipated, time-bending, 'Tenet'.

As I've alluded in the title, there are no spoilers here. Partly because I wouldn't want to spoil a newly released movie for anyone, but also, I don't think I understood enough of this movie to spoil it.

I am a big Nolan fan. He is an incredibly refreshing filmmaker to have in an industry that is simply rebooting everything successful from our youth. 'Inception' (2010) and 'Dunkirk' (2017) are my personal favourites, both of which play with the concept of time as well.

If you've seen the trailer, you know that 'Tenet' explores the idea of time working in reverse. The concept of this movie is incredible. It is complex and makes your brain work, and filmed phenomenally. It does truly feel like only Nolan is insane/brilliant enough to come up with this concept, but he is also probably the only director that can pull it off.

Let's talk about the cast. John David Washington ('BlackKklansman', 'Ballers') is great in the lead. He's a strong, charismatic actor that lends an edge and suitable arrogance to the character. Robert Pattinson ('The Lighthouse') is a formidable partner to Washington, the two have great chemistry which hopefully will be further explored if a sequel is made. Oddly though, I noticed his British accent slipping into American at some points but maybe he was really in the thick of his Batman audition prep. Elizabeth Debicki ('The Night Manager', 'Widows') delivered my favourite performance of the bunch. She played strength and vulnerability perfectly, and added a great deal of vibrancy and life to a story lacking such things. Conversely and with all due respect to Sir Kenneth Branagh, he was the weakest of the cast - primarily because I'm sure I missed a lot of plot points because of his incoherent Russian accent. Nolan seems to get the most out of his actors, and 'Tenet' was no exception.

So here's my biggest criticism of this film: the story is severely lacking. This disappoints me more than usual because one of the reasons Nolan is one of my favourite directors working today is that for all the spectacle and high concept ideas he applies to his films, he does not compromise on story. 'Inception' was a heart wrenching tale of a man desperate to reunite with his children, guilt-ridden from his wife's death. 'Dunkirk' was an emotional war story illustrating the best and worst of humanity. 'Tenet' was a generic save the world story with a sub-plot of a woman in an abusive relationship wanting her freedom and her son. The way I wrote that sub-plot makes it sound substantially more interesting than it was.

Debicki, as I mentioned, was superb in her role and she should have been the heart and reason for the film. Unfortunately, her character was under served by a lukewarm story as a whole (the same can be said about Washington and Pattinson's characters). I knew I was supposed to care about her plight as a mother and victim, but truthfully, it just felt like way points on a map, not the final destination.

A smaller and technical criticism was the sound. BONNGGGG!!! 'Tenet' employed the deafening tones of 'Inception' but cranked to 11,000. The score definitely created tension but there were times I just couldn't hear the dialogue because the bass was just too loud.

'Tenet' is definitely one of those movies that will preoccupy you with "how did they film that?!" and will have you searching YouTube for behind the scenes footage. Once you have answered that question though and you're left thinking about the movie as a story, you aren't left with much.

Now are the concept and visuals of the movie enough to prop up this movie? Yes. It's pretty amazing what Nolan was able to do with this idea. I've heard the criticism that he's too clever for his own good, and that's hard to argue. 'Tenet' certainly borders on convoluted and excessively confusing with little pay off in the end. And like all Nolan movies, it requires a multiple viewings. I can't sit here and truthfully say that I understood what happened in this movie. All I know is it looked amazing and the story was incredibly generic.

I do plan on watching this again, and hopefully the shortcomings aren't so short on a second viewing. I also feel like I need to read up on other's interpretation of the film to give myself a better footing. This begs the question: should a movie require this much work?

Edit: rating has changed, check out my second time around review!

'Tenet' is available in theatres now (if you live in a city where cinemas are open of course!). If you do make your way to the movies, please be safe and take the appropriate precautions. Have a read here of my experience returning to the movie theatres.