Tenet (2020)

Let’s face it, 2020 has been a rubbish year. Brexit was bad enough, but then 2020 had to follow up that disaster with a global pandemic which, among many other terrible things, decimated the film industry, causing many much-anticipated films to be swept off the cinema-going calendar. It’s been hard to find anything to smile about in the last few months, but since cinemas have started showing re-issued classics (giving me the opportunity to see “Batman Begins”, “The Empire Strikes Back” and “The Terminator” on the big screen) 2020 seems to be getting a little bit brighter.

But now we have the first major blockbuster release since lockdown to talk about. “Tenet”, the eleventh film from critically-acclaimed auteur Christopher Nolan, is a sci-fi action thriller that has been hailed as the movie messiah, a film that will rid the world of COVID-19, world hunger and bring about world peace. So, is “Tenet” the life-changing masterpiece that Hollywood has promised us?

I really liked “Tenet”, the action set-pieces are astounding, the performances are engaging and the inversion of time is very visually exciting to watch. However, as ambitious as it is, “Tenet” is undeniably a flawed film, the plot is nothing you haven’t experienced before, the sound mixing is excruciating and the pacing is patchy. If you’re willing to don a mask and go to the cinema, then I would recommend watching “Tenet” (unless you’re one of the two people on the planet that would rather see the “Pinocchio” gritty remake), but if you’re worried about catching Coronavirus, you should probably just watch “Tenet” when it comes out on V.O.D.

Almost every cast member in “Tenet” does a terrific job of creating a likeable onscreen persona, despite the fact that the script isn’t very concerned with giving their characters much in the way of goals or flaws.

John David Washington is suitably charming as The Protagonist (I’m not using that word to be clever, that is the only “name” that his character is given), he’s believable in the various set-pieces scattered throughout the story and his engaging to watch during the dialogue scenes.

Elizabeth Debicki is fantastic (even if she’s playing the exact same character that she played in “The Night Manager”), she’s the only actor in the movie that gets to show a more human side, which is probably why hers was the only character I was invested in on an emotional level.

I was pretty disappointed by the lack of the great Sir Michael Caine here (he only appears in one scene before vanishing from the narrative completely) and Kenneth Branagh is ok but is severely handicapped by a cartoonish Russian accent that feels more at home in a Roger Moore “James Bond” movie than in a serious action drama.

In my opinion, the standout actor in “Tenet” was the one I was most intrigued to see appear, that being Robert Pattinson. I’ve only ever seen Pattinson in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” (one of my least favourite entries in the franchise) and 20 minutes of “Twilight” (which I switched off when I realised I wasn’t enjoying it ironically.) But as he’ll be donning the most iconic cape and cowl in pop culture in 2021’s “The Batman”, I was interested to see what sort of an actor Pattinson currently is. I was pleased therefore that he is excellent in “Tenet”, he’s extremely charismatic, delivering a lot of very convoluted expositional dialogue in a nonchalant and extremely entertaining way. His performance here may not be anything particularly earth-shattering, but it has made me a lot more excited to see his iteration of the World’s Greatest Detective burst onto the stage next year!

The real strength of “Tenet” lies with its truly spectacular action sequences. From the blazing opening shootout to the nail-biting freeway chase and the awe-inspiring final set-piece (which was thankfully kept out of most of the trailers) every scene is jam-packed with incredible filmmaking wizardry. Every stunt is realistic, every explosion is eye-widening and all of it is captured in a clear, easy-to-follow way. I adored the way that time inversion is used in “Tenet”, watching two characters do battle whilst on different levels of time was mind-boggling and immensely engrossing to watch; I have no idea how these moments were captured on film but I’m so glad they were! This film features hands-down some of the best action of Nolan’s career and I can’t wait to see what he does next!

Speaking of Christopher Nolan, he is undoubtedly one of my favourite directors working today, his ability to craft intricate puzzles that hard core cinephiles will love, whilst also producing stupendous action set-pieces that blockbuster fans can enjoy is truly something worth celebrating. I love the fact that a movie like “Memento” can be viewed on so many different levels and still be appreciated by almost everyone who watches it. Although “Tenet” may be one of his more flawed films, I think most people will still have a blast watching it, due to its incredible scope and sleek style.

From a story perspective, “Tenet” is ok. On the one hand, there are a lot of unique ideas concerning the flow of time and the way we perceive time-travel. On the other hand, this can’t help but feel very derivative of plenty of other blockbuster movies, from “Mission: Impossible” to “007” and even other Christopher Nolan productions like “Inception” and “The Dark Knight Trilogy.” I respect everyone involved for creating such a bold (and very expensive) standalone film of this nature, but just because a movie isn’t a part of a massive ongoing series doesn’t mean it’s entirely original.

It may only be two hours and thirty minutes long (which seems short when compared to other recent blockbusters) but “Tenet” felt more like four hours whilst watching it. The characters hop from country to country without much sense of a clear objective to strive for (or helpful location title cards), a few of the action sequences can go on a tad too long and the generally confusing nature of the plot makes the pacing all the more shoddy.

Despite the pacing and the lacklustre characters however, my single biggest criticism with “Tenet” is the ear-splitting sound mixing. I unfortunately booked a seat directly underneath one of the speakers in the cinema which was a HUGE mistake. Although I watched the movie in standard 2D, this was an absolutely headache-inducing watch, the gunshots scream, the engines roar and the score bellows. This isn’t usually an issue, this is an action movie after all, but when all these elements are thundering all at once it can become almost unbearable. “Dunkirk” was also a deafening experience, but that film’s primary focus was on building tension and crafting a raw emotional roller-coaster. But “Tenet” is an extremely complex narrative centric movie, so trying to follow the dialogue over all the shrieking sound lessens the pleasure of watching the film; it doesn’t take long for each section of sound to mash together into one bloated noisy mess.

There is one scene in particular that takes place on a boat in which I didn’t catch a single word of dialogue that was being said. Kenneth Branagh was mumbling through his unnecessary Russian accent (and a crackling headset), the waves were crashing and the score was blasting at full volume. Christopher Nolan, your films are all really well-written, so please make some of your great dialogue easier to hear!

Overall, I feel very conflicted over “Tenet.” It’s a technically audacious and thoroughly enjoyable film that manipulates time in a thrilling way. The actors all do a fine job breathing life into minimalist characters and the action sequences are cinematic in every sense of the word. But the narrative is overly complicated, the pacing is way too fast despite the two and a half hour runtime and the sound mixing leaves a lot to be desired. When viewed as simple high-octane escapism, a “007” movie with “Doctor Strange” timey-wimey shenanigans, “Tenet” soars, but it’s hard not to admit that there are some very valid problems with the film as a whole.