Tenet (2020)B (85%)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki Synopsis: Armed with only one word, Tenet, and fighting for the survival of the entire world, a Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time. Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence and action, some suggestive references and brief strong language) Runtime: 2 hr 30 min Release Date: September 3, 2020 Christopher Nolan's filmography has been fueled by mind bending concepts nearly since his inception (pun intended) as a director, and now with his latest, most expensive film yet ($205 million), he pushes the envelope even further.
Tenet is another original sci-fi thriller from Nolan, focusing on a protagonist (John David Washington) who attempts to stop a man from using future technology of inverting objects in order to destroy the world. With the exception of Interstellar, it's the highest stakes story in a film that he's ever done, and one that follows his trademark complex storytelling. Except in this case, it's to a fault. Tenet is another brilliantly conceived story from Nolan, who clearly has a gift for original ideas--a concept that's in extremely short supply these days, especially for mega budget films, and so I always readily welcome his work. However, he runs into a crucial problem in this film, where character development is overlooked and sacrificed in service of the complexity of the plot. While we're certainly on the side of the protagonist, over the course of the film we still learn very little of his background (even his name), making him largely a one-dimensional character that has little depth and yields little interest from viewers. It's always a juggling act to develop characters while also progressing the story elements and plot points, but Nolan masterfully accomplished this in Inception, and certainly had the chance to do it here too--he just fails to do so. This is the prominent reason why, on a character level, Tenet is inferior to his previous films. Another negative here is surprisingly on the technical side. When I saw the film in IMAX (which I do for every Nolan film since the filmmaker shoots as much footage as possible with IMAX cameras) the dialogue was nearly impossible to hear in many scenes, as it was drowned out by sound effects like gunfire or the score itself. It was a frustrating experience, but one that was rectified when I viewed the film a second time in a regular theater. And unfortunately, it wasn't just me that had this issue--the sound design for the film has been widely criticized after its release, and apparently fans had issues with Nolan's previous films, including Dunkirk, Interstellar, and The Dark Knight Rises (each of which I didn't have an issue). Like his previous releases, Nolan defended the sound design, saying it wasn't a mistake and was a stylistic intent. Nevertheless, it was frustrating that the film was deafening in IMAX despite not being able to hear dialogue. On the positive side, Nolan's affinity for using large scale practical effects continues in Tenet, making for some thoroughly entertaining action sequences, particularly one involving a Boeing 747 crashing into an airport. Also, just like Interstellar and Inception, Nolan manages to create inventive action sequences that we've never seen before. In this film, it's car chases involving cars moving in two directions alongside each other. Also, due to the inverted object plot point, there are scenes involving characters moving forward in time while objects around them are moving backwards. They are truly novel shots, and very fascinating to take in and experience. Tenet is a film that's filled with strong action sequences, a compelling, original premise, and strong performances, but it lacks in the character department. Even though the stakes are the highest they can be (the destruction of the planet), everything doesn't feel as high stake because we just aren't as connected to these characters as we should be. It's disappointing, especially since Nolan has proved to be able to write strong characters time and time again. Nevertheless, the film is undoubtedly an entertaining ride; it's just not up to par with the typical Nolan film, and so it'll most likely leave die hard Nolan fans (like myself) yearning for more. Written by Anthony Watkins, April 16, 2021 |