Tenet; Movie Review

Tenet

This is an article “Tenet” by Marc Primo

Release date: 03 September 2020 (USA)

Director: Christopher Nolan

Language: English

Production Companies: Warner Brothers Pictures, Syncopy

Producers: Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan

SPOILER ALERT?—?Director Christopher Nolan is back, this time with another sci-fi action thriller and a screenplay that’s five years in the making. Easily present is Nolan’s usual pathos and perfectly-woven yet complex storytelling similar to his previous work in Interstellar and Inception. The critically-acclaimed director doesn’t seem to get tired of explaining to audiences how his characters’ emotions work to create the impetus that introduces them to the viewer.

With his latest film Tenet, what Nolan fans will miss are those thoughtful scenes that seem to have been taken away in order to stay faithful to the typical spy film formula. With the ‘time inversion’ factor being the anchor for Tenet’s sci-fi mystery, we somehow get some similarities to Nolan’s earlier offering Memento, but only with a huge surplus on gimmick rather than the challenge to discover the truth. What we end up with is a very complicated puzzle that’s not quite as much worth solving.

The story tells of a wayward mission in an opera house which leads to the film’s main but unnamed protagonist (John David Washington) to resort to suicide instead of ratting out his co-agents. The next scene cuts to Washington’s character waking up in a hospital ship and being congratulated by his bosses for a job well done. His promotion, a new mission to infiltrate notorious arms dealer Andrei Sator (played by stage and screen veteran Kenneth Branagh) and bring down his empire.

Together with his partner Neil (Robert Pattinson), they go on a wild goose chase packed with spy film tropes including seduction and cryptic artwork which could be the key to prevent another world war.

With all the back and forth of time travel creating palindromic scenes for viewers, Tenet attempts to delve on tricking the trajectory of time to defeat a seemingly un-killable villain. Basically, the film’s composition is presented by Nolan with a first part wherein time is inverted so that every action happens backwards, and then another part wherein Washington’s character is able to go back in time and thwart Sator’s doomsday plans.

In this outing, the prolific director seemed to be a bit experimental with his action sequences that are rather more explosive than the past thought-provoking and character-driven scenes we are used to. This shows Nolan’s left turn towards cooler characters rather than compelling protagonists that are worth growing into the movie with. In this aspect, Washington delivers flawlessly with his reserved but badass demeanor. Unfortunately, his character is just not compelling enough.

In hindsight, viewers can take Tenet as Nolan’s homage to Bond films with a twist of that signature enigma and surrealism. Not much spy sexiness here either the way audiences might be used to, which could explain why it somehow loses certain motivations especially when Washington’s character is trying to protect Sator’s estranged wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki). Just when we thought Nolan would divert himself from way too complex narratives as evidenced in Dunkirk, he brings us back to Tenet which, in a way, falls short in terms of engaging characters and the satisfaction of truth.