Tenet, Christopher Nolan 2020 Film

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Finally got to see it and not to dash anyone's hopes or anything but it's probably one of his worst (if not the worst). Review forthcoming.
At least this helps me lower my expectations quite a bit.

But damn... I guess now I’m only more interested in finally seeing it this Monday.



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I'm going to try putting together a longer review, but to put it in context with his other films - it is perhaps his most ambitious high concept yet and the way that it draws on everything else he's done to one extent or another suggests that he's finally done a magnum opus of sorts (especially considering his career-long preoccupation with the passage of time and how this is the first movie of his to actually involve literal time travel) but it's undercut by how much it has to compromise its underlying narrative by being an extremely basic spy thriller with particularly flat characters just so it can remain halfway-comprehensible to audiences. It somehow ends up being too convoluted and too simple at the same time, whereas most of his other films do better at finding a balance between the poles (especially Inception, which is definitely the closest point of comparison to Tenet and also a Nolan I genuinely like so take that as you will). it's also not helped by some technical shortcomings like sound mixing overpowering dialogue or the ways in which the cinematography/editing can make its setpieces a little incoherent at times - one can admire his preference for practical effects and some of the more ambitious stunts (the way that the much-publicised plane crash is utilised within the film proper is a genuine highlight, for example). Ultimately, I think it might just embody too many of his worst tendencies and not enough of his best.
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It has been seen.

It’s basically two halves of a movie.*

One half goes too slow, feels too vague and too stale. The other goes too fast, feels like a bombardment of information and is perhaps too hectic.

I would have liked a better balance between the two. That said I haven’t quite seen anything like that last third or so before. As I’ve said before Nolan is great at creating a grand spectacle. It’s how he sets them up that’s the problem.

He’s like the guy who don’t wanna bother as much building his lego car, he’d rather just want to play with it. And that shows sometimes imo. It feels like him reading the instructions aloud to that very car rather than actually building from the instruction, if that makes sense.

And that’s how Tenet feels. A lot of instruction reading then BAM there’s a cool car and Nolan just just hammers it down the road. That can be exciting enough in itself but something’s missing to me...



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My one buddy raved about it, absolutely loved it.

Then I read a few reviews saying it was actually trash.

Do I go see this movie? Are people expecting too much from it because they kept trying to push it down our throats despite COVID?

I don't know.
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I have no idea what this film is about, from the trailers it doesnt really show any kind of story, am I missing something?



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Just got back from seeing Tenet...

At one point early on in the film, our protagonist is told by a science type minor character that she is there to tell him the how, not the what. Having watched it, I’m still not sure on the how or the what, and I’m pretty hazy on the who, why and even when of a lot of it.

We’re also told not to try to understand it, just feel it. But there isn’t really much to feel. It’s an experience, certainly, but not an emotional one. Characters have little development, motivation or chemistry between them, which makes it so much harder to care.

It’s certainly a spectacle on a grand scale, in a ‘look how much money we spent on fancy yachts and smashing up buildings’ kind of a way. I liked that although there were obviously special effects employed for some of the wibbly wobbly timey wimey backwards stuff, a lot of it is real and practical and not green screen. Great that it was an original story rather than yet another sequel, remake or comic book adaptation. But ultimately it wasn’t quite original enough - very 12A/PG-13 blockbuster- generic: sexless, bloodless and unfortunately humourless, with a cliched Russian villain. Big, but not very clever.

And it should have been clever. The central concept is intriguing but is never really developed enough. It’s all very well keeping things mysterious, but it just felt more underdeveloped. Where there should have been ‘oh!’ moments, it just felt more like a rolling train of stuff happening and more stuff happening. All plot and no storytelling. Some of the dialogue sounded like filler lines to be redrafted later but they didn't get round to it.

The second half of the film, where the time travel kicks into play a bit more and events sort of fold back on themselves picked up a bit. It was an enjoyable ride, for the most part. I certainly didn’t know where it was going, but only because a lot of the time I didn’t really know where it was either.

The soundtrack was awful and annoyingly intrusive. The film starts with the sound of an orchestra tuning up and then some gunshots and honestly it stays like that pretty much all the way through the film.




bBut ultimately it wasn’t quite original enough - very 12A/PG-13 blockbuster- generic: sexless, bloodless and unfortunately humourless, with a cliched Russian villain. Big, but not very clever.
This is very true, especially where sexless/bloodless is concerned. It reminded me of the scene in USS Callister where Walton takes off his pants and says no one in the virtual reality has any sex organs. The lack of characters’ emotional development is a charge often levelled at Nolan; I don’t usually agree, as I think there’s a reason why action/thriller films focus less on emotion and more on events, but in Tenet emotional connection was definitely lacking. The only people who had any kind of chemistry were Debicki and Branagh, and they weren’t meant to, plot-wise (at least IMO). So here it’s definitely a big shortcoming. Also, unhelpful as that kind of comment might be, I wonder if it wouldn’t make sense to give the protagonist a child, because then he’d have a stake in wanting to see the world not end. I don’t mean making Kat the protagonist, but the child dynamic at least gives the character a better motivation to prevent the Armageddon. Also child-parent relationships tend to have the kind of chemistry Tenet is lacking. I seem to remember Inception being similarly criticised for being apathetic, so it’s probably part of the Nolan brand by now, for better or worse.



Saw it yesterday. Best way I can describe it succinctly is that it is basically Inception but where all the pieces don't work quite as well. Inception is full of exposition and it doesn't feel tedious where as Tenet it does. Tenet the characters are thinly developed, same as Inception but it doesn't quite work as well. Convoluted with tons of big ideas like Inception but in Tenet they always just feel slightly out of your grasp, unlike Inception where you eventually catch up.

The casting was also a bit curious to me. JD Washington does ok, but I was not overly impressed. He comes off wooden in a lot of the exposition scenes, I could feel myself watching a movie. Where as Leo in Inception I whole heartly believed he was in that world and knowledgeable about what he was explaining. Then this may be a dumb critique to have but Debicki has 6 inches on Washington without heels already. It sort of undercuts Washington as this badass spy to me when the lead female is towering over him lol. Plus it's tough to buy them being attracted to each other haha. (It's debatable whether or not attraction was intended or not ) I just didn't like the ascetics of those two being the leads (more about height, not race, guess I am a heightist). Branagh straddled the line of hammy and fun. I think he got away with it. I thought Debicki and Pattinson were the strongest performances though.

It may have sounded like I hated it but I did not. I knew I was enjoying what I was seeing overall but I wasn't completely understanding everything while doing so haha. I just have an extremely high bar for Nolan that he has set with his previous works I have enjoyed. I actually really liked the score. There are some really cool actions sets and some worthy ideas for further exploration in this flick. In Hollywood where they are struggling to come up with anything original Nolan is super vital. Going online and watching some video reviews and analyst of the film has been fun. There are some wild ones. Say what you will the movie sticks with you. Repeat viewings when it comes out on video will be required to finally land on a firm score for the flick. I'd give it a tentative 3 out of 5 as of now, but depending on how much I enjoy it or not on repeats it could go up or down.



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I think my sentiment lines up with others at this point. I felt like I was taking myself out of the movie a few times to try and see if I really understood what was going on or not. Usually there are rather well-defined rules that characters and plots play by in movies like this, but this one seemed to just let it fly and see what kind of final cut comes out of it.

Which honestly makes me think I'm at the tipping point for time travel physics movies for the next few years. Between this and Avengers and Mr. Nobody (watched for the first time), I'm sick of the concept for now. Even if I read reviews online and rewatch this to try and align everything sensibly, I'm still not sure this is a great movie. I don't expect the average movie goer to enjoy it, and there didnt seem to be a moment to just relax and enjoy the movie for just being a movie. Rating pending....



Which honestly makes me think I'm at the tipping point for time travel physics movies for the next few years. Between this and Avengers and Mr. Nobody (watched for the first time), I'm sick of the concept for now.
Hmm, what about Primer? The time travel physics films are having something of a revival; even The Endless is kind of in that vein. Personally, I’m very fond of them, but the Avengers’ take on the concept feels pretty lame to me... but then again, I am biased against them.



Hmm, what about Primer? The time travel physics films are having something of a revival; even The Endless is kind of in that vein. Personally, I’m very fond of them, but the Avengers’ take on the concept feels pretty lame to me... but then again, I am biased against them.

I haven't seen these but to add another example, I also watched Coherence in the past year. I'll have look into those you mentioned.



I haven't seen these but to add another example, I also watched Coherence in the past year. I'll have look into those you mentioned.
I really like Coherence for the minimalism; some others include Predestination (2014), The Incident (2014, Spain), Timecrimes (2007) and Triangle (2009). The One I Love (2014) and Looper (2012) are not in the same league for me, but definitely worth seeing.



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Question about the film (that could possibly be solved by a second viewing but asking here is cheaper)

WARNING: "Tenet" spoilers below


Why did they sometimes have to wear oxygen masks in the past but sometimes not? Sometimes they seemed to be experiencing the 'wrong' time backwards, but sometimes they seemed to be the same direction as everyone else. Kat on the yacht for example, the protagonist at the end.



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Question about the film (that could possibly be solved by a second viewing but asking here is cheaper)

WARNING: "Tenet" spoilers below


Why did they sometimes have to wear oxygen masks in the past but sometimes not? Sometimes they seemed to be experiencing the 'wrong' time backwards, but sometimes they seemed to be the same direction as everyone else. Kat on the yacht for example, the protagonist at the end.
WARNING: "Tenet" spoilers below
I think they use the machine at the airport to return to forward time.



For better or worse, this kind of movie deserves to watch more than one. And I sort of reject the notion of 'don't try to understand it feel it'.
no, this occasion you need both, simultaneously xD.

Question about the film (that could possibly be solved by a second viewing but asking here is cheaper)
WARNING: "Tenet" spoilers below

Why did they sometimes have to wear oxygen masks in the past but sometimes not? Sometimes they seemed to be experiencing the 'wrong' time backwards, but sometimes they seemed to be the same direction as everyone else. Kat on the yacht for example, the protagonist at the end.
WARNING: spoilers below
they use the machines to inverse and also re-inverse themselves. turn out the tenet organization actually/somehow also have the technology. after they re-inverse themselves in the machine at the airport, somewhere they inverse themselves back.
before the final act kat and the protagonist re-inverse themselves, as they arrived around the timeline at the beginning of the movie.
(implied, offscreen).

the masks used because their inverted lungs (as they were inverted) didn't work with normal air. sometimes they can take off/didn't need the mask because they were inside some isolated rooms.

*edit: the protagonist (and the rest of the red team) also wearing the full mask like the blue team was a tactical reason.
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