By Nadia Ranaputri
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| Image credit: IMDB |
Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Kenneth Branagh, Dimple Kapadia, Clémence Poésy, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Michael Caine.
Is there anything Christopher Nolan can't do? He is arguably one of the best directors working today, and the fact that he doesn't even have an Oscar yet is a crime. Nolan always seems to raise the bar on every film. Just when you thought that he couldn't get any bigger with his movies, he strides in with a head full of seemingly impossible ideas, each more complicated than the other; and the budget to bring it to life. He has indeed come a long way since his small neo-noir film Following. After giving us the epic war film that is Dunkirk, I was excited to see what Christopher Nolan would do next. What idea was he going to bring in this time? Well, if you're already familiar with Nolan's films, you'd probably know of his fascination with time, as emphasized by films like Memento, Dunkirk, Inception, and Interstellar. But this time, Nolan is bringing the concept of time to new heights.
Tenet is about a CIA agent, only referred to as The Protagonist (John David Washington); who is recruited into the Tenet organization after unknowingly passing a test. The Protagonist is made aware of the concept of time inversion, where people and objects are able to move backwards in time. This eventually leads him to partner with Neil (Robert Pattinson) to uncover and stop a potentially dangerous weapon that could wipe out the past.
Christopher Nolan does not take visuals lightly, and it shows. From the moment you hear that he used a real plane that he could crash for the film, you're just baffled and impressed by the sheer determination that Nolan and his team put. This isn't anything new for Nolan, he has always put a sense of realism and will go the extra mile to do so, even to the point of using as little CGI as possible. Tenet is no different from the rest of Nolan's masterworks. What Nolan has done this time is unreal. The film starts off with a bang, a thrilling action-packed sequence in the Kyiv Opera House. From there, Tenet turns the gears around and takes us on its inversion-filled ride. There are several sequences where people or cars move forwards and backwards, sometimes even simultaneously. You're just strapped in the moment and joining in for the ride. It is, as others have called it, Christopher Nolan's very own James Bond movie, but with a Nolan-esque twist. Much like Nolan's dream concept in Inception, the time inversion concept in Tenet is complex yet so intriguing, I was excited to know more about it as the film goes on. I have no idea how Nolan even comes up with these ideas, he's a true genius. There is one particular scene halfway that takes place in two different rooms, and it was so brilliantly done that I had chills upon watching it. This was where the film took itself on another level, and suddenly it just elevates it, both in terms of visual and story.
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| Image credit: IMDB |
But beneath of all that, Tenet has some flaws too. As someone who has very much admired Nolan to the point where
he is at the top of the favorite directors list, I can admit that Tenet
combines the best of Nolan and unfortunately, his weaknesses. Tenet feels like a movie fit for those who are already familiar with Nolan's work, or the very least, with the likes of Inception or Intersetellar. It requires every bit of attention, and most of it requires the audience to have already followed along as it goes. But even if you do try to decipher every detail in the film, it doesn't guarantee that you'll fully comprehend what's going on. It wants you to think, yet at the same time, it leaves you no choice but to go with the flow. Sometimes it goes for a more realistic and logical route, then other times it would simply go, "screw it," and go all out. It manages to be both cohesive and a mess at the same time, does that make sense? For some, it may not be an issue, but for others, it can make it a little difficult to get invested if most of the things that are presented goes over our heads without allowing us any time to even comprehend it. And the sound design is very much just as everyone has already said: it tends to be muddled at times to the point where you can't even tell what they're saying, because the music, though beautifully composed by Ludwig Göransson; is somewhat louder than the dialogue itself.
At times, it can feel like it stuffs
itself full with an overly complex narrative, not to mention the lack of development and connection with the characters. You may feel the high stakes of the situation, but it's hard to resonate with the characters if they're mostly there to explain the plot to us. They may tell you how to feel about a certain character and the connection they have to the bigger picture, but they don't emphasize that in a visual way. Compare this with Nolan's previous film, Dunkirk. While we don't get a lot of exposition or reason to connect with the characters, Nolan is still able to raise the stakes for them with visual storytelling, staging the film in such an immersive way, so that we as the audience get to experience those stakes alongside the characters. Take Inception as another example. Despite relying on exposition, it's accompanied by visual storytelling, like how Cobb's backstory is told in both exposition and a series of flashbacks, making him a character worth resonating with. We are told what's at stake for him, both through visuals and exposition. Tenet, on the other hand, relies more on exposition than visual emphasis. You do understand the stakes, but the connection with the characters isn't there. But again, even if there is, it feels more as if the film is telling you that should be feeling some sort of emotional connection with the characters rather than letting you connect in a genuine way.
Tenet can be a mess story-wise, especially since it has questionable editing choices in some places. The first half of the film does go off to a rough start, and it's practically dedicated to information drops from various other characters. If you're already familiar with Inception though, then you know that this is one of those cases where expositions are necessary, due to the confounding nature of the film, though unlike Inception, some of the exposition in Tenet could be very glaring and overdone. It's one of those films where you don't quite understand most of what is happening until the end, and that's when it clicks, when your brain finally goes, "Oh, I get it now!" For me, that was part of the experience. Essentially, the saying in the film, "Don't try to understand it, feel it," is the only description for it that you will ever need. That aside, the ambition behind this film is out of this world. Nolan is the type of director that likes to keep the audience guessing, and even if there are exposition scenes, some of them are cleverly placed, like trinkets or clues left in various places for people to find and piece together on their own. You can still find a lot to like in Tenet, but it really feels like one of those films where your opinion on it could change over time, be it positive or negative. It took me a while to wrap my head around how I really feel about it, but it's a film that I was willing to watch again over time to see if my views change, because it seemingly changes every time I watch it. While Tenet is Nolan's most ambitious film yet, I wouldn't say that is this is best.
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| Image credit: IMDB |
Overall verdict: Tenet
is not a movie that you can simply go in and get a fully satisfying
experience. You're constantly trying to piece everything together and
figure out what Nolan is going for. It's not an entirely bad thing in
itself, but this won't be your run-of-the-mill sci-fi action. On the surface, it may seem like it's going to
bore you out or perhaps feel like you're being spoon-fed information
when you could try to decipher it on your own. However, the film's exposition dumps don't really feel like it's
spoon-feeding the audience, rather it tells The Protagonist (and the
audience) something, and what The Protagonist does with this information
as well as the events that come to play later, that's being left to our
interpretation, though it can be overdone at times and fall dangerously close to the tell than show. This is especially prevalent in the lack of character development. On a more positive note, Nolan takes visuals very seriously in his films, and Tenet is no exception. The lack of CGI in most of the action sequences add to the excitement and adds authenticity. The concept of inversion is well executed for the most part, and it further acknowledges Nolan's fascination with time. Tenet is probably going to be a divisive film from Nolan, and even I was very conflicted on this film on the first watch, despite being a huge Nolan fan. I saw the film two more times in the following days (in the comfort of my own home, of course), and that was where I started to warm up to it and understood where the film was going. Despite being a mess at times (particularly in the first
act), it ramps up halfway and that's when the film really became
riveting. Overall, it is a solid film from Nolan, the most ambitious even. While it unfortunately isn't his best, the sheer scale and dedication for this film makes it worth watching.
Stars: 3.5/5
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