Review of Tenet (2020) by Octanenitro — 02 Oct 2020

Unfortunately, far from Nolan's best.

Christopher Nolan has always been known for making stylish films, innovating in their respective genres. The Dark Knight Trilogy, Dunkirk and Inception are proof of that. But those films were never style over substance, and this is a balance that Tenet comes close to breaking.

Let's address the elephant in the room: Tenet's central "gimmick", which is reversing the flow of time. These sequences are certainly visually stunning, but ultimately bring surprisingly little to the table. Reversing tried-and-tested action clichés sounds interesting, but in practice, the sequences rarely manage to rise above merely serviceable.

Even worse is the narrative. While I won't pick apart every twist and "timeline" here, the plot of Tenet is extremely convoluted, to the extent that a majority of audiences won't be able to follow what is going on. There are endless "gotcha" moments, most of which feel unearned due to the breakneck speed and wayward direction of the plot.

Even worse, these "twists" - the centrepieces of the entire film, fail to carry any emotional weight whatsoever. Having a storyless, nameless "protagonist" may win style points, but it also robs the viewer of any emotional connection at all. At key moments in Tenet, I found myself bored out of my mind, rather than on the edge of my seat, as I simply did not care for ANY of the characters introduced. Ultimately, Tenet has some fairly imaginative (though still underwhelming) action scenes, strongish performances and the signature sleek cinematography of Nolan. But beyond that, it's the same action movie you've seen countless times before, with smoke and mirrors to trick you into thinking you're watching something more. Nolan can do so much better than Tenet, and it feels like he was on autopilot for the whole affair. Next time, more efforts needs to go into the story and characters, rather than just the premise and technical details.