Warner Bros.' 'Tenet': Review

Too focussed on looking "cool" and inclusive, Nolan doesn't inspire confidence in theatrical moviegoing with a spectacle-driven, overtly convoluted and generic action blockbuster, which is more likely to encourage hearing tests than future cinema trips

John David Washington in 'Tenet' (CREDIT: Warner Bros.)

                      by Jack Linsdell

For all the talk of Christopher Nolan "saving cinema", it's grimly ironic that Tenet plays like a mediocre, second-rate trailer for cinema. It ultimately fails to "sell" the return of theatrical moviegoing to audiences, creating little in the way of excitement for being "back" or proof as to why people should keep coming back. As "a film by Christopher Nolan", Tenet is a massive step backwards for the filmmaker, more concerned with how it "looks" in the eyes of it's audience rather than just being entertaining and engaging popcorn escapism. As a movie, Tenet is a hectic, confusing and overly-long mess, held together by an excellent second act and one hell of a score by Ludwig Göransson, that somewhat excites even when you have no idea what the hell is going on. 

So, what is Tenet about? Well...I'll be damned if I know! What I can tell you is it's a best described as a time inversion thriller that takes the form of a globe-trotting spy adventure movie. Oh, and it's meant to be Nolan capturing the excitement he felt when watching the James Bond films at the cinema as a kid. But, beyond that, I don't know what's going on. The more you try to understand and explain Tenet, the more confusing it becomes. I should note here that I'm not a big Christopher Nolan fan. His Dark Knight trilogy was good and last year's WWI drama Dunkirk was exceptional, if only because it was him toning down his "playing with time" thing to craft a clever but simple to follow period action thriller. But, Tenet is not even like Inception and Insteller. This one is needlessly and even more frustratingly complicated in terms of plot, that relies too heavily on complex scientific theorem, all of which is delivered through exposition. For such a visual auteur, Tenet is the opposite of "show don't tell", which wouldn't be as big of an issue if we could actually hear the damn dialogue! But, as usual, Nolan's sound mixing is so inaudible, that key plot information and context goes unheard and thus leaves us sitting going "what's just happened?". Whether it's characters speaking in difficult-to-follow Russian dialects, or muffled tones through masks to key exposition scenes being filmed on boats next to crashing waves, Tenet will more likely make you want to get a hearing test than see this one again. 

Warner Bros. put $200 million up for this sci-fi/spy flick, which certainly makes it one of the most expensive, original movies to ever be made. To his credit, Nolan does put every penny on the screen, with most of it allowing hugely-scaled and impressively-staged action scenes to all be done "in camera" with real stunt work. Occasionally, it gets too excessive with the big "they crash a real plane into a warehouse" scene being purely spectacle-driven and "look what I can do". The same goes for a finale which had too many extras and explosions, both of which had no purpose to the plot, and became therefore eye candy. For all the impressive filmmaking on display (the mid act highway heist scene and car chase is superb), Nolan becomes more worried with looking "cool" than actually crafting a movie that audiences walk away from going "that was awesome". That's the difference between Tenet and Mission: Impossible - Fallout, as that Tom Cruise-led actioner prioritised being an excellent movie that happened to be quite "cool" rather than chasing it head-on. When you add in a end credits song by rapper Travis Scott (which feels completely alien from Nolan) and a spectacle-first approach, Tenet is clearly chasing a teenage audience in being the talked about movie of the high school corridors. 

What's also apparent is that Nolan wants you to know that Tenet is his most inclusive and diversely casted film yet. We have John David Washington as our protagonist, with key supporting turns from Dimple Kapadia and Yesterday's Himesh Patel. This Syncopy-produced flick not only gets credit for allowing under-represented demographics to see themselves in the latest blockbuster, but also becomes a sadly rare example of a big movie that boasts an ethically diverse cast. However, it's a shame that such a diverse and inclusive movie isn't A) very good and B) somewhat uses it as a way to make itself look a certain way. Intentional or not, it does seem like Nolan is saying, "look, I'm representing current society and social changes with this movie" as a way to appear politically-relevant to audiences. That's not a complaint as diversity is diversity at the end of the day and a win for everyone. However, just like Tenet tries to chase a teenage audience by saying "look how cool I am", it somewhat feels a similar thing is going on with society and the whole "look how socially progressive we are" thing. 

Anyway, as usually expected from Nolan, characterisation is weak, to the point that Washington's character doesn't even have a name (he's called "protagonist"). None of the cast (apart from Elisabeth Debicki and Kenneth Branagh who are both scene stealers here) are particular standouts, although Washington gets a lot of credit for his immense physicality and doing all his own stunts. My main bug with Nolan is that his films lack emotion, depth and compelling characters, none of which is even thought about here (at least Intersteller tried in 2014). But, Tenet fails to set up any of the characters or story in it's first act which ends up showcasing poor storytelling ability rather than artistic effect. Sure, Nolan's movies are their own thing and an acquired taste. But there's a difference between being an auteur and a master storyteller. 

I loved Dunkirk at lot in 2017, to the point that if Nolan spent more time using time as a narrative device rather than thematic/plot exploration, his movies would not only be clearer to follow but more entertaining too. It feels like Tenet is not only a bad parody of his early work, but a tired ripoff too that shows that the filmmaker needs to leave the whole "what we do and don't understand about time" behind him and move on. Tenet may be entertaining in it's action sequences, and somewhat engaging even when you have no clue what's happening, but it is not a good movie by any means. And, had it not had the whole "first big movie since lockdown" thing and an entire season of cinema screens to itself, I wonder if it would even be enjoying the box office and critical reaction it is. Anyway, Tenet isn't "saving" any cinemas, if only because it can't even save the filmmaker this time.

3/5 STARS