Christopher Nolan has brought audiences another time-bending, action-packed thriller with Tenet. Originally scheduled to be released on July 17, 2020, in theaters and 70mm IMAX, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to its initial release date and followed with a series of postponed dates. With movie theaters in the United States slowly re-opening, Tenet became the first big-budget Hollywood movie to open in theaters this past September.
Before I go over my thoughts on the film, I will note I didn’t see Tenet in a theater but rather at a drive-in, and it wasn’t a bad experience. Yes, you don’t get the immersive movie experience you would at an IMAX to provide a more intense and action-packed viewing, but it did the job. Plus, I didn’t have to sit on an icky theater chair or be surrounded by people who tend to lean on the armrest, let alone risk my health. Hopefully, with the way things are, the future will provide more drive-ins with better screens, and even incorporate the technology out there for an IMAX screen or similar setup instead of projecting a digital copy to show movies.
Summary of Tenet & My Thoughts:
Tenet opens with The Protagonist (John David Washington) on a mission in an opera house, basically serving as his initiation into the secret organization known as Tenet, which infuses espionage and military-like operations with time inversion. It’s a clever way for Nolan to introduce how his storyline will be told in several parts, much like an opera.
Fast forward, and The Protagonist is teamed up with Neil (Robert Pattinson) to retrieve a mysterious object Russian oligarch Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh) is after. Sator’s goal of collecting this piece of a larger collection is not unlike Thanos searching for all of the infinity stones for his gauntlet, with eyes on ending the world as we know it.
Nolan’s appreciation for James Bond films is displayed throughout the film as we visit many different picturesque locals. The Protagonist, much like a suave Bond character, takes on a Russian villain. Washington and Pattinson make for a great duo, as they deliver dryly humorous lines in a way others may not have been able to do to carry this 150-minute movie.
Additionally, Ludwig Goransson’s score is very well done. Much like Hans Zimmer’s score in Dunkirk, which gave a feeling of time running out. Gorannson’s score does something similar, creating a distorted sound to fit how time would sound and move in Tenet. It’s a score that really adds to the narrative.
When I view a movie, I’m always thinking of connecting the dots and figuring out what’s going to happen in the plot (yes, I’m that person). While watching Tenet, I can’t believe I’m going to make a comparison to a Salvador Dali painting (I’m not one who appreciates Dali’s work), but I thought of “Persistence of Memory,” best known for its melting clocks. More notably, I was also thinking of how the film moves like a Rubik’s Cube.
If you think for a second of what a Rubik’s Cube is, it has nine colors on each side, which change when you turn it in a different direction. The object is to align the cube, so all of the colors of each side match correctly. By doing so, you move the cube in clockwise and counterclockwise directions.
Early in the film, The Protagonist meets a scientist who explains how a bullet can be inverted to reverse through time. However, we learn that it’s not just bullets. Everyone in Tenet (and some who aren’t) have worked on mastering this ability. Thus, Tenet is like a Rubik’s Cube and The Protagonist is holding it in his hands as he tries to change the storyline, making critical decisions to save the world.
Nolan enjoys incorporating time in his films, distortion of memory, and racing towards or even racing in reverse. Several of his previous films, such as Inception and Memento, make this clear. This brings me back to Dali’s iconic painting. There have been several theories and interpretations of these clocks. One is how the clocks symbolize time escaping us. If you notice, Tenet’s tagline reads “Time Runs Out.” This tagline and theory of time escaping/running out is juxtaposed with Andrei Sator’s health. He knows his time is running out and has the mentality that if he can’t live, no one can.
Tenet‘s use of time is quite impressive. Haven’t we all thought, at some point, where does the time go? Or how it moves too fast or at other times too slow? There’s a great deal of stunt work that helps bring this to the big screen, which was really neat to see.
Some people claim they did not understand Tenet. But what does that mean? Did they simply not like the film? Was it boring? Why was it boring? I think to not understand a movie is a quick statement, as well as one that has been used many times before.
For example, paintings have long been around, and a person can stare at one for a while, shake their head, and say they do not understand it. However, with art, there is no definite explanation for the painting being observed, or the movie you’ve watched, unless the artist has some sort of direct answer.
It’s the old saying that art is open to interpretation. I don’t think Tenet is too difficult to understand. I do enjoy puzzles and layers of a storyline so this may help the way I viewed this film. With all of that said, I would recommend Tenet. It’s another spectacular technical and cinematic accomplishment from Christopher Nolan.
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