Christopher Nolan seems to be one of those artists who constantly tries too hard to appear smarter and deeper than he actually is. While he has made some genuinely great movies in the past, Batman Begins and Inception especially, he seems to have become aggressively fixated on spending more time fetishizing the days of analog rather than utilizing it in any tangible way. This kind of tunnel-vision mindset has been given its perfect personification in Mr. Nolan’s latest outing, Tenet, a film that tries too hard to be smarter and deeper than it actually is while further solidifying Mr. Nolan’s hatred for the very thing he excels at: good old-fashioned action schlock.
The story follows The Protagonist (no, really, that's what he’s called in the movie) played by John David Washington. He’s some kind of black-ops agent who gets recruited into a deeper super-secret organization specializing in investigating the unusual and preventing international disasters. Think S.H.I.E.L.D from the Marvel movies, but less fun. Anyway, The Protagonist (I swear that’s what he’s called) is asked to look into a strange phenomenon referred to as “inversion”: a mysterious and possible radioactive event that causes people and objects to appear to move backward through time. This, as it turns out, is part of a massive conspiracy involving a secret ongoing cold war, Kenneth Branagh as an evil Russian arms dealer (because, of course, he is), and some kind of incredibly cataclysmic event which may or may not destroy the entire world. So, it’s up to The Protagonist (I swear this is so stupid) to solve the mystery and save the world...I think.
If you’re confused, don’t worry, we all are.
This is one of the many problems with modern Christopher Nolan. He likes to tell stories that play with time and non-linear progression. This technique worked in his earlier films like the aforementioned Batman Begins and Inception because those stories, in particular, centered around relatable ideas and sympathetic characters. Tenet, on the other hand, has neither.
The ideas presented in this film are so ill-conceived and unbelievably ridiculous that it is simply too much for any person to accept. It’s yet another case of “Double Mumbo Jumbo” where the audience is expected to suspend far too much disbelief. His characters are once again relegated to robots with no personality and are forbidden from smiling for any reason. It’s like watching a group of teenagers trying too hard to look serious and adult, making their efforts uninteresting and pretentious.
Of course, one cannot discuss this film without also mentioning the horrendous sound design. Every sound effect in this film is cranked up far too high, and the attempt at a thematic gimmick of playing the music in reverse makes the whole presentation sound like an orchestral rehearsal going horribly wrong. Not to mention the dialogue becoming far too difficult to make out. It’s like trying to have a conversation at a night club; it’s just not possible.
To be fair, there are a few things about this movie that I did genuinely like. John David Washington proves himself a capable actor, and I hope to see him in future better movies. The special effects creating the inverted scenes were pretty cool, and Robert Pattinson proves that he is worthy of playing Batman.
Apart from that, this movie is an unfortunate train wreck of terribly executed ideas, visual headaches, and pretentious arrogance. As far as I’m concerned, Christopher Nolan peaked with his masterpiece, Inception. Anything else afterward is a failed attempt to one-up himself. Mr. Nolan should just bite the bullet, make simple action schlock like he clearly wants to, and stop trying so hard to insert unnecessary pseudo-intelligent crap to make himself appear more sophisticated than he believes himself to be.
Skip this one.
Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm; thank you all for reading.
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