LIVE ON TIME, EMIT NO EVIL

Despite having a similar premise to Nolan’s Inception (2010) or the Wachowskis’ The Matrix (1999), director Christopher Nolan’s Tenet (2020) is unlike any film I’ve ever seen before. . . 

With a production and writing process that lasted for more than a decade, Tenet faced a setback —in an already long journey— when it was time to hit the theatres; at the hands of the pandemic. Originally set to release on the 17th of July, 2020, Tenet was internationally released on the 26th of August.

Tenet is a spy film following a secret agent as he manipulates the flow of time to prevent World War III. Similar to Interstellar (2014), Nolan consulted theoretical physicist Kip Thorne on the subjects of time and quantum physics for Tenet. 

 ‘Tenet’ itself is a palindrome, reading the same backward as forwards. And to avoid spoiling the movie, I will simply say that the word “ten” is a reference to an important scene in the last act. Though I’m sure one would forget I mentioned it when they're on the edge of their seat, breath held midway and eyes near-bulging while trying to retain everything. The only way I could possibly describe my experience is by comparing the rush of adrenaline —as soon as the trailers and previews end— to mixing a Monster energy drink with a cup of dark roast and gulping it down in one breath.

Fleshed out with a compelling cast, the characters are brought to life with John David Washington, the star of the movie, and Robert Pattinson and Elizabeth Debicki, the supporting actors. According to Nolan, Washington was chosen for his award-nominated performance in BlacKkKlansman (2018).

 Additionally, some reviewers complain of the film’s muffled dialogue. For instance, Forbes’s critic, Scott Mendelson, says, “Once again, the audio mix emphasizes music, key sound effects, and seemingly irrelevant background noise over dialogue.” Nolan has received copious criticism for the sound design in his last four movies; however, he explains that it is “to emphasize how loud the surrounding noise is.” Reviewers also complain of the confusing plot and impassive tone. One critic even said, “What the hell was that?”

Although it might have been difficult to engage with the film emotionally, one thing is for sure: it is a cinematographic masterpiece. With an aggressively fast-paced momentum, the chaotic visuals are one of the main remnants that come to mind. For instance, I found Nolan’s use of colours to differentiate between timelines a clever and subtle tactic.

When it comes to action scenes, this film is jam-packed. I walked out of that theatre speechless and mind-blown. Speaking of blowing stuff up, one epic scene involves the crashing of a 747 plane into a real building. That would explain the crazy movie budget of $200 million- making it Nolan’s most expensive project thus far. Nolan explains that it was actually "more efficient to buy a real plane of the real size, and perform this sequence for real in-camera, rather than build miniatures or go the CG route." He also claims that the film “probably has less CGI than most Rom-Coms.”

Putting aside some of the pretentious reviews, this film was well received. I give it a 9/10. In my opinion, not only was it overwhelmingly fun to watch and guess what would happen in the next action sequence but also mind-racking, which would be useful after six months of quarantine! I’d describe Tenet as phenomenal, exceptional wickedly-convoluted, astonishing…need I go on?

P.S. Although it is PG-12 rated, some violent scenes were too gruesome for younger audiences.