by Robert Bouffard
As a quick opening note, I’d like to urge anyone reading only to go out to theaters if you can make it to an environment that you feel will keep yourself, and those with whom you come into contact, safe!
I am a huge fan of Christopher Nolan’s work. Huge. He is easily my favorite director and five of his 11 films currently sit on the list of my favorite movies of all-time list. There is something so special about what he is able to do as a filmmaker – he plays in different genres but still brings his very distinct style to each and every one of his projects. His movies are mind-bending, cerebral, spectacular, and simply awe-inspiring.
Inception, The Dark Knight, The Prestige, and maybe even Interstellar are simply some of the greatest movies I have ever seen, and much of the credit is due to Nolan’s fingerprints being all over them. So, of course, I was excited to finally lay my eyes on Tenet.
Going into the film, I was expecting to see complex world building ideas and personal, intimate themes portrayed in big, bombastic ways, both of which are prime calling cards for Nolan. He delivered on both fronts.
Nolan has stated how he wanted to make his own version of a 007 movie with Tenet, and that’s exactly what the film felt like. It’s a globe-trotting espionage action epic which essentially feels like Mission: Impossible 7 with John David Washington playing Ethan Hunt. As soon as plutonium was mentioned early in the film, I got the spy movie sense. Except, of course, it has the Christopher Nolan twist: time inversion. No, not time travel – time inversion. And if you clicked on this review looking for a “Tenet explained” type of article, I’m sorry to say you’ve come to the wrong place.
Time inversion is a concept unique to Nolan and as is typical of his films, it will certainly take a handful of viewings to comprehend it and everything else going on in the movie. I’ve seen it once and I grasped its narrative and themes, but a lot of thinking, discussion, and re-watches are still necessary to completely understand the ideas Nolan is playing with (if that’s even possible).
Per usual, he is playing with time. But unlike his previous efforts, it feels like he is getting just a tad lost in his world building. Inception has Cobb’s internal struggles to ground it, Interstellar has a father just trying to get back to his children because of how deeply his love for them runs, and Dunkirk has the high stakes of war. Yet, whereas Tenet has global stakes, it ends up ringing a bit hollow.
Part of what I admire about Nolan is the way he takes the big, heady stories like Inception, Interstellar, or Dunkirk and makes you still feel deeply. While I was engrossed in the story and understood and appreciated the ideas he’s conveying about international relations and nuclear weapons, I didn’t feel like he went far enough with the ramifications for everyday average people. He attempts it, specifically with a closing shot which will stay with you, but he didn’t do the legwork to imbue the shot with the meaning it could have had.
Nonetheless, I still found myself utterly floored by the film. I’ve only talked about it critically because Nolan has set such a high bar for himself that it is difficult to reach it. Tenet is oozing with charisma and potential from its three young leads. John David Washington brings physicality and athleticism to the in-camera stunts which Nolan insists on pulling off. Meanwhile, Robert Pattinson creates the charisma which he then shares with Washington. Back in a big budget movie which will be widely seen for the first time since Twilight, Pattinson will finally prove to non-hardcore film fans that he’s more than a vampire who sparkles in the sun. But the true standout is Elizabeth Debicki. She was already on my list of actors to watch after Widows, but this movie just propelled her to another level. Out of all the characters in the film, she’s given the most to work with character-wise and she knocks it out of the park as the audience’s avatar.
It speaks to Nolan’s ability as a storyteller that he doesn’t have to rely on A-list actors to make his movies work (though when he gets someone like Leonardo DiCaprio, it certainly gives the movie a little boost). I just wish he would mix his sound in a way which allowed you to hear what they are saying. Because while the majority of the dialogue isn’t thinly veiled exposition like Inception, it’s still important to understand what the characters are saying in an action-packed science fiction spy movie.
But since this movie demands a repeat viewing as it is, and because the action is so gripping, I sometimes didn’t mind missing out on dialogue. Watching people and objects which are inverted in time perform what is otherwise a typical action sequence will be what makes this movie stand the test of time. It’s innovative and impressive to watch. And it is augmented by the unique electronic score by Ludwig Göransson, whose credits include The Mandalorian and the Oscar-winning Black Panther. While everything I’ve heard from him in the past is great, including his sitcom work, I think this is easily his standout. Nolan typically works with Hans Zimmer with whom he has crafted his signature feel, but Göransson toes the line between staying faithful to the musical sounds of a typical Nolan project while bringing something completely new to the table, and it fits nicely into the canon of Nolan scores.
Where Tenet as a whole stands, though, is a bit murky. As I mentioned earlier, Nolan has set the bar so dang high for himself. If he’s created a 100 foot wall which requires an all-time great film to clear it, Inception, The Dark Knight, The Prestige, Interstellar, and Dunkirk have each cleared the hurdle without much trouble. I think Tenet gets about 98 feet up the wall and can’t quite make it over. But again, this is only because Nolan is so good at what he does that he’s set a nearly impossible standard to live up to.
So, rated on the Nolan Scale, Tenet is mid-tier. But compared to other 2020 movies I have seen (admittedly a lower number than other years because of the pandemic), it blows them away. It’s certainly a testament to Nolan’s ability as a filmmaker when a comparatively weaker effort is still the best thing I’ve seen all year.
Grade: A-