Tenet is the new film by accomplished filmmaker Christopher Nolan, starring John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, and Kenneth Branagh. I would usually give some kind of spoiler free plot synopsis before reviewing, but for Tenet that seems near impossible without A) going on for too long or B) spoiling something from the movie. The film is beyond intricately woven, as Christopher Nolan is going all out on his trademark extremely complex, plot heavy style. Conceptually, it was fascinating and the film-making itself was utterly breathtaking. The scale to this movie is truly amazing, with multiple sequences throughout the film being completely thrilling and spectacular. Nolan used every dollar from that gargantuan 205 million dollar budget with great care. With Tenet, Nolan once again proves he is one of the most daring, bold, and ambitious filmmakers working today. However, that doesn't make a film great... and Tenet is no exception. It's good, it kept my attention, but as a whole it felt a bit detached. This is an issue I've had with many Nolan films, but with Tenet I would say it's Nolan's biggest offender of lack of authentic emotion. This is all down to the thinly written characters and the unavoidably small amount you care for them. While the performances are all solid, the characters aren't given that many unique traits about them. The main character is simply called "The Protagonist" and it is ironically fitting for a character who's only purpose is to seemingly be the "good guy." He doesn't even get a proper introduction. I guess if I had to describe him, he is sort of a James Bond esque type, but that's not too original anyways. John David Washington does just about the best he can with the material, but unfortunately that just isn't that much. Robert Pattison's character "Neil" is also not given much complexity, but his character is a bit more memorable in my opinion, but maybe that's just down to Pattinson's natural charm. The only character you really feel emotionally attached to is "Kat" played by Elizabeth Debicki. However, I think this is probably more down to the sympathetic events surrounding her. I will say that the villain played by Kenneth Branagh is likely the most memorable character just due to the pure ferocity Branagh brings to the screen here. His ambitions do border on, for lack of a better word, cartoonish though. Now to be clear, I don't hate these characters... I just feel no attachment to them. This lack of strong character development makes the movie somewhat emotionless. The film also doesn't always execute exposition very successfully as Tenet is a lot of the time, unnecessarily hard to follow and convoluted. The film would be a lot more investing if Nolan would allow the audience to be let into the basics of the plot. Sometimes this works to great effect however, as Tenet's many audacious reveals are simply brilliant. All in all though, I enjoyed Tenet. I was constantly stunned by the incredible film-making and scale. Even if the character's weren't great, the complete complexity and ambition of the plot begs for a second watch. Tenet is a new experience and a stunning and boldly unique ride, even for its glaring flaws. I will probably watch it again one day, and it might be one of those movies that gets better each time you watch it (like a lot of Nolan's movies). Will those fundamental flaws disappear on a second watch however? Probably not. Tenet is a hard movie to review, because there is truly a lot of amazing things within this movie and it is a unique, audacious experience.... but there is also a lot of things to roll your eyes at as well.
8.0/10
