Tenet (2020) (comes out the 26th in Canada)

[baumer]

Discuss

[Plain Old Tele]

I really wish Nolan wasn’t so obsessed with necrophilia. Although I suppose inverting it made that aspect marginally more interesting.

 

Still, on the whole, not too bad. Sure, it’s not TDKR, but how many movies really are?

 

B-

[MrPink]

Fuck you Jake

[DeeCee]

Top Ten Nolan. 

[The Panda]

When I am on my deathbed I will look back and realize I'd have never seen a better movie since this one.

 

Sadly, that's in only three weeks because of the Rona.

Edited August 25, 2020 by The Panda

[baumer]

Christopher Nolan has made a masterpiece that lies somewhere between citizen Kane and the artist. While not quite as good as Terrence Malick's thin Red line, Nolan has proven that he is on par with greats like John Waters and Victor Salva. 

 

The greatest director working today is Michael Bay. Christopher Nolan has long since aspired to be as good as him and this is a step in the right direction.

[dudalb]

6 hours ago, baumer said:

Christopher Nolan as made a masterpiece that lies somewhere between citizen Kane and the artist. While not quite as good as Terrence Malick thin Red line, Nolan has proven that he is on par with greats like John Waters and Victor Hugo. 

 

The greatest director working today is Michael Bay. Christopher Nolan has long since aspired to be as good as him and this is a step in the right direction.

I hope this is meant to be humorous.

[baumer]

2 hours ago, dudalb said:

I hope this is meant to be humorous.

Why would it be humorous? It's 100% real.

[CoolioD1]

It really is just a James Bond/Mission Impossible type movie with an inversion gimmick as an excuse for some cool action. but whatever, the action is some of the best that nolan has done for sure. everything in between the setpieces is just people asking and explaining about the plot. JDW, Pattinson, Debicki all good as non-characters. Branagh terrible (give me an actor with a single ounce of menace in that part please). you can pretty much see every reveal coming if you guess that every mysterious figure seen/referred to is one of our leads from the future.

 

ludwig's score is a fucking banger. hearing it booming during the opening was when i knew i'd made the right choice to see it in the cinemas.

[Jonwo]

2 hours ago, CoolioD1 said:

ludwig's score is a fucking banger. hearing it booming during the opening was when i knew i'd made the right choice to see it in the cinemas.

I agree about the score being an absolute banger. I wouldn't be surprised if Ludwig gets to score Nolan's next film. 

[CJohn]

Where to start.

 

The score is tremendous. It will make your hears bleed and it will be amazing, It is a spectacular score that alone justifies going to the theater to see Tenet.

 

Then we have Kenneth Brannagh playing a WWE villain the entire fucking time upped to 11. I am gonna classify that as something that everyone needs to see. John David Washington was a fantastic protagonist (WINK WINK) and he has a really good humor timing with his lines. Debicki, ATJ and Pattinson were good as well.

 

The action was truly something else. The final setpiece shows some mad ambition from the MAN Nolan. I will die for this man if I have to. Tears of joy while this was ending and I was collecting my brain parts from the floor. If cinemas do die, they will go out with a bang.

 

I am yours Nolan. Fuck everything else.

[solaris]

I so wanted to love this... But it fell flat for me.

 

The good:

- sound and score are incredible. Dialogue mix wasn't an issue for me.

- Debicki is great. This deserves to propel her to the A List.

- ATJ looks nice with a big beard.

- some absolutely incredible visuals and staging (duh).

 

The bad:

- plot is literally too clever for its own good. A good 80% of the time I was struggling to understand what was going on. Nolan isn't known to hold his audiences hand, but this was ridiculous.

- JDW and Pattinson are.... Ok. Didn't feel that invested in either for some reason.

- Branagh's performance seems beamed in from another film. A film that I'd probably enjoy more. It just doesn't fit.

 

By the end I was just letting the impressive visuals wash over me. I had zero investment in the plot (Debicki aside).

 

A major disappointment and a strong case for Nolan to look for a smaller project (and a producer who isn't his wife) next.

 

EDIT - I may feel differently after a second viewing

 

Edited August 28, 2020 by solaris

[IndustriousAngel]

well, well ... this is Nolan's love letter to 70's spy movies, it seems - and I do love many of those movies, and just like them, Tenet is not afraid to have a lot of fun with the inherent silliness of the genre. The solipsistic villain is pure James Bond! Plus, Nolans action set pieces are something to behold. I really recommend watching this on a big screen, with a lot of ooomph in the sound system!

On the other hand, as Solaris above mentioned, the plot is maybe too clever for its own good. In some instances, the time-reversal is used like a gimmick (like that backfiring gun in one of the Matt Helm flicks) and when it's not used like a gimmick, it doesn't really make that much sense to me. I'm sure somebody spent a lot of time thinking those temporal shenanigans through but it didn't translate to a coherent plot on screen.

 

Which brings us back to those 70's spy movies, which didn't make much sense, either. Still, they were a lot of fun, and I like to think that that's what Nolan was aiming for - spinning an entertaining yarn for us movie junkies. Maybe overly complicated, and maybe a little too self-conscious (we even have one "Protagonist" and one "Antagonist" ...), but overall, the long running time flew by and I did feel entertained, you bet!

 

B+

Edited August 31, 2020 by IndustriousAngel

[Jamiem]

Interesting ideas that Nolan was playing with but just feel flat for me, none of the actors really got to show of their chops that much Pattinson was probably given the most to work with and was solid. Action was really solid and the visuals (going in reverse and what not) were great for the most part. Score and sound mix were not great. 
 

At the moment it’s a C+ for me personally, hopefully I enjoy it more in a rewatch like I did with Interstellar (although first watch I would’ve scored Interstellar a bit higher) but I will probably wait for home video until I give it a rewatch no need to rush back to the cinema for this one.  

[IndustriousAngel]

1 minute ago, Jamiem said:

Pattinson was probably given the most to work with and was solid.

that's what I have forgotten in my short review; acting all around is good (with the Bondish villain overdoing it as warranted) but with this movie, Pattinson has finally arrived in the league of "can be trusted with any role" actors. Not a standout but far far from his bland earlier performances.

[FilmFincher]

Watched a second time, this time with the cinema I went to had the audio properly synced up so I was actually able to watch it. 

Didn't have problems hearing any dialogue and the film was plenty loud and bass-ey, didn't seem like anything was neutered. 

 

Really loved the film, it is a straight up spy film and akin to an American Bond. At it's base level it follows that structure,

Spoiler

there's a few 'we have to break into the thing to get the thing and stopping a ticking time bomb at the end' etc.

That familiarity I think is what lets Nolan put the time inversion aspect on-top which makes for some really fun and inventive action sequences (Albeit a bit overhyped, Dunkirk definitely has his most impressive set-pieces, you can't beat the areal combat).

Spoiler

The time inversion also allow for inventive storytelling devices when things are revealed at the end. I loved the idea of a time pincer movement when it came to how the action was staged as well. I also loved the implications of how the Neil/Protagonist relationship works, it's very similar to River/Doctor in Doctor Who. 

 I felt I grasped everything on my first watch, the second just made certain scenes that much more rewarding. I think even if you don't grasp everything you can enjoy it at that base level of a spy film. But my excitement and investment definitely rose when the time inversion aspect took a bit more of a centre stage and things starting coming together. 

 

I supposed the film rests on wether or not you're going to follow John David Washington as this guy sent on a mission without any emotional investment, similar to pre-Craig Bond film. I found Washington charming and charismatic enough to carry you through the film in that way, it felt very classic movie star-esque. 

 

Ludwig's score was pretty good, I found it weaker than the Zimmer scores of Nolan films, the action was just as propulsive but it needed more heart.  

 

The cinematography and sound design are stellar, I love how much was in 70MM IMAX (which is how I saw it the first time when the audio was not it sync), the scale of certain sequences such as the third act and plane sequence just made me giddy, I had a smile on my face the whole time because it was just such impressive filmmaking. 

 

Most of the actors do a stellar job, Debicki who I've loved since Widows is the emotional core and does a great job selling it, Pattinson is the most fun and I'm a firm defender of Aaron Taylor Johnson who also does great in his smaller role. They all bring a lot more humanity than what's on paper and I think their chemistry together is what carries you through all the plot. The only one I'm not too sure about is Branagh, I like he's a straight up villain and his petty motivations but he plays it too much like a classic Bond villain, it gets a bit too hammy and shouty at times. 

 

My other complaint would be a few times Nolan spends too much dialogue on things that ultimately don't matter (pondering questions of paradoxes etc.), those scenes drag a little and there's some ideas hinted at that I would have loved to see explored further.

 

But overall I thought it was great, maybe 5th or 6th in the grand scheme of Nolan films, The Dark Knight, Inception, Memento and Dunkirk are definitely my favourites, the others are a bit mix and match and Tenet falls somewhere in that middle section. 

 

8.5/10

[titanic2187]

overall 8/10 to me. Maybe the best since Inception.

Nolan again overwhelm me with his mind but not so much for heart. The character between RDJ and JDZ was supposed to set up some emotional moment but it didn't work. 

 

1. TDK
2. Memento
3. Inception
4. Tenet

5. Prestige
6. Batman Begin
7. TDKR
8. Dunkirk
9. Interstellar

[Mango]

I loved it. Still processing everything but the set pieces were amazing, score was great, and John David Washington and Robert Pattinson were fantastic. It's definitely Nolan's most ambitious venture, and the craft behind this is too damn good not to appreciate. The third act might be the best big budget climactic chaos I've seen.

 

I see why a few critics and audiences are a bit disenchanted. If you went into this expecting a sleeper sequel to Inception I could definitely see those people being disappointed. The two films are extremely different and I get the idea comparing them was mostly just hype/promoting. 

[baumer]

So I'm really going to be the only one brave enough here to say that I did not like this movie one single bit. The sound mix is definitely a problem, so much so that this film actually needed subtitles. I literally could not understand probably a quarter of the movie and the scene when they were on those motorized sailboats and they are wearing black helmets, you couldn't understand a freaking word these guys are saying.

 

The plot seemed way too ambitious way to mumbo-jumbo and I just didn't really understand what a lot of it meant. There's way too much exposition and in between some of the inception like action scenes it's just a bunch of people talking about things that don't really make a lot of sense. now you guys can get on your soapbox and tell me that I didn't understand the movie and that's why I didn't like it. And I agree with you to a point. But I shouldn't have to go into a movie and analyze every freaking scene in order to get enjoyment out of it. If you guys say you really enjoyed it and you really loved it then more power to you. Me, I didn't like this really at all right from the get-go.

 

6/10

[Lucas]

It is the final boss collapse of the entire concept of auteur theory. Everything is the most Nolan thing ever and all of it is much worse than it has ever been before, it is a frustrating and soulless experience with next to zero return of investment. It is astounding how few tricks it has up its sleeve for a movie that lives and dies on its concept. There is nothing more to it than what has already been revealed in the trailers. Some months back I said Tenet looked like a parody of a Nolan movie, but I had no idea it would be to this level. It would be the funniest self-parody ever made if it wasn't so boring for long stretches of it.

 

I feel it desperately required an Edge of Tomorrow-esque screenplay that can be creative and fun with the premise, because this is a goofy concept that can make for a great film, it just doesn't lend itself to the dry and serious thriller that Nolan wanted to turn it into. But the script as is, is flat out terrible. The scene by scene construction is laughably amateurish and clunky. There are so many seemingly identical scenes of characters walking generic streets in a dull 2-shot explaining things at each other as the camera follows. Similarly there's an absurd amount of scenes of two characters at a restaurant. At one point it feels as though Washington's character goes from having dinner in a restaurant with a character explaining things at him - to another restaurant with another character.

 

Pattinson has what seems like a setup for a personal character conflict that might be something for him to grapple with as the movie progresses, but then it's never brought up again so I can't even assume it was meant that way to begin with. Washington's character similarly has what seems like an obvious setup for a personal character conflict, but it turns out there was flat out nothing there. What I thought I saw the beginnings of is the most basic emotional angle to pull, and the movie didn't even rise to that. The characters are the worst of Nolan's filmography so far, and so is the film.

It isn't complex or abstract, it's just inarticulate. If Nolan truly was going for abstractness he wouldn't have made the entire movie exposition about what's going on. All the "clever" rug-pulls the movie has is the same one over and over again, and by the second one I had figured it all out so none of it was ever surprising or interesting. 

 

4/10