Tenet Review
First in a series of reviews from one of our film classes here at King, Charlotte Alexander delves into the world of Tenet.
Since the trailer first dropped, Tenet has been on every Christopher Nolan fans mind. Mind you, the trailer, dropped pre pandemic (December 19th, 2019), was set the be released July 17th, moved back two times, and then released only in theaters, until its release digitally last month. If you thought that time line was confusing, Tenet might not be the movie for you.
Tenet follows The Protagonist (actor John David Washington), a secret agent assigned to stop WWIII and find the man responsible for possibly causing it. In order to prevent WWIII, The Protagonist must manipulate time, reality, and physics itself to be successful. The Protagonist joins forces with Neil, a fellow agent (actor Robert Pattison), and Kat (actor Elizabeth Debicki), the wife to the man responsible for possibly causing WWIII. The entire cast of this movie brings their A game, most notably Elizabeth Debickis with her emotionally charged performance.
While the cast is doing great, the plot is struggling to keep up with them. The overall plot itself is simple enough: Stop WWIII. It is the side plots that keep it from making more sense, as well as the unclarity audio. Nolan has the same problem in most of his movies: You can't hear what the actors are saying. That, on top of the twisty-turny plot, makes for a semi-hard to follow story. However, there are many good things about this movie on top of strong performances. The score is great for the visual effects presented, and both are some of the best I've seen in a while (they will most likely be up for an Oscar this season).
This movie, while sounding very childish, is very pretty to look at. There are multiple scenes where I thought, "I wish I could go there", and yes, even in a museum scene. This movie is a fun ride to go on if you are looking for a beautiful action packed physiological thriller, but kind of a drag if you're just looking for a light hearted action movie. Tenet isn't a perfect movie, but it is still a great piece of cinema that will be analyzed for years to come. Rating: 8/10