A Reel Review: TENET

For over 20 years, filmmaker Christopher Nolan has challenged audiences with his non-traditional style, which has ranged from non-linear storytelling, multiple timelines, and variables on the passage of time. But even when he is at his most ambitious, he still manages to keep the film grounded to keep his audiences engaged and informed. After 10 films he must think audiences are used to his visions by now, because his newest film, TENET, really doesn’t care if anyone is confused. 

A CIA agent (John David Washington), known only as The Protagonist, is recruited into a secret organization to defeat the efforts of Andrei, (Kenneth Branagh), a Russian oligarch who is manipulating the flow of time to bring on worldwide destruction. 

TENET at its core is a classic James Bond film, with our Protagonist hopping across the world, making shaky alliances with shady arms dealers in an effort to save every one of us. Along the way he picks up companions such as Neil (Robert Pattinson), his handler, and Kat (Elizabeth Debicki), the estranged ex-wife of Andrei. The goal is simple enough in hopping around from place to place chasing items from the future, which when put together can have worldwide devasting consequences. 

Saving the world may be the same-old, same-old that we’ve seen countless times, and that’s where the manipulation of time comes in. Objects and people have the ability to rewind, or even fast-forward time, which leads to multiple character timelines which eventually leads the story to fold back on itself. Characters encounter themselves from the future and past, while others see the world around them unfold in reverse as they travel backwards. It’s confusing and mind-bending, and one would need a road map to keep track. 

As commendable as it may be to try something this ambitious on film, the time manipulation comes in drastically undercooked. Every time-travelling movie has a scene where a scientist explains the mechanics of it all, and TENET has one, but this time the scientist is as clueless as the audience…offering no real explanation. The scientist (Clemence Posey), literally tells the Protagonist, and the audience, don’t try to understand it. It feels like the easy way out and once the film moves forward with things running backward, it just gets bewildering. 

There is still a lot to admire in TENET. Action sequences ranging from a shootout at an opera house, a freeway chase, and a raid on an underground bunker are intense and will have audiences ducking for cover, and a fistfight in a kitchen with utensils as weapons is brutally awesome. Characters and objects moving in reverse during these action pieces are impressive, and the amount of thought and coordination that must have been put into it can be seen on the screen. The various locations across the world are gorgeous, and Ludwig Goransson’s score is tremendous. Nolan however can’t help himself in the most basic filmmaking; often the dialogue is drowned out by noise or the score itself in an effort for realism, or just to drive us nuts. The highlight of the film is when a 747 crashes into a hanger; filmed for real. 

Acting is very good despite every character being not-so-much characters and more like widgets to drive the story forward. John David Washington is required to be stoic, but has just enough charisma to get past it. Robert Pattinson brings on a few laughs and shows off a surprising ability in the action sequences. Elizabeth Debicki is gorgeous and offers what little heart there is, and Kenneth Branagh is great as always. Michael Caine makes a small cameo in his 8^th Nolan film. The show is stolen by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who absolutely vanishes into a role as a military commando. 

The finale involves a massive raid on a compound with two teams attacking from two different timelines, which once again confuses without a roadmap. The last few minutes do manage to fold back on itself and things kinda-sorta make sense, but the trip there is a headache. TENET is a film that has Nolan at his most experimental; challenging audiences and pushing every limit possible. It’s too ambitious for its own good, and it impresses as much as it baffles. 

BOTTOM LINE: Rent it