Tenet (2020)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Writer: Christopher Nolan
Actors: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Kenneth Branagh
Christopher Nolan has been a controversial figure in my life. As a 14 year old who knew nothing about movies, I went into every theater with the mindset of just enjoying my time. I never thought films had any artistic value. All I saw in them was a way to spend 2 hours turning my brain off, eating some popcorn, and watching a bit of action on screen. I never sought after movies in my free time since I did not understand the magic they hold. That all changed when I watched The Dark Knight at the age of 14. It was not the film that changed my perspective on movies, however it was the film that peaked my interest. When I saw it I was surprised, I didn’t know such films existed and I wanted more. That ultimately led me on a journey that spanned 12 years to where I am today. Although Nolan started my spark of passion for films, he unfortunately did not keep the fire burning. Granted I enjoyed some of his projects. But a lot of his output especially post TDK have been extremely lackluster. This is mainly due to his writing which he keeps insisting on doing rather than focus on what he is good at which is the technical aspect. Even though I have been critical of works like The Dark Knight Rises, Inception, and Interstellar for hollow writing, over reliance on exposition, and the characters lacking an emotional core; Tenet has surpassed all of those shortcomings by making them even worse. As this may be one of Nolan’s worst films in my eyes.
Tenet is a movie about time. A topic that is fairly familiar to Nolan as this is his 4th film in which he explores an aspect of time. With Tenet’s entire premise revolving around the aspect of “inverted time”. This in-itself is an interesting concept to make a Science Fiction film around. However Nolan forgot that you actually need to make a good movie, and that an interesting idea will not instantly equate to a good movie. One of the most used words people have said to describe Tenet has been “confusing”. I also agree with the use of the word confusing, but not to explain the concept of inverted time, rather I am confused as to how a competent director such as Nolan really missed the ball on having any semblance of character development in this film. It was incredibly disappointing to sit down and watch a two and a half hour movie where 90% of the dialogue is exposition. To the point in which you had scenes that were solely dedicated to characters walking around random cities just explaining the plot to the viewers. On the topic of characters, they are the most hollow individuals I have seen in a major blockbuster film in the last couple of years. Even ones that have forced development are better than what was presented in Tenet. The main character being nameless is a big indicator of how every other character feels. Because you can honestly have them all be nameless and it would not matter. There was no time spent on any character and it poses a fatal flaw, one that ruined the entire film for me which is tension. By not caring about any of the characters (due to the lack of development) there is no tension. You would not care if they got injured, failed the mission, or even died. Having to focus every piece of dialogue on exposition leaves no room for the viewers to connect with the characters, thus having the entire plot feel pointless in comparison. The only character with some semblance of development is Kat, and even that felt worse than no development because Nolan’s idea of developing a female character is having her have a son and care for him. It is a frustrating concept to leave a movie theater having not cared for any of what you saw. Not because of how poorly it was made but how well it could have been made. This is why I am willing to criticize Nolan much more harshly than any other Hollywood blockbuster director. It is because I know that he is a competent director, and seeing that from someone like him makes the mistakes that more glaring.
The issue with the lack of character development is not merely constricted to a lack of tension but also a jagged story progression. The biggest offender was when halfway through the Protagonist suddenly cares so much about Kat that he is willing to risk his life along with the lives of many around him to save her. There was no lead up to this sudden shift in his personality. We do not understand why he is acting this way because we never understood his personality, morals, and beliefs to begin with. This again all comes down to Nolan’s blindness to the importance of having an emotional core around his characters and the world he creates. It is not enough to just think of an interesting idea and put all the pieces afterwards. What is the point of having someone deliver your idea to millions of people if that same person means nothing to the viewers. By having an emotional core that is structurally placed throughout the film you are able to have your viewers care about what is happening. They are invested and suddenly that interesting concept is elevated due to everything around it.
While the writing and character development, or lack there of, did not impress me, I think it is safe to say that Nolan did a great job in the technical aspects of Tenet. Watching scenes where a group of people are moving forward in time while another is acting inversely was amazing. It was impressive to say the least but again, it was bogged down by the same issue that is plaguing the entire film, and that is the lack of connection with the characters. This was most evident in the final action sequence. Although it was the most impressive from a technical aspect, I could not find myself to care about what was happening. All I could see was a group of soldiers in normal time with a group of soldiers in inverted time, fighting a group of nameless “bad guys”. Nothing felt like it mattered, because I did not care for anyone who is fighting. It will not matter to me whether Soldier No. 2324 dies amidst all this chaos. So the scene, although very impressive to look at was hollow to its core. It is the equivalent to a video game tech demo. It is interesting to see the first time but it is not an entire experience that will satisfy you, and that is the entire sentiment that I felt with Tenet as I left the theater. Not only are the technical elements weighed down by the lack of tension but they are also let down by Nolan’s signature grey/light blue hue that envelopes most of his movies. The lackluster cinematography left a lot to be desired and it made Tenet even less impressive in my eyes.
One final technical gripe is the sound mixing. It was bad enough realizing that the entire film will be draped with a score with no time for the viewer to breathe. What is even worse was that at certain points when the characters were giving their exposition dialogue (which is all the time), the score would be mixed at a higher volume than the dialogue. Even having watched it in an IMAX theater I was not able to make out what the characters were saying. For a film that relies so heavily on “telling” you what to think/feel it is even worse that this decision was made. It was not all bad, as the thumping and bellowing score felt appropriate during the action scenes. The overwhelming sounds fit nicely with the over the top action sequences that have elements of normal and inverted time all moving in tandem. This is the big takeaway from Tenet. Every element has the making of brilliance but no single factor hits it out of the park. I don’t know whether it was rushed but it certainly felt like it was, and I hope Nolan is able to take his time with his next project.
Tenet is not a film that I enjoyed. It was a film that was as hollow as a drum. It had a couple of interesting elements to it but overall it failed to create a cohesive film, one that makes viewers invested in what is happening on screen. Nolan has interesting ideas but is unable to execute them in a complete manner, as he uses every element of the film to just explain that idea rather than having meaningful reasons for those elements to exist in the first place. This was why I surprisingly enjoyed Dunkirk. Nolan stripped back and just focused on what he does best which is the technical aspects. He focused on the “feeling” and what it was like to experience Dunkirk on ground, boat, and plane. With little to no dialogue he was able to hone in on his strengths and provide us with a great movie. However, as the general audience may not have enjoyed Dunkirk’s approach, he went back to what the masses would blindly enjoy. This is not to say that I will not continue to support Nolan. On the contrary, I will be in line for every other project he comes out with. Because he is at least trying to do something different, even if it does fall short on many aspects. I just hope that for his next project Nolan is able to let go of writing so that we can have a film with better characters, an emotional core, more experimental cinematography, and a central theme to wrap it all up.
