Nolan delivers signature intrigue with time-bending Tenet, but it’s not without its flaws

Intrigue manages to overcome confusion in this cerebral espionage spectacle led by John David Washington, though Tenet is sure to leave audiences scratching their heads. 

Christopher Nolan’s Tenet starts with a bang and while it certainly doesn’t end with a whimper, it loses some steam along the way, partially due to audio mixing issues and a confusing plot one has come to expect from the director. Like Nolan’s dazzling Inception a decade ago, Tenet is not a film meant for those with wandering attention spans.

Tenet is ten years in the making, with Nolan pondering ideas for the film for a decade before taking five years to hammer out the script. With three COVID-related delays, the film finally hit the silver screen in Europe to showcase its impressive 225 million dollar budget that makes it Nolan’s most expensive original project to date. Led by BlacKkKlansman’s John David Washington, the film reinforces the idea that his character (who goes unnamed) is indeed the “Protagonist.” However, it is Robert Pattinson and Elizabeth Debicki whose roles allow them to deliver the charisma of the film, while Kenneth Branaugh tries on a Russian accent to round-out the cast.

The film opens with booming violence that sets the quick pace for Tenet, as a Ukraine opera is under siege and the audience is introduced to Washington’s CIA agent Protagonist. Captured and tortured during the mission, the Protagonist swallows what he believes to be cyanide only to wake up and discover he has been tested and passed. He is then introduced to the mysterious operation “Tenet,” where the confusion of the film begins.

The plot centers around the idea of “inversion,” with the best advice on how to view the concept arriving from a scientist who shows the Protagonist inverted bullets at the beginning of the film. “Don’t try to understand it. Feel it,” the scientist advises, words which can be applied to the audience for the remainder of the film. Tenet takes place in a world where a nuclear holocaust isn’t the most daunting reality as inversion poses a more sinister threat to mankind. As a future technology sent back in time enables people to reverse the path of objects to essentially rewind time, inversion is a concept not entirely clarified but which the audience must accept at face value.

Fans of Nolan’s work are no stranger to the director and writer manipulating chronology for a nonlinear plot in which multiple versions of reality exist. Unlike in Inception, the audience is aware of what version of reality they are in, though that doesn’t necessarily mean the plot is any easier to follow. However, the star power of the cast and the beauty of the set makes it impossible to look away, which is essential to avoid in this blink-or-you-miss-it action-packed thriller.

Washington and Pattison provide the action duo that you didn’t know you needed, as the latter teams up with the former as mysterious and charismatic Neil who assists the Protagonist in manipulating time to prevent World War III. With Pattison shedding any lingering vestige of Edward Cullen with his turn in The Lighthouse last year, the actor delivers a charismatic performance that throws his hat in the ring as a worthy contender for the next James Bond.

Also commanding attention is Debick (of The Great Gatsby fame, who is next to appear as a younger Lady Diana on The Crown), an elegant swan of a woman who plays Branaugh’s desperate wife Kat, a resigned hostage who dreams of diving overboard but remains tethered to her Russian oligarch husband due to her love of their son. Branaugh’s Andre Sator provides the villain of the film, as he communicates with the future to deliver the inverted technology in the present. And, of course, it’s not a Christopher Nolan film without at least a brief cameo from Michael Caine.

The movie is very on-brand with the work Nolan is known to deliver, evoking James Bond sensations at every turn. There are men in extravagant custom suits, impossibly elegant fine-dressed women, muted-palette urban settings full of underlying bleakness, close-up shot scenes of dialogue, and impressive modern sets that sprawl into Nolan’s worldbuilding. The film is rife with ambitious action sequences and stylish mind-bending espionage, delivering the cerebral spectacle that Nolan relies on for audience entertainment.

However, even a stunning set can’t amend for the noticeable failures of the sound mixing. The score and external sounds dominate the audio, causing dialogue to recede into the background until the audience is left wondering if what they are hearing is even English. With so much of the film explained through dialogue, this proves to be a critical flaw in an otherwise entertaining, albeit confusing, experience. At many points, there is the sense that the film has bitten off more than it can chew, as you might find yourself wondering how a movie with so many scenes devoted to exposition manages to make such little sense upon the first viewing.

Another area of the movie that needed some honing was the editing, with Tenet being the first Nolan film in years not edited by Lee Smith. Jennifer Lame (known for collaborations with Noah Baumbach) instead took on the role, perhaps in an attempt to evoke more emotion in the action film. The result was a choppy opening act that jumped around too quickly to follow, starting the film out on uneven footing. While the writing should have been the element to infuse emotion into the characters, the fact that the dialogue was entirely expository made it difficult to forge an emotional connection to anyone on screen. With not enough backstory and character development, the film makes it difficult to invest yourself in the outcome of any of the characters, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun to watch.

If you’re wondering if Tenet is worth seeing, the answer is yes. Now more than ever, audiences need immersion. With a 150 minute run time, Tenet promises to pull you out of reality for a while even if it’s because your ears are scrambling to pick up on dialogue while your brain churns through the confusing plot. However, there are benefits from waiting to watch the film from the comfort of your home. In addition to the obvious health concerns of going to the movies in 2020 (though drive-in theaters are offering safe viewing experiences), this is a movie that can benefit from pauses for bathroom breaks, rewinding during key scenes, and the saving grace of closed captioning.

Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, Tenet stars John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, Michael Caine, and Kenneth Branagh. The film premiered in the United Kingdom on Aug. 26 and is scheduled to arrive in the United States on Sept. 3.