Completely submerge yourself in Nolan’s masterfully directed version of James Bond on an acid trip and you will be left with the most enjoyable headache that a cinema trip has ever given you.
The film that was supposed to save cinema from its impending doom following on from the coronavirus outbreak that put a halt to anyone’s daily trip to the movies and pushing most films release dates further and further back. Tenet turned into the biggest film of the year and was aiming to get people back into the cinemas as soon as lockdown rules changed. Tenet had no running partners in this race, carrying a heavy burden which it did with great aplomb.
Nolan is no stranger to treating us to brain melting blockbusters, consisting of crazy mind bending twists and turns, however, in terms of understanding the plot of his films as they progress, or even after watching them, Tenet really is his most elaborate yet. With time travelling being the concept, you would think it to be something done a hundred times, when instead, it builds on the concept of time travelling in films and raises them to a completely new level. The Protagonist, who is simply called, The Protagonist, must travel forwards and backwards through time, participating in some exceptional looking action sequences in real time as well as in reverse, something I will come back to later.
Tenet is like a James Bond film on steroids and we would have inadvertently compared this with No Time To Die, which was unfortunately delayed until next year. It comprises of a James Bonds like figure, a one man wrecking ball who must save the world from World War 3 as he uses time manipulation that he doesn’t quite understand, to stop a Russian megalomaniac who uses this manipulation of time to communicate with the future, and create a vast wealth of power for himself in the present day. Unlike other time travelling films there is no cause and effect scenario attached with this idea, due to the linear and inverted time frames working together to create a harmonious relationship.
Tenet is unique in the sense that it isn’t a straight up science fiction film, but it blends this with action and comedy – albeit quite cheesy comedy, something James Bond films were built on – basically creating this new hybrid film genre that is very much a superbly unique decision. There was a point in this film about half way through where I thought I had cracked its plot and could feel a grin the size of Tenet’s budget building on my face, for it then to be quickly wiped off about twenty minutes later as I questioned absolutely everything again and found myself in a severe loop of confusion that follows me still.
The film consists of great performances as well, John David Washington who plays the protagonist, has sky rocketed himself to a Hollywood leading man as he ripped through the script superbly to show us more variety of his levels that we may have wrongly questioned. There is Pattinson also, who portrays Neil, the posh, smartly dressed British handler of Washington’s, who does his best to explain what Tenet does as an agency and the role he is destined to follow.
With the help of The Protagonist, Tenet must stop a new cold war situation from happening, an attack from the future who have been able to master time manipulation as their own source of power. They have the chance at saving their present days future, which is on a different timeline to the future that is attacking. The Protagonists training involves him getting to grips with guns that suck bullets back into the barrel instead of shooting them out, which is difficult to get your head around, although, it looks cool as hell which can cancel out our need for an explanation on the odd occasion. Meeting a medley of different figures along the way including the ever present Nolan favourite, Michael Caine, who contributes some valuable information to the cause, The Protagonists path eventually leads to a crazy rich Russian, who is brilliantly portrayed by Sir Kenneth Branagh in a role unlike any other we have seen him in before, a genuinely terrifying representation of a villain lusting for power. There is also the tragic life of his wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki) who is a slave to the two men in her life, her husband and their son, as she is tormented by decisions in her life that have lead her to this moment.
Tenet was a film, I and many others were very much looking forward to watching, being a fan of past Nolan films. It didn’t disappoint in terms of it being a spectacle of fantastic film making, the good old fashioned dust up that is mirrored in two sections of the film is a particular highlight. Tenet was incredibly confusing; it may need at least two more attempts of watching to understand it that much more. It is some way off being a Nolan classic like 2000s Memento, however, regardless of whether you understand it, you will be impressed by an unrivalled spectacle of cinema that has broken new ground.
Available to watch on Sky Movies and rent from Amazon Prime now.
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