[Review] Tenet (6.5/10)

Title - Tenet
Studio - Warner Bros. Pictures
Starring - John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh, Dimple Kapadia
Writer - Christopher Nolan
Director - Christopher Nolan
Release - 26 August 2020

It's weird that, while I thought Tenet needed at least another 30 minutes to properly be digested, there were still some parts in the first half that I found to be really slow and cumbersome.

Why I say another 30 minutes? This movie felt so rushed from beginning to end. There were barely any breathing space at all between scenes and some of the dialogues were cut in a way that even jokes had no timing to them. Everything felt too concised but not in a good way. I understand such is the way of Christopher Nolan but then again, I didn't find this to be the case in his other movies where pacing was more palatable.

The art of time travelling came at a very high concept here. I'm sure in Nolan's mind everything made sense. But presenting it in this way was a totally different matter. Sure, there was a device that created this point where time splits into forwards and backwards; but when you went backwards I thought you had to have your own oxygen supply? But Elizabeth Debicki's character didn't need it? I must have missed something.

And another easy question to ask was why was one car travelling backwards in the highway chase? Was it easier to drive that way?

But with every Nolan movie, everything was shot beautifully. This world was created with a great sense of tangibility that even in the final battle when buildings didn't look realistic, they still looked like they belonged.

Kenneth Branagh was brilliant and easily the most captivating in the whole movie. So was Robert Pattinson. Unfortunately, I thought John David Washington was overshadowed by everyone else, both in screen presence and stature. Pattinson, Branagh and Debicki all towered over him and he just didn't act big enough to be leading the movie.

Unlike Inception, where I went back to the cinema to watch multiple times in order to fully understand it, because I wanted to. Tenet does not make me feel like I want to do that. It's just not enjoyable enough to motivate me to go again anytime soon.