Review: Tenet

Image courtesy of Warner Bros.

Considered to be the movie that could finally draw moviegoers back to theaters after a five-and-a-half month shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, Christopher Nolan's "Tenet" is likely to leave those who venture out to see it scratching their heads. This should come as no surprise, considering that Nolan is responsible for the brilliant mind-bender "Memento" and the brain teaser "Inception," but his latest, while visually gorgeous, has more diminishing returns.

Let me reiterate: "Tenet" is often great to look at - it has some beautiful camerawork and stunning special effects, especially those portraying a world moving backwards. But the film is often more confusing than intriguing and its time-traveling plot involving an attempt to steal pieces of a weapon and the algorithm to enable a world-ending device feels pretty rote when you attempt to explain it in a linear fashion.

The film opens with a stunning action sequence during which an individual known merely as The Protagonist (John David Washington) and a SWAT team prevent a kidnapping at the symphony in Kiev, only to find himself taken hostage by the terrorist organization that attempted to carry out the plot. The Protagonist takes a cyanide pill, but rather than dying finds himself in a hospital, where an intelligence officer (Martin Donovan) explains that the pill was merely a test, and that The Protagonist is being considered for a vital mission.

That mission involves attempting to pass off a fake Goya to an art dealer (played by Elizabeth Debicki), who is married to a ruthless Russian arms dealer (Kenneth Branagh) who might be in possession of some material that enables time to move backwards. He is given one example of a bullet that possesses "reverse radiation," and watches as it moves backward instead of forward. The Protagonist is partnered with a mysterious man named Neil ( a suave Robert Pattinson), who helps him with his mission.

The Protagonist is told that a battle is playing out in the future, and elements that will allow for the annihilation of the world have been buried in the past, so his mission is to ensure these elements are removed from the wrong hands - Branagh's Russian gangster and his minions - and hidden to ensure they do not endanger mankind.

Although previous Nolan films have drawn some criticism regarding the possibility of their heady themes, the much better "Interstellar" was, in fact, vetted by physicists, whereas "Tenet" appears to aim to confuse its audience to the point that questioning its concepts seems futile. I've tried explaining the story in this review, but there's no doubt I've barely skimmed its surface. The problem is that no matter how much deeper you dig, I'm not sure there's much enlightenment to be found.

That being said, the film has its share of impressive visuals and action sequences - the symphony attack and a chase scene on a highway are among the best - and there are a few moments when the past and the future click into place - for example, a phone call placed for the sake of "posterity" and a fight scene that is repeated twice, but with the second time providing more context.

But all in all, "Tenet" is one of Nolan's weaker films. At his best - "Memento" and "Dunkirk," for example - Nolan is one of big budget filmmaking's most consistently intriguing storytellers. This time around, however, it feels as if he's bitten off more than he can chew. The film can be engrossing, but it's ultimately an example of too much going on at the service of too little payoff.