Tenet represents all that is wonderful and infuriating in feature films – when a creator has total control and no objective counter-balance towards establishing the final product.
If you are a fan of Christopher Nolan (Memento, The Prestige, Inception, Dunkirk) make sure you take in Tenet. However, do so on a very big screen and in a large movie theatre with a superb sound system. Doing anything less and the movie will likely prove disappointing.
Tenet for most viewers will likely feel maddingly dense (as in complicated), confusing, and never ending. Tenet has a run time of 150 minutes.
To this point in his career, Christopher Nolan has mastered delivering stories and storylines that reward viewers who exhibit patience and a willingness let the meaning come to them ever so gradually. Tenet is no exception.
In my case, I lost interest towards learning the answer of the meaning of Tenet with 60 minutes remaining. My guess, is that a really strong editor and elimination of unnecessary ballast would be the answer for me with Tenet.
Jeff’s Worthless Trivia and Other Thoughts…
While I was underwhelmed with Tenet from an overall perspective, there is much to like about the film.
The leads – John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, and Elizabeth Debicki are very good in their roles.
Washington (BlackKKlansman) is evolving into solid leading man with a different style than his father – Denzel.
I know, I know, I know… Pattinson may be stuck with the Albatross around his neck that is The Twilight Saga films for the rest of his career. But if you can erase these films and all the Hollywood generated hype of offscreen teen-love-tragedy-betrayal and take in his other works. In his leading role in The Lighthouse Pattinson is nothing short of superb.
As for Debicki (The Crown), it would be easy to pre judge her as an exceptionally tall model type who cannot act. This would be a mistake. Debicki can show a full range of emotion.
