Review of the movie Tenet
You have never seen anything like Tenet.
It is difficult to explain the five stars I’ve given Tenet without bursting some important moments of the film, but I am certain that it is such a revolutionary film on a visual level, that this qualification is necessary, although it has many nuances. For example, it is not the best Nolan movie. Not the most accessible. In fact, it is surely the least accessible of all the films by the filmmaker, not only because of the complexity of its plot, (although that is really the least of it), but also because of the complexity and demand that the subject of time inversion implies for the public, with all its paradoxes, with its complex changes and how they affect the universe of the film itself. Tenet requires all the concentration of the viewer not to get lost in its twists and turns and, despite everything, discover that they have not understood anything about the science behind the film, which has to do with quantum physics. To say that his premise is more difficult to follow than in any previous Nolan films is true, and it is also a success and a sin. A success because the movie never considers the viewer stupid. It always assumes the best of him or her. But it is a mistake, a sin, because it goes too far and makes it virtually impossible to understand the film completely. It is one thing to be demanding and another thing is that you need a PhD in physics to understand Tenet. I repeat, not its plot, but the essence of the journey.
That is why you have to choose to stick with a promotional phrase that a character says early in the movie «Don’t try to understand it, feel it.» Tenet is more of an emotional and visceral journey than a comprehensive one. Yes, that is a crime. You should be able to fully understand the movie (maybe after watching it for the fourth or fifth time, I don’t know), but let us sit back and enjoy the journey. A visually mesmerizing trip and in which we will be perfectly escorted by its cast. John David Washington is shown as a great leader, an actor with more resources than we can imagine and above all with an imposing physical presence that makes him exceed his height of just 1.75m. to people much taller than him as his co-stars. Like Robert Pattinson who offers us one of his most versatile, funniest interpretations (in the sense of entertainment, although he brings a very particular sense of humor) and who can further explain how his version of Batman is going to be. Elizabeth Debicki is wonderful. She is all elegance, languor and presence. Her character has the most pronounced dramatic arc, so the actress enjoys and is a joy to see her on screen. Although the king is certainly Kenneth Branagh and his character. Someone very far from what I expected from the actor and who offers us something different. Complex, brilliant and close to certain characters that appear in the Bond saga.
When they say that Nolan could make a James Bond movie I always think that he doesn’t need to. Inception was already a Bond film, so… But after seeing Tenet, that feeling increases. This film is still closer to Bond than Inception. It is an international spy thriller with very pronounced character archetypes and with a story that takes us after a “macguffin” trying to save the world. But it adds that part of science fiction, which is impossible to decipher. Yes, his script is imperfect, in this case more obviously than in other Nolan films. No, it is not a failed one. It’s amazing, it’s fresh, and it’s exhilarating. It does not give you a second to rest. But it is not just a question that it is difficult to access the film, it is that it shows that there has been a hard editing process in which the footage has been reduced considerably. That helps with the pacing of the film that doesn’t give the viewer rest, but also leaves a lot of loose ends. It’s not about leaving things pending for a sequel or not. These are dissonant elements, half-cooked personal relationships. Because the feeling that this may be the beginning of a saga is very clear to me. More than any other Christopher Nolan movies, except for his Batman trilogy. It’s a feeling, yes. The feeling that this is the beginning of a much greater journey that, if Nolan is allowed to do so, can become a gigantic world. Of the size of the director’s ego, which doesn’t seem to be exactly small, to be honest.
Because if something can be said about Tenet, it is that, beyond all that, it is visually overwhelming and huge. A true steamroller of emotions and sensations that enters through the eyes and ears. Tenet gives us images that have never been seen on a movie or television screen before, and that only in some fragments of science fiction literature we could find. Tenet is a continuous vision, a journey between dreams and reality that provides images that do not leave the retina. It does not require excessive CGI to do it, but rather a huge amount of coordination, stunts and speciall effects, spiced up with CGI, of course. But there are moments, from the beginning, that are simply fascinating and make us think over and over again how they did it. Tenet is a visual prodigy showing that Nolan, in that department, has few rivals. The film will polarize audiences, face defenders and detractors of the filmmaker even more than his previous works. But to deny the director’s visual talent is to deny reality. The car chases, the airport scene or, simply, the whole end, are a prodigy. Pure illusionism. Pure movie magic. Leaning on Hoyte Van Hoytema’s brilliant photography always, of course. That is why it deserves the five stars, despite its flaws. Because whatever happens we will always remember Tenet and what may be to come. Tenet is a journey to an unknown place, and as such you have to understand it, or not understand it at all and simply let yourself be carried away by the tide.
Jesús Usero
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★
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