Writer/director Christopher Nolan has long been one of the
staunchest advocates of the in-person theatrical experience. So it's fitting
that the first blockbuster to open in theaters since the start of the COVID-19
pandemic is Nolan's time-traveling spy adventure Tenet.
John David
Washington (BlacKkKlansman) plays a nameless spy recruited to stop a
Russian oligarch (Kenneth Branagh) from using time-traveling technology for
extremely sinister purposes.
It wouldn't be
fair to reveal much more about the plot. Tenet's notion of time travel
is different than most sci-fi films. In your average time travel movie, if you
wanted to go from 2020 to 1985, you would step into a time machine and be
instantaneously transported 35 years back in time. But in Tenet's world,
you would literally have to travel backwards day-by-day to get to 1985. In
other words, it would take you 35 years to make the journey.
All time travel
movies have logical holes in them because time travel is, in all likelihood,
impossible. However, Tenet's time travel of characters moving backwards
through time interacting with characters moving forward through time will
confuse many viewers. I could summarize the film and give everyone the gist of
what happens from start to finish, but even I have questions that I can't
answer. It's a denser, more convoluted film than even Nolan's 2010 Inception.
While some of
the above is frustrating, I was fully entertained for Tenet's 150-minute
running time. I was reminded in a way of The Big Sleep. In that classic
detective film, even the screenwriters were confused as to who committed one of
the murders (novelist Raymond Chandler claimed ignorance as well, possibly due
to spite). However, the atmosphere and the action kept viewers engaged in the
story. The same is true for Tenet. The action scenes are creative.
Washington is a charismatic hero, and Robert Pattinson makes for an appealing
sidekick. Michael Caine is funny in his one scene as a British spymaster. And
in an era where so many filmmakers dumb things down for their audience, Nolan
steadfastly refuses to do that. He believes viewers can follow a highly complex
plot.
At the end of
the day, Tenet is a movie that I admire more than love. It's distinctive
enough that it will likely attract some devoted fans, but the confusing plot
will also likely generate a backlash among other viewers. Still, it's
refreshing to see a filmmaker take risks in a Hollywood blockbuster setting.
