Well, folks, I recently did something that I haven’t done
for more than half a year; I went into a theater setting to see the latest film
release. To be clear, I’m not referring to the traditional movie theater since
I’ll admit that I’m not yet ready to go back to that just yet given the fact
that the COVID-19 pandemic is still far from over. Instead, I’m referring to
the timeless tradition that is the drive-in theater. Prior to this year, one
could’ve viewed the art of going to the drive-in as something that was becoming
outdated due to the decreasing amount of drive-in theaters in the United States
(case in point, the Rustic Tri-View Drive-In, which is conveniently located not
too far from my home in Rhode Island, is the only drive-in left in the state). However,
due to the need for social distancing, drive-ins have become a lot more popular
recently since they provide what is quite arguably the safest method of viewing
films with a crowd outside of the ‘watch party’ options that streaming services
have started to implement. And while much of this year’s new releases have either
been delayed to next year or moved to streaming services, some films have been
daring enough to get released theatrically despite the odds, with the biggest
of the bunch being Tenet, the latest outing from director Christopher Nolan.
At this point, Nolan is someone who needs no introduction as he has very much
established himself as one of the top filmmakers in the industry with a wide
array of hugely successful films. Not only is he responsible for the successful
revitalization of the Batman film franchise thanks to his Dark Knight
trilogy, but he’s also been big on delivering original screenplays in an
age of sequels, remakes, and reboots with hits such as Memento, Inception,
and Dunkirk. This is once again apparent in his new film, Tenet,
which is another premier display of his directorial talents… even if his knack
for complex narratives does prove to be a bit of a problem this time around.
After an undercover operation at an opera house in Kyiv goes
wrong, a lone, unnamed CIA agent (John David Washington) ends up being the sole
survivor of his team and is captured by Russian mercenaries. When the agent
(who’s also referred to as ‘the Protagonist’) tries to take a cyanide pill to avoid
revealing classified information, he learns that this was all a test and that
he’s now under the employment of a secret organization known as Tenet. Through
the instructions of his new boss Fay (Martin Donovan), the Protagonist learns
that he’s about to partake in a mission meant to ensure the survival of humanity
by preventing the start of World War III. To do so, he must confront Andrei
Sator (Kenneth Branagh), a key member of the Russian oligarchy who’s on the
hunt for a series of mysterious artifacts tied to the various countries that
possess nuclear weapons. Aided by his new handler Neil (Robert Pattinson) and
art appraiser Katherine Barton (Elizabeth Debicki), Sator’s estranged wife, the
Protagonist finds himself in a race against time to prevent Sator from collecting
all these artifacts in his efforts to destroy the world. In the process, however,
the Protagonist discovers that there’s a lot more to this operation than he was
initially led to believe. After experiencing a unique anomaly during that previously
mentioned undercover operation where he witnessed a bullet being ‘un-fired’ by
an unknown operative, the Protagonist learns about the process of ‘inversion’ where
people and objects can travel backwards through time. And if that wasn’t
enough, the Protagonist learns that Sator is just as well-versed with the
process and fully intends to use it to accomplish his sinister plot.
Tenet is very much a Christopher Nolan film in every conceivable
aspect of its production, especially when it comes to its technical merits. Nolan
is, after all, well-known for his preference towards practical special effects
rather than CGI, which is once again on full display here in many of the film’s
signature moments, such as an actual Boeing 747 crashing into a hangar. And just
like his previous two films, Interstellar and Dunkirk, Tenet boasts
excellent cinematography from Hoyte van Hoytema. While the consequences of our
current worldwide predicament meant that I was sadly unable to see this in 70mm
IMAX (which I’m sure would’ve looked amazing), that doesn’t stop the film from
being another visually stunning outing from Nolan. However, if there’s one
thing that does hold this film back, it’s its screenplay which, in true Nolan
fashion, is a deeply layered and fully complex narrative with all sorts of
twists and turns. Now, to be clear, I’m not saying that the problem is that this
film’s plot is too complicated to the point where it’s practically
incomprehensible because, to be perfectly frank, that’s not even close to being
the case here. At the very least, it does get its main plot-points across in a succinct
enough manner. In fact, the best thing that I can say about this film is that
it does an excellent job with how certain plot-threads that it builds up result
in top-notch payoffs, which ties in quite nicely with the whole time-bending
concept. Really, the biggest problem with the script is that, for the most
part, it feels like a non-stop barrage of exposition, and that’s even when
taking the film’s hefty two-and-a-half-hour runtime into account. In other
words, while it doesn’t really drag at any point, its rapid pacing can often
leave you feeling quite overwhelmed at the worst possible times.
Another thing that people tend to bring up when it comes to
Nolan films is that he’s usually more of a story-driven filmmaker than a
character-driven one, which often results in the argument that his films tend
to be a bit lacking when it comes to character development. And while that is quite
arguably the case with this film as well, it still boasts a phenomenal ensemble.
John David Washington headlines the film nicely as ‘the Protagonist’ who, admittedly,
is mainly just an audience surrogate without any substantial backstory but the
role still lets Washington convey the kind of strong charisma that he clearly
must’ve inherited from his father, Denzel. He also has great camaraderie with Robert
Pattinson as the Protagonist’s handler Neil, who does get a bit more to work
with character-wise once the film starts to reveal more information about Neil’s
true connection to the Protagonist. Moving on to the film’s female lead,
Elizabeth Debicki as the main antagonist’s estranged wife Katherine, there’s
been some debate on whether ‘Kat’ is just a ‘damsel in distress’. This is
something that ties into yet another recurring argument surrounding Nolan films
where, apart from a few select exceptions such as Selina Kyle in The Dark Knight
Rises and Murphy Cooper in Interstellar, their female characters don’t
really get much to work with in the grand scheme of things. But with Kat,
though, I’d say that this is one of those exceptions. There’s only
really one stretch of the film where she has to be rescued by the Protagonist, and
overall, she gets to play a considerably large role in the plot given her tumultuous
relationship with her husband and how she’s mainly driven by her desire to protect
their son. Finally, speaking of her husband Andrei, Kenneth Branagh is another
big standout of the cast as a villain who’s appropriately sinister without
being too over-the-top.
I’m about to say something that I honestly believed I would
never say. For the first time ever, I left a Christopher Nolan film feeling…
rather indifferent about it. However, this doesn’t mean that I think that Tenet
is ‘bad’ because, well, it isn’t. From a technical perspective, this film
is practically flawless. Whether it’s the excellent cinematography or top-notch
action sequences that were entirely done on a practical level, Tenet is
another prime showcase of Nolan’s talents as a director. Ultimately, though,
the biggest thing that hurts this film is its script as Nolan’s habit of overly
complicated narratives ends up being a major hindrance this time around. It’s
not that this film is so convoluted that you can’t understand it. The problem
is that it tries to cram in so much information without ever stopping to take a
break, which is something that its substantially long runtime offered it plenty
of opportunities for. And to be perfectly clear, I don’t think that this sort
of thing was ever a big issue with any of Nolan’s other notoriously ‘complex’
films such as Memento or Inception. Ultimately, though, while it really
could’ve benefitted from some steadier pacing, Tenet is still the very
definition of a film that’s an absolute must-see on the big screen… you know,
if you can. Yes, it’s time to address the elephant in the room that is the continuing
devastation that’s been brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic. While Christopher
Nolan may arguably be the staunchest defender of the cinematic experience, Tenet
has been royally screwed over by COVID-19 just as much as all the other films
that were slated to come out this year. Sure, it may have managed to end up
being the first blockbuster release to come out after the nationwide shutdown
of theaters back in March, but it was still forced to push back its release
date three separate times. And even then, Warner Bros. had to release it
internationally first since, let’s face it, folks, other countries are handling
this pandemic a hell of a lot better than we are here in the U.S. Thus, as much
as I hate to admit it, I probably won’t be able to see this film again until after
it hits the home video market. Despite this, though, I assure you that I’m very
eager to see it again to see if my initial thoughts towards it end up changing
in any way.
Rating: 3.5/5
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