Plot Summary – Armed with only one word – Tenet – and fighting for the survival of the entire world, the Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time.

★★★★★ 

Watched 12 Dec, 2020

I went into this film expecting to hate it. I’m not a huge fan of Nolan’s whole ‘you have to be a genius to understand my film’ thing and based on every review I read I felt like I was going to loathe this film. Thankfully, Indian theatres have subtitles for all movies and the biggest complaint for people just was not a problem for me, I was able to read every dialogue and therefore had a completely coherent understanding of the film. I feel like I had to preface my review with this because most people who saw this film didn’t have that luxury. I also had the opportunity to watch this in its intended format of IMAX which I feel really really enhanced the experience. Not to sound like an entitled movie prick but you really have to watch this in theatres to get the whole experience and I’m gutted that most people will have to watch this on a tiny screen. That being said, I absolutely loved Tenet. I’m not gonna lie, after the first half, in the interval, I was preparing my half-star review for the film. The first half is as unintelligible and confusing and annoying and everything I came to expect from Nolan but thankfully I had still payed attention to every moment because boy, did it pay off in the second half. What followed was some of the best writing, directing, cinematography and just overall film I’ve seen. Every single line in the second half makes watching the first half feel earned and deserved, every moment is a callback to something in the first half and it’s such a rewarding film. The score carried the first half and enhanced the second half so much, if I hadn’t asked my friend, I would have assumed this was Zimmer but it’s actually Ludwig and he has done something amazing with this score man, I’ll be listening to this for years to come and just getting great vibes because it’s a masterpiece and enhances the film so much. The acting in the film is simply phenomenal. John David Washington yet again proves that he is an extremely talented actor and that he can carry a film by a big director and almost every film I see Robert Pattinson in, convinces me that he is one of the best actors of this crop. The main criticism I’ve seen is that there’s no depth to the characters but the ending of the film makes that so obvious as to why there isn’t. Each action that The Protagonist (Yes, that is what the main character is called) takes reveals his character. We shouldn’t need flashbacks and exposition and backstory to empathize with a character when their actions have so much weight. Actions speak louder than words and every action in this film has purpose and meaning. The fact that most of these characters are blank slates, gives us an opportunity to project ourselves on to them and there’s something beautiful in that. Tenet is a kind of film that comes once in a generation. Hated by many, not appreciated enough, but I feel like we’ll look back upon this in the decades to come and feel like this was an important moment in cinematic history and I’m glad I was able to experience it in 7.1 Dolby Atmos.