Does Christopher Nolan's 'Tenet' live up to the hype?
“Tenet” - ★ ★ ★
Unlike time travel, time inversion merely rolls back the chronological order of things, something like an “instant playback in reverse” created by a piece of technology that, as we soon learn, might be in the hands of someone who shouldn't possess it.
This forms the provocative premise of Christopher Nolan's anxiously awaited, overhyped science-fiction thriller “Tenet,” an ambitious, two-hour, 31-minute noggin-scratching spectacle destined to be critically appreciated and doggedly scrutinized far more than it will ever be loved or understood.
I saw “Tenet” just the way the perfectionist writer/director demanded film critics experience it: in a real movie theater on old-fashioned, effervescently brilliant 70 mm film stock.
Visually, wow!
Narratively, whoa! ... what?
For all its bold visual innovations, “Tenet” follows the familiar plot of an action figure out to save the world.
Like Nolan's sci-fi masterpiece “Inception,” “Tenet” borrows heavily from the James Bond canon of conventions.
John David Washington's protagonist nonchalantly buttons his suit jacket (ala Daniel Craig) after cheating death. Later, an adrenalizing helicopter assault sequence channels the climactic chopper cavalry charge from 007's “Diamonds Are Forever.”
But the most intriguing element in “Tenet” (aside from its palindromic title that, like its story, works both forward and backward) lies in its unparalleled use of foreshadowing.
Pay attention to every detail you see, along with every sound you hear, for they will be presented in new contexts, enabling Nolan's cinematic jigsaw puzzle to create two separate experiences - different puzzle pictures if you will - from the same tiny, tightly fitted pieces.
“Tenet” opens with a retina-arresting assault on a large Kiev opera house where mysterious gunmen in black uniforms gas hundreds of startled arts patrons. (A nod to what happened to gangsters in 007's “Goldfinger”?)
Washington's stoic CIA protagonist - yes, he's only known as the protagonist - and his British colleague Neil (Robert Pattinson) are there, but to aid the secretive Tenet organization, dedicated to stopping the previously mentioned end-of-the world scenario.
They enlist the reluctant assistance of Kat (Elizabeth Debicki), the sophisticated, yet sacrificing mother of a little boy, and the unhappy art dealer spouse of another ruthless Russian villain, an unhinged oligarch named Sator (Kenneth Branagh).
No more needs to be revealed, because what happens plot-wise in “Tenet” is less important than how it happens.
Caught in a “time stile” that inverts chronology, cars insanely drive in reverse, explosions get sucked into the ground, Neil and his protagonist pal participate in backward mano-a-mano fights that look like David Lynch choreographed them for a “Twin Peaks” episode.
Curiously, the two speak normally, not in reverse. (What, too Lynchian?)
With its release date thrice-delayed by the pandemic, “Tenet” has become looked upon as a financial savior for a desperate, ailing exhibition industry.
That may be a tougher job than saving the world for this protagonist.
Washington acquits himself well enough, although he lacks the raw star power to dominate his imposing, spectacular surroundings.
During this era of COVID-19, “Tenet” - with its fluid flashes of fantasy and inspired transcendent visuals - would appear to be a pleasant and needed distraction from our harsh reality.
But do the non-empathetic heroes and the movie's cavalier attitude about body counts make “Tenet” a much more critical reflection of our time than Nolan might have imagined?
Starring: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Kenneth Branagh
Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Other: A Warner Bros. release. Rated PG-13 for violence. 151 minutes