Tenet

Official Australian release date: 27/8/20. Viewed: 22/8/20.
Director: Christopher Nolan
Actors: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Kenneth Branagh
Genre: Action / Sci-Fi 
Rating: M

  

‘Tenet’ is great. And that’s not just because I finally saw a film in the cinema again! It’s definitely not a “time travel” movie – it’s a fast-paced, layered the-whole-world’s-at-stake spy film, with some added mind-bending “inversion” included. For mine, this is better than ‘Interstellar’ & ‘Dunkirk’, but not quite the greatness of ‘Inception’ or ‘The Prestige’. Still, Nolan’s bar is so high, and this ticks so many boxes.
 
The first 5min are so hectic and unrelenting, and rather than taking some time to pause and fill us in, the plot moves briskly as we follow the Protagonist (Washington – what a beard!) as he teams up with Neil (Pattinson) and are left to fill in some of the gaps – which I appreciate – rather than have them spoon fed to us. We then figure out how the villain (Branagh) – wish he had a better motivation – & his unwilling wife Kat (Debicki) fit in, as they do a Bond-esque globe-trotting – India, Estonia, Norway, England, Italy.
 
Reminds me of ‘Recursion’ (by Blake Crouch) which I just read, but still a very unique take on the spy genre. Action galore, car chases, high stakes, exceptional score, and some truly amazing cinematography. Some of the “inverse” fight scenes and car stunts are extraordinary. It’s all helped by how likeable and assured Washington is as the lead. Some of it’s a bit confusing, but there’s no time wasted getting into physics “what-ifs”. Long-ish at 2.5 hours, but it whips by.
 
Overall: Another masterpiece from the best director going round.
 

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.