Tenet

Starring: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson,

Elizabeth Debicki, Kenneth Branagh, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Dimple Kapadia, Michael Caine, Martin Donovan, Clémence Poésy

Director: Christopher Nolan

A man known only as "The Protagonist" (John David Washington) has been hired by the mysterious group Tenet to stop Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh) from destroying the world. He is joined on his globe trotting quest by the mysterious Neil (Robert Pattinson) as well as Sator’s estranged wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki). As more is revealed about Sator's plan, which involves a process known as "inversion", they find themselves in a race against time to save humanity.

I tried to keep the plot synopsis as vague as possible because there is a lot going on that is best discovered as the film unfolds. Nolan returns to one of his all time favorite plot devices (time), this time wrapped in a spy story so complex it would make James Bond's head explode.

While I wasn't a fan of either Interstellar or Dunkirk, I really dug this movie even if I didn't quite understand what was going on all the time. Nolan's script doesn't slow down to really explain what is happening, instead whisking us from set-piece to set-piece with gleeful abandon. The two and a half hours fly by but there is so much plot that Nolan tries to cram into this movie that I kinda lost track of Sator's plan and why he even needed "Inversion" in the first place. Maybe it's something I can pick up more on in a repeat viewing.

While not as mind-blowing as Inception, Nolan does some really cool things and the film is a visual feast. First off, pretty much everything is done practically on camera, which when you see what Nolan accomplishes is pretty remarkable (especially in the "Inversion" dominated third act) In fact, less than 300 VFX shots are used in the movie which is less than most romantic comedies!

Even more impressive is the score by Ludwig Göransson, who had to fill in for Nolan's usual composer Hans Zimmer at the last minute. Thanks to COVID-19, Göransson was unable to record the orchestra together, instead having to record each musician separately and mix everything together in his studio. The fact that he put anything together is impressive but the score actually serves the film well and underscores the tension nicely. Kudos to Göransson for all his hard work there.

Leading the way is John David Washington and he does well leading the movie, especially in the action scenes. He never seems out of his depth even as he dives deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole. Robert Pattinson seems to be having the time of his life. I hope this gets a sequel so Nolan can deliver on his promise with the character. Elizabeth Debicki does well but she gets to play Nolan's favorite archetype of the "damsel in distress". While not as blatant as his previous films, no doubt thanks to Debicki's magnetic personality, she still doesn't have much to do except be rescued. I hope Nolan can buck his trend of being unable to write female characters but it doesn't look promising. I also didn't recognize Aaron Taylor-Johnson in this movie until the credits and he is downright awesome in it. Supporting roles seem to suit him better than leading man ones.

It does have its issues, and I didn't quite understand everything going on but I was on board 100% with this movie. Also a good sign is that I want to watch it again to see what I missed and knowing Nolan, there is probably a bit.

Grade: B