Tenet is Both Like and Unlike Every Other Nolan Film You’ve Ever Watched
WARNING. Spoilers ahead
Let me set the scene. It’s towards the end of the Victorian lockdown in Australia and you’ve been waiting for the release of the newest Nolan film for months. Deciding that it’s better to obtain a physical copy (as most Nolan films require at least two viewings to fully appreciate it, in my opinion) you decide to wait even longer. Weeks go by and finally, FINALLY, you have the film in your possession. Just maybe, maybe this film will provide you with the much needed temporary relief from the dumpster fire that was this year, you think to yourself as you enter the DVD into the player. 2 hours and 30 minutes later you are no longer excited. You’re not angry or sad or even disappointed. You’re just confused.
Maybe I’m just really dumb. I would be lying if I said that I never paused the film to look up multiple words in the dictionary. Maybe this film just wasn’t for me. What I do know is that no matter how many times I watch this film I will never be satisfied with this movie. This is namely because it contains all of the things present in a typical Nolan film and yet limited amounts of what I love about them.
So without further ado, let's dissect the similarities and differences between this and other Nolan movies.
SIMILARITIES
The Concept of Time is Explored
If you’ve watched a couple of Nolan films then you are no stranger to Christopher Nolan’s fascination with time. For example, ‘Memento’, ‘Interstellar’ and Inception are just three of his films which places the concept of time front and centre.
However, as in many of his films, he always explores a different facet of how time can be manipulated in each world he builds. In ‘Tenet’ it’s the ability to invert yourself through time such that you experience events backwards. Some of the simpler aspects of this include characters walking backwards, bullets returning to guns and speech being reversed.
fun fact: the actors and actresses had the difficult task of actually speaking in reverse for certain scenes. Imagine having to say multiple words backwards knowing that if a single sound was not pronounced correctly, you would ruin a take. A for effort there.
It’s Action-packed
From one on one brawls on other planets to complex fight sequences in the hallways of hotels, all Nolan films feature some action and Tenet is not an exception.
If anything I would argue that whenever Nolan isn’t trying to explain something to the viewers, the characters are embroiled in some kind of fight or carrying out a plan to save everyone from World War III.
Very Loud
Unfortunately, Hans Zimmer was working on another project and could not compose a soundtrack for ‘Tenet’. Despite that, the soundtrack was still near deafening.
In fact, I would advise you to watch this film with subtitles instead of IMAX. I believe this allows you the highest chance of figuring out what is happening in the story.
That does not mean the soundtrack was bad by any means. I think it actually complimented the movie quite well and added tension to the litany of action sequences.
Micheal Caine is in it
It’s not a Christopher Nolan film without a cameo from Micheal Caine. He makes an appearance for a small scene in which he guides the protagonist (like usual). Although it seemed like Caine was appearing as himself in the film, IMDB credits him as “Crosby”.
DIFFERENCES
The use of Exposition
In Nolan films, this refers to how parts of the film are designed to convey the mechanics of his world to us. Most commonly, Nolan features a character or characters who are new to his specific setting and uses them to try and teach us the intricacies of the world he has created. A good example of this is when Cobb shows Ariadne how to manipulate the landscape in her dream in ‘Inception’ multiple times, and in the process, the audience learns about what you should or should not do in a dream.
However, unlike Inception, I felt that the exposition in this movie was substandard. Don’t get me wrong, upon three or four viewings and after scouring the internet for clues you can appreciate the effort Nolan made to explain inverting objects and time. For example, his use of colour to explain when someone was travelling forwards or back in time was certainly a useful tool. It’s just that his use of single words like “posterity” to explain concepts got tiring after a while. So did the dialogue between characters any time something was to be explained. I for one would have loved it if they explained how people in the future thought they could solve the grandfather paradox.
When prompted, even people I know who love this film cannot explain what happened in specific scenes or why it happened.
Now some of you might be thinking, “well he can’t explain everything in under 3 hours” and you would be correct. That is however precisely my point. I believe Christopher Nolan has overextended himself with this project. Nolan has spent his entire career creating films around concepts and ideas that are difficult to explain, and more importantly, he has explained them incredibly well. It is disappointing that this film is an outlier.
Character Development
The Protagonist in ‘Tenet’ appears shallow. His motivation for “saving the world” isn’t revealed to us beyond possibly saving his own skin. You may label me as a cynic for believing that no one can be so altruistic, but even if it isn’t true, characters displaying such an extreme level of selflessness are rarely interesting.
In Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight’ trilogy, we support Batman in his quest to help people because in the process he avenges the death of his parents and later his girlfriend. It is the personal loss Batman experiences and his grief that helps us empathise with this character, and ultimately invests us in his story.
Simply put, I probably wouldn’t care if ‘The Protagonist’ died. Sorry, not sorry.
With that in mind, Neil is a better character. His established friendship and camaraderie with The Protagonist explains why he goes to such lengths to protect him. (On a side note, Robert Pattinson was a very good fit for this character and I’m excited to see the other projects he completes in the future.)
In contrast, the antagonist, unfortunately, is a stereotypical villain. Whilst Nolan attempts to show a more sensitive side of Sator through his visit to a happier moment in time, it does nothing to combat the cliched villain Nolan spent most of the film creating. Andrei Sator only needs to add a curly moustache to complete the look. Thick Russian accent, violent outbursts to command power and respect, poor treatment of his wife, fascination with guns and creative torture methods; Andrei Sator has it all.
The relationships between characters lacked depth
I was thrilled that a platonic relationship was front and centre of this film but I wish there was a greater focus on it. I understand that for The Protagonist his friendship with Niel is only beginning at the end of the film, but this meant that when Niel inevitably dies there just wasn’t as much of an emotional impact.
This was particularly disappointing because I was on the verge of tears when watching ‘Interstellar’ and witnessing the desperation of a father who so dearly wants to go back to his daughter. I know Nolan can incite such emotions from the audience and I know he knows how. So why didn’t he?
The representation
One of the only good differences, ‘Tenet’ is the first film by Christopher Nolan which features a Black protagonist who is quite literally ‘The Protagonist’. He is played by John David Washington who I think did a phenomenal job with the character he was asked to play.
In Conclusion
I am still confused.
I certainly appreciate some of the effort Nolan put into this film but I just don’t think it meets the standards of many of his other works. By all means, feel free to ignore me and love this film to death. This is just the opinion of someone who was sadly disappointed by this film.
