Christopher Nolan’s’ TENET’ Spoiler-Free Review
Story
‘TENET’ is a mind-blowing experience; it’s not as confusing as people say, but if you do not pay attention, you will get confused. The way Christopher Nolan separates the inverted world and the regular world is incredibly well organized, except near the end where all the action can be confusing. Also, tieing The Protagonist story with Kat’s story in a way that does not feel forced or out of place is a massive testament to Christopher Nolan as a writer. If anything, these two stories help compliment each other so much that it enhances the experience that much more.
The opening scene will go down in history as one of one the best. Christopher Nolan is known for his grand opening, especially in the legendary ‘Dark Knight’ opening scene. ‘TENET’ is on that level; I will not say it is better to right now, not until I watch ‘TENET’ a couple more times, but this scene is masterfully done. From the brilliant score composed by Ludwig Göransson’s. Ludwig Göransson’s score in ‘TENET’ is masterful and not surprising since Göransson is the same composer that worked in ‘Creed,’ ‘The Mandalorian,’ and ‘Black Panther.‘ The action set pieces gave this overall sense of adrenaline. Christopher Nolan truly outdid himself.
Editing/ Action Set Pieces
One of my criticism of Christopher Nolan is that sometimes his action set pieces and editor of those action set pieces are a lot to be desired in most of his films. Let me tell you now, all of the criticism that I had gone out the window once those end credits hit the screen. The complexity of each action set-piece was done on a high level, the editing of each fight scene was done gracefully; shoutout to Jennifer Lame, who was Christopher Nolan’s editor. Also, shout out to Jackson Spidell, fight coordinator, and George Cottle, stunt coordinator.
Performance/Characters
Robert Pattinson
Before talking about the greatness of John David Washington, let us talk about the brilliance of Robert Pattinson and how ‘TENET’ will be the movie that will change people’s minds about his acting ability from ‘Twilight.’ Also, have more people watch his other films such as ‘Good Time,’ ‘High Life,’ ‘The Lighthouse,’ and more, but back to his performance in ‘TENET.’
When Robert Pattinson is on screen, his presence and John David Washington’s, demands attention. Now, you would think that with Robert Pattinson and John David Washington, they would compete for that attention. With that said, that is not the case at all when Robert Pattinson and John David Washington are together;
This is the job of a supporting actor; to enhance the main actor’s performance, and at the same time, highlight your strengths within the film that will get you noticed by the audience. And that is what Robert Pattinson does in Christopher Nolan’s ‘TENET.’ After this film, the people who doubt ‘The Batman’ should not have doubts anymore.
John David Washington
John David Washington killed it as the Protagonist. He had the swagger, the intelligence of what Christopher Nolan was trying to accomplish for the character. No matter if he is sharing the screen with his co-stars or by himself you can’t help but think, “Damn this guy is good!”
Many people didn’t even know that John David Washington was Denzel Washinton son after this movie for some reason, but that should not take away from all the hard work he put in his films. If anything I feel that John David Washington will surpass his father very soon if he keeps up this hard work. Many people are already fan-casting John David Washington as Green Lantern as John Stewart, which is a testament to his skills already.
Kenneth Branagh
With that said, the antagonist, Andrei Sator, played by Kenneth Branagh, seemed like the weakest part of the story. Sure he gave The Protagonist, Neil, and Kat a hard time throughout the film, but it felt like the character was missing something, maybe because his reasoning for doing what he wanted to do, did not resonate with me anyway. With that said, Kenneth Branagh’s excellent performance helped with that criticism a little bit but not enough for me to that flaw.
Elizabeth Debicki
Going over some of the reviews and people’s thoughts, Elizabeth Debicki is not getting that much love, which is a shame because she is incredible in TENET. If anything, she needs to get more recognition because she can keep up with Robert Pattinson and John David Washington. Which is not surprising. Elizabeth Debicki has a good resume—playing Ayesha in Guardian Vol.2, and Jordan Baker in Great Gatsby
Grading
TENET is a movie that deserves all of your attention meaning no cell phones, no talking, and no eating because if you lose focus you will get lost. Beyond that everything is nearly perfect from the performances from John David Washington, Robert Pattinson and Elizabeth Debicki, the phenomenal action set pieces, masterful Music Score by Ludwig Göransson’s and amazing editing by Jennifer Lame.
98/100 (Masterpiece)
DC Fanboy! Superman is the greatest comic book character of all time. Favorite movies are Man of Steel, Goonies, Back To the Future