In Tenet, a CIA operative (The Protagonist, played by John David Washington. We never learn his actual name.) finds himself embroiled in a modern cold war that is being waged in the shadows. The evil, abusive, and scary Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh), an arms dealer, has been trading and selling special, never-before seen ammo and equipment, and he has some dark plans in store for reality. With the assistance of fellow CIA operative Neil (Robert Pattinson) and Sator's long-suffering wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki), The Protagonist sets out to stop Sator once and for all.
All of our leads do a superb job and are incredibly well-cast (including Dimple Kapadia as arms trafficker Priya, who interacts with The Protagonist quite a bit.). Tenet is a plot-centric film, which isn't a bad thing, but there is a trade-off to be made: almost all of the characters are given minimal development as a result.
Surprisingly, John David Washington's Protagonist gets the least amount of development out of everyone. Luckily, he still sells the hell out of his role and is a compelling, cool, and bad-ass hero. Robert Pattinson is also very impressive as Neil, a suave, calm, collected and super-cool 2nd man to The Protagonist. Kenneth Branagh is fantastic as the unhinged and scary Andrei Sator, a madman with a plan. Elizabeth Debicki gets the most development out of the bunch as Kat. She is stuck in an abusive, controlling marriage with Sator, who holds her son over her head as motivation to do as he says.
Tenet is a film that, despite being well-paced, might be Nolan's easiest to get lost or confused in if you aren't paying close attention (There were times where I wished I could pause it so I could process the information I had been given. Repeat viewings are practically mandatory, and I can understand why some might say Tenet is convoluted.). Nolan continues to excel as a director and writer (I seriously want to buy the script for this flick.), and he has some insane and inventive ideas at play here. Unfortunately, he could use to work on his sound mixing (done here by Willie D. Burton.), as there are moments where the score and sound effects drown out any dialogue, or sound like they are breaking the speaker system. It's not as bad as Dark Knight Rises, but it's still not great.
The score for Tenet is done by Ludwig Goransson. He does an incredible job. There are times where it sounds like it's going back-and-forth between being played forwards and in reverse. The cinematography by Hoyte Van Hoytema is great too. Tenet has plenty of exciting and thrilling moments throughout, and you will rarely be bored while watching it. The special and visual effects utilized are phenomenal, creative, and unique as well. Time is a major theme and element in the film, and Tenet uses and plays with time in inventive, fun, creative, and trippy ways.
Ultimately, the best way to go into Tenet is knowing next to nothing about it and letting it take you on one wild ride. In the end, Tenet is a masterpiece about time that will simultaneously blow and melt your mind. It's unlike anything you have ever seen, and it's incredibly inventive, creative, and unique. Tenet is the best film of 2020 thus far, and it's easily my favorite Nolan flick by a large margin. Tenet was absolutely worth the wait. See it in IMAX, if you can.
5 STARS
I now consider Nolan a true genius. #YesDaddyNolan
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