Christopher Nolan loves to play with time. He’s been doing it for a while now in his films. Most notably with Memento, Inception, Interstellar, and now Tenet.
I’ll try and not give too many spoilers or share my theories about what is really happening in this film here in this particular review. I will say that the movie is intriguing, a lot of fun and mind-blowing all at the same time. I also think John David Washington is an exciting new action lead and I look forward to seeing him more.
Warning! Tenet may not be a movie for the casual movie goer. If you like movies with linear plot lines where everything happens in a sequential order or you like films that are easy to follow then this movie is not for you. You will be frustrated. In other words, if a John Wick movie is a complicated plot for you, or if you got lost in Pulp Fiction, then you might want to steer clear of Tenet. In addition, it is also helpful to have a large vocabulary when viewing the film.
There are some captivating time issues with this movie and it becomes very complex. In fact, I am not even sure how a movie like this gets edited. Due to the fact that there are moments in the film when backwards and forwards are happening simultaneously. And many times we revisit scenes that we have already experienced, only to see them differently than we originally thought.
I’m working in my head on some theories for this film. It feels that it is one in a series of films yet to be made. I also would like to explore the idea of the title. Both in its meaning and the fact that it is a palindrome. There are some interesting lines in the film that are often repeated. The names of characters, particularly of Kenneth Branagh’s bad guy Sator, could it be Satyr? It is a quite fascinating film either way.
