Film Review: Time Working Against The Protagonist

Tenet is a science fiction spy thriller written and directed by Christopher Nolan. John David Washington is in the lead as some super agent identified only as the Protagonist. His cast mates include Robert Pattinson, Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh, Elizabeth Debicki, and Martin Donovan.

So, Tenet is some organization that is studying ammunition that can move backward through time or something like that. The Protagonist is charged with finding some kind of stolen artwork that is somehow tied to technology that causes some sort of temporal inversion where people move backward through time or something. This thing is very hard to summarize. One can watch the movie and still struggle with articulating what went on.

The cast was great. John David Washington is the son of one Denzel Washington and certainly has inherited the old man’s presence and talent but without being an imitation. Pattinson was pretty compelling himself. I have no real issue with the performances, the visual effects, or the stunt choreography. Visually, the movie is stunning which is a usual hallmark of a Nolan film.

I didn’t really hate this film, but I was a little disappointed in it. It felt too long and slow sometimes. Sometimes the dialogue was hard to understand. It was confusing to follow due to the chaotic timeline aspect to it. Nolan’s initial story idea and his direction is compelling but I sometimes get frustrated with his convoluted windy roads I find myself on trying to comprehend some of the riddles and clues littering the experience.

If I were to recommend this film to anyone, I might also include a request to explain some of its facets if they seem to have an easier following it. The movie is well over two hours and it really felt like it. Obviously, I can’t really accuse Nolan of not having any originality but he may need to simplifying that originality just a little. I guess he needs to find that balance of making it simple enough to still keep up and yet complicated enough to keep an audience’s attention, which isn’t easy in today’s culture.