Tenet Review: Never lives up to the poster
I've heard ad nauseam that Tenet is Christopher Nolan's worst and most disappointing film. However, I've always thought that it sounded like it'd be up my alley and one of my favorites, so I was excited! It's not super cut-and-dry for me whether or not I'll find a Nolan film a masterpiece—unlike some, I definitely wouldn't call all his films masterworks, nor would I say all of them are truly great. All that being said, I often have some pretty fun little hot takes, so... did Tenet exceed, meet, or fall short of my expectations? That's what I, Brighton Nelson of The Reel Ranker, will be discussing in today's review! Thank you all for joining me; it means the whole world to me, and I hope you enjoy your time on the site!
Since this film is all about being backward and stuff, I'm gonna switch things up and start with the positives today. First of all, the premise and all of the sciencey concepts here are decently unique and are definitely strong enough to carry the entire film! Additionally, all the performances are solid, and everybody does a decent job translating the script to life and emoting. I wouldn't say this film had too many huge standouts—which I don't blame on the actors themselves—but the villain, played by Kenneth Branagh, was definitely the best. It was a menacing, evil, and nihilistic performance, and might've been my favorite element of the flick. The visual effects were also well-done, bringing to life the reversed weaponry and time travel moments very well. The last highlight was the score, which was adequately epic and another win from Ludwig Göransson. I enjoyed the instrumentation and how it brought the scenes to life.
Nonetheless, this film has so many fatal flaws that the highlights feel tiny by comparison, and I don't even know if I'd say this film is entirely competent, let alone made by the best walking director. I've watched multiple student films in recent memory that were far more compelling and memorable than this film.
Firstly, like most Nolan films, the characters here are literally the most flawless archetypes—even the villain, as menacing as he was. Even the best Nolan films severely struggle with making me care, so every other element needs to be perfect for me to call it a great film.
And that's far from the case here. I don't mind a story being cerebral and a little hard to follow, but that needs to make the story better, not worse. The plot here is so simple and did almost nothing for me, but the mechanics and obsession with plot experimentation left the film feeling hollow and pretentious. There were so many times that I thought the plot would finally be interesting, but nothing happened. All the cool science deserved a far better story—and more interesting moments!
I can see a version of this movie, confusing science and complex plot included, that would be one of my favorite movies of all time. As currently executed, I was just left bored out of my mind, feeling absolutely nothing. Like, what was the point of this Tenet organization test at the beginning if nothing interesting resulted from the organization? Why are they not truly exploring the emotional ramifications of the science, or the weight of the stakes? Because, in all seriousness, 90% of this movie would be no different without the science fiction stuff. That was the oddest part of the plot for me—it never fully committed to the science, and I thought of many examples of cooler action and set pieces that could've been executed through said science.
The Reel Ranker Verdict
Reel or Unreel? - Unreel
The Reel Ranker Score: 33%
Letter Score: D+
Star Ranking: 2 out of 5
When the characters are so wooden that top-working actors can't bring anything to them, the plot is needlessly complex when almost nothing actually unique occurs, and the visual effects are fantastic but underutilized, Tenet is not only a disappointing Nolan film, but not a good movie in general.
Interested in checking out some recent reviews for some other sci-fi, action, and Nolan films? See them below!
Brighton Nelson
Brighton Nelson
Brighton Nelson
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