Considering most of the UK's population have been confined to their homes for months on end, it was such a relief to see cinemas reopen with the correct COVID-safe measurements. However, with few new releases to show on cinema screens, most of the shown films were old re-releases. So, to our surprise, Christopher Nolan's film "Tenet" was released!
As the first film to come out in lockdown cinemas, Tenet has received mixed reviews from audience members and critics alike. Christopher Nolan pulled out all his old tricks to recreate his classic masterpiece of ‘Inception’ with a more modern and more ‘2020’ representative story. A machine which manipulates time, a place where breathing the wrong air could kill you and where cars now drive incredibly fast whilst going backwards.
When it comes to Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, you probably fall into one of two categories: either category A: “I haven’t seen it yet,” or category B: “I’m so confused…” So, I was very picky at first about whether I wanted to see the film as it had so many mixed reviews. I even had a couple of friends tell me to not watch it as they couldn’t follow the plotline… but other friends told me to go for it and immerse myself into the full cinema experience of Tenet.
After making the decision to finally escape the confinements of my house, I booked tickets for myself and a family member to go and view Tenet. Then, after finally watching the film, we left the cinema feeling fascinated but slightly confused. I did indeed fall into the trap of not being able to follow the plotline… so, I had my family member attempt to explain it to me as he seemed to follow the story much more so than I did. He explained it to me and said (without giving away any spoilers): “it was a secret agent's journey that we followed where he attempts to manipulate the flow of time to prevent World War III.”
Reviewing the film, I could now see the negative perspective; the viewers can find the plot hard to follow. With so many jumps in time, the average audience member and even a sci-fi Nolan fan could be baffled by this and struggle to follow the film. Sadly another negative comes to mind when reviewing this $200 million film; the music was quite questionable and it was slightly unpleasant to listen to for sections of the film. Being an A-level music student, I was particularly excited to listen to the score but… I was deeply disappointed and frankly, quite disgusted. The score was too overpowering and I don’t know what Christopher Nolan has against dialogue… surely there could have been more dialogue instead of 10 minute scenes of overbearing, loud music which was supposed to create an action filled atmosphere.
Even with these criticisms, I would recommend booking tickets to see this film by yourself or with people in your household/bubble. It is overall a brilliant espionage thriller with its cleverly constructed, mind-bending, palindromic narrative.
