Respond to these rapid questions in our Tenet Quiz and we will tell you which Tenet character you are. Play it now.
For the sake of transparency, it’s important to note that this film was screened for a small group of journalists in Chicago with extreme precautions that won’t be in place for most ticket buyers for at least a few weeks, including a 1% capacity of a large, sanitized theater first thing in the morning. This review is not intended to encourage or discourage anyone from seeing a movie at a theater at this precise time. It’s a review of the work for posterity’s sake.
No one could reasonably mistake “Tenet” for anything other than Christopher Nolan’s work. First and foremost, it has the kind of budget that only Christopher Nolan could secure for an original screenplay. A sequence in which gold bars are practically dropped on a runway feels almost like a self-referential wink since there’s so much money in every overflowing frame of this lavish picture. Second, it features one of the time-twisting narratives that have come to characterize the Nolan brand, one that combines powerful action sequences with high-concept stories that spectators must work hard to understand. Finally, it has echoes of prior Nolan ventures, as if it were an album of remastered greatest hits. There are combat action scenes reminiscent of “Dunkirk,” an espionage story reminiscent of “Inception,” and even a large number of individuals speaking via masks, ala Bane in “The Dark Knight Rises.” It’s entirely intended to be an experience for those who have stayed up late seeing films like “The Prestige” and “Memento,” with the goal of giving Nolan fans more to chew on than ever before. Even if the chewing can be taxing, more appears to be the operational premise of “Tenet.”
[Note: There will be very few spoilers, but if you want to go in blind, as many Nolan fans do, you’ve been warned.]
“Tenet” doesn’t spend any time, plunging viewers right into an attack on a symphonic performance in Kiev with little enough time for anyone to get their bearings. During the assault, a man known only as The Protagonist was one of the operatives brought in to rescue a high-profile asset (John David Washington, proving more than capable of carrying a blockbuster film with his charismatic performance). Our hero is kidnapped by the enemy, tortured, and forced to take a cyanide capsule as instructed in training. He lives, and his devotion to the system and his orders earns him a promotion, a top-secret mission involving a new technology that has the ability to rewrite human history. Also, you must try to play this Tenet Quiz.
The Protagonist is transported to a remote facility where he is taught about inverted things. When we gaze at something, it appears to be moving forward in time with us. This is clear from science lesson in elementary school. But you shouldn’t waste any more time and start this Tenet quiz. But what if an object could go through time in the other direction? Objects have apparently been doing this, and the Powers That Be need to keep an eye on it because if a bullet can travel back in time, what happens if a nuclear weapon does the same?
Tenet Quiz
Our hero follows inverted objects to a wicked Russian arms dealer named Andrei with the help of a mystery associate named Neil (a lovely Robert Pattinson) (Kenneth Branagh). The Protagonist uses Andrei’s wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki), who despises her abusive husband but is coerced into sticking with him by threats of losing her son if she doesn’t do precisely what he says, to get closer to this mega-wealthy monster. “Tenet” is about the extremes of unchecked authority at its most fundamental level. Why not try to shape world history as well, when one grows so wealthy and powerful that they can practically shape world events? Does this ring a bell? Andrei has all the hallmarks of classic Bond villains, including unbridled opulence, a Russian accent, and snarling line delivery. You may get a sense of “Tenet” by combining Nolan’s fixation with time-bending lofty concepts with his love of classic action structure. Also, you will find out which character are you in this Tenet Quiz.
There has never been a Bond film with so much expository dialogue. “Tenet” spends about two hours of its 150-minute running time describing what’s going on, why it’s going on, and what might happen next. Even yet, it’s still tough to follow because Nolan travels so far down his own rabbit hole of time travel that one nearly needs to take notes to keep up (and I still don’t think it all adds up even if it could). Scene after scene of Washington, Pattinson, Branagh, and Debicki attempting to convey the plot grows tiresome, and it’s Nolan’s biggest error. Instead of constantly returning to over-analyzing a plot that most people would still be unable to comprehend, it would have been preferable to leave more unsaid and jump chaotically into the film’s mood and images. It feels like a film made for the YouTube explanatory video culture at points. (There’s even one online that claims to deconstruct the finale, despite the fact that the film hasn’t even been released in most of the world.) “Don’t try to comprehend, feel it,” says the scientist who explains inversion early in the film, and I wish Nolan had paid more attention to her.
This narrative onslaught may be exactly what some of his fans want, but I prefer emotional registers in my Nolan, which he seems only tangentially interested in here. The stakes aren’t as high as they are in “Dunkirk,” the maze building isn’t as exhilarating as it is in “Inception,” and the characters aren’t as easy to care about as they are in “Interstellar.” Nolan adds the subplot about Kat losing her son almost as if he knows his puzzle box is ice cold, but it’s so weak that I don’t think her kid really has a line. As much of a device as an inverted bullet, the youngster is.
About the quiz
Even if “Tenet” is a difficult film to connect with emotionally or even understand narratively, that doesn’t detract from its technical brilliance. Simply put, it’s an impressive film to watch, with dramatic sound design and stunning widescreen photography by Hoyte van Hoytema. In terms of technical elements and even performance, the film never falters. Nolan’s breakneck speed has everyone’s attention. Van Hoytema’s work is lively, Jennifer Lame’s editing is precise, and all of the performances are excellent. Pattinson, in particular, excels in a lighthearted register that he isn’t often let to utilize. As you play more quizzes you will find this Tenet quiz more interesting.
For a variety of reasons, the decision to distribute “Tenet” in theaters rather than on VOD was divisive, but there’s no disputing that Nolan envisioned “Tenet” as an experience that shouldn’t be halted and should be projected with the sound system turned up to 11. (even if that would have still been true if Warner Bros. had delayed the film until it was safer to see it). I almost had the impression that turning down the volume on “Tenet” or halting it at home to take a break would disclose its shortcomings. Nolan doesn’t want you to be able to examine it or be distracted while watching it by your phone. He doesn’t want you to be able to rewind it, which is ironic. “Tenet” is a film about momentum, which is mirrored in both its narrative and its style, and without it, additional flaws would emerge.
The audience’s reaction to “Tenet” will be determined by how much they engage with the momentum. Before it crosses the finish line, I expect a surprising number of people to open the door and jump out of this moving race car (see, another palindrome!) fatigued by a story that doesn’t make sense even as it tries to explain itself to you. Others will like the filmmaking’s vigor, which begins with a bang and never lets up. The term that kept coming to me was “aggressive,” which may seem like good praise to Nolan fans seeking for something else than a lazy, predictable blockbuster and harsh criticism to those who aren’t ready for a self-serious sci-fi epic to leave them exhausted. Maybe both groups are correct, in the spirit of a film about objects traveling in opposite directions in time in the same space.
For more personality quizzes check this: Knives Out Quiz.
