TENET Spoiler Review – Time travel Bond on steroids!
TENET is Christopher Nolan’s newest foray into the “I’m gonna confuse the hell out of you” directorial seat. And oh boy does it deliver! This has been said before but it really is, James Bond with time travel. Except, I personally, wouldn’t call TENET an action movie. I think, a drama with action elements would be a more precise description. However people choose to interpret it isn’t really the key here though. The really amazing thing is how Nolan can make a movie that ends with all the questions seemingly answered only for the audience to realise you have more questions lined up.
Plot
“The Protagonist” (John David Washington) is recruited as a secret agent after passing a test to prove his loyalty. He then finds out about TENET. A “plan” or organisation if it makes it easier. To use time manipulation to wipe out all of human existence. He and Neil (Robert Pattinson) go on a series of time travel adventures to stop this happening.
General Thoughts
I went into this movie totally blind. I’d not watched any interviews, read any reviews. I’d only watched the trailer, lemme tell ya. That trailer gives away nothing. There is so much to unpack in this movie that it does feel overwhelming at times, then the movie shows an explanation and suddenly you understand. But then you’re left with more questions.
I noticed early on Nolan’s use of colour to depict time frames. For example during the airport raid scene The Protagonist and Neil go into separate doors. The doors have red and blue marks on them. The Protagonist goes through the red and Neil though the blue signifying early on that Neil is from the future. This happens again when Sator is threatening to kill his wife. The Protagonist being on the other side. The Protagonist, who’s currently in the present is in a room dimly lit with red lighting. Sator however has a blue hue over all of his scenes here, showing he’s the future Sator.
Characterisation
I have to give a shout out to John David Washington and Robert Pattinson. Both their characters were well acted and had a chemistry from the very start. They’re more like brothers the way they interact and it’s honestly amazing to see. Kenneth Branagh, who plays the main villain Andrei Sator, is also exceptional. He’s smart cold as ice and you always have that feeling that he’s one step ahead of The Protagonist just watching and waiting for him to mess up. Like a cat playing with a mouse before he decides to eat it. His entire character made me nervous throughout the movie, an expert performance.
“The big reveal” at the end, with Neil turning out to be an already existing friend of The Protagonist just that they hadn’t met yet. Was one you kinda see coming. If you clock the colours thing. Every minor story comes back to be used in the film. Kat’s story of her seeing a woman jump off of her boat never to be seen again. Only for it to turn out to be herself she saw jumping, just her future self. For example.
It’s a throwaway story. A thing she just tells The Protagonist in order for him to realise how despicable the villain is and just how he makes others feel.
I did write a non-spoiler review which does not go into story details. It can be read here.
