Tenet, Christopher Nolan’s latest action/sci-fi movie is, as expected, a notable cinematic experience. Nolan’s story of a protagonist on a mission that unfolds beyond real-time, as he journeys through a world of international espionage is a film that pulls you in immediately in a brilliantly immersive way, thanks to the engaging action and powerful musical score.

Like in Nolan’s much-loved Inception (2010), you will need to pay close attention as Tenet plays. The complexity of the story and great production demands it. Yet, whether or not you’re a science expert, you will still be able to follow what’s going on enough to enjoy it, just as long as you pay attention.

Another bit of good news is that even though both Tenet and Inception are action/sci-fi movies that sometimes aesthetically appear similar, I’d say that’s mainly due to the filmmaking team being the same, because the stories are quite different.

Forced to choose a favourite of the two, I’d opt for Inception because I connected to the story, and especially DiCaprio’s Dom Cobb character, more than I did to John David Washington’s ‘the protagonist.’

As for specific highlights, the character I enjoyed watching most is Kenneth Branagh’s Andrei Sator. Once you meet him, you won’t soon forget. At least I did not. For me, the main stand-out scenes happen towards the end, starting with a memorable sequence that involves several vehicles on the road, including a fire truck. Everything after that just gets better and better until the satisfying end that may or may not leave the door wide open for a sequel.

There are just two things I didn’t love about Tenet. The first one being that I wasn’t fully convinced by the ‘love connection’ between Elizabeth Debicki’s Kat and the protagonist. And by love, I don’t mean romantic love. I simply didn’t understand why he cared so much for Kat, a seemingly random woman, even though her story is empathy-inducing. Perhaps it’s due to time being non-linear in Tenet. Meaning all I needed to see to understand why he cared so much happens in another timeline, one that’s not shown in the movie. Considering my limited understanding of how time travel works, I can only hope that I just made sense.

The second thing that would have made Tenet better for me is similar to the first; I wanted to connect to Washington’s character more and sooner. It seemed as though too much of his personal story was kept a mystery.

Overall, there’s certainly more to love about Tenet than not. As such, watch it because there is only one Christopher Nolan, and we must enjoy his creative gifts while we can!

Lastly, I will be watching Tenet again next week because I want to experience everything that it does so well all over again.

Happy Film Loving,

G