Tenet review: A flick ‘better felt than understood’

Okay, Just finished watching TENET and I’ve got up from my seat, all bamboozled, holding my blown head between my hands. I’ve literally just caught myself saying ‘What the hell’ on repeat since last 30 seconds, and there is no way I feel I’d stop. The adrenaline rush, the sense of lost mind has cracked my cognitive ability. Take me back in time, hide the finest of details, no names & credits at all, I’d guess on the first chance that Christopher Nolan is behind this.

The extent to which Tenet has been a shocker, speaks volumes on the overly bad reviews & how we have been spoon-fed with typical cinema, lurking into lower traits.

Even at the very first watch – having not comprehended it all yet – I can’t control myself gloating over it. This is hands down a unique project of Nolan’s after Inception as he seemingly pushed his limits this time. I’d better not compare this to Interstellar, as there’s a total different analogy here.

Despite of the weak script, loved the dynamics of the characters; how the protagonist unfolds everything till the last minute. Nicely paced film, marvelous action sequences that can be unravelled and studied in various dimensions. The attention to detail in the probes – little or no use of CGI – makes this film full of Easter eggs. Not to forget they crashed a real Boeing-747, Nolan blesses his art with such sequences.

Absolutely loved the chemistry between John David Washington (the protagonist) and Robert Pattinson, despite of paper thin characters and having given no subtle background, they did justice. Talking of Elizabeth Debicki, she seems to carry that very little emotional burden which this movie beholds. Kenneth Branagh was a terrifying antagonist, I may compromise on some of the scenes he drenched with overacting. And yes, Dimple Kapadia is the queen.. I’m deeply impressed.

The Cinematography is Oscar-worthy, the thumping musical score fits good to the thrill, weaved more intrigue. Ludwig Gorrason did well there but not near to where likes of Hans Zimmer and Julyan would have taken it. Moreover, I’m unable to fathom out poor sound mixing, the dialogues were so compromised, as the flaws of screenplay were being covered with too much music.

A huge put of for me was the worst exposition, the storyline at several instances was so quick and suppressed that one could easily miss the plot and hit out of the zone.

So if you plan to watch, brace yourself for some high dose of metaphysics, as we’re no more travelling through time but dealing with inversions i.e. past-present-future. You’d need a dictionary by your side as well, I recommend you not to miss the subtitles.

I still remember in the very beginning a scientific states to the protagonist “Don’t try to understand it, feel it”. Now I realize it was meant for the audience. I’m more surprised now than I was during watching it, you see it grows on you and lets you discover a new thing on every other watch.

Lastly, don’t behave like a typical Nolan fan boy, you’ll get disappointed. Watch it because it is worth the shot. Not the best from Nolan, but something you have never seen before. A totally original but convoluted concept which could have rocked the big screens. So bold of Nolan to release it in such trying times. A big thanks to him!

I absolutely recommend it, with a rating of 7.5/10.