Few movies have been as hotly debated, quantified and stressed asChristopher Nolan’sTenet, a movie that became a flashpoint before anybody ever saw it even knew what it was about (time travel, er,inversion?) Poised to be one of the big summer event movies of 2020, even as the landscape, both cultural and otherwise, it was an immovable object even as it became clear that the coronavirus pandemic would dramatically change everything, leading to the first summer ever where new releases came exclusively via streaming services or paid video-on-demand. Even Disney, whoseMulanwas pushed back from its original springtime opening and promised to be a film that could potentially get American audiences back into cinemas, went to Disney+ in a paid “premier access” scenario. Still, Nolan, ever the fan of big screen exhibition (and in particular the IMAX format) damnably moved forward. And withTenetfinally debuting overseas and in select America cinemas next week, the first reviews have started to come in. And the main takeaway, at least now, is that all that fuss was overthis?
Below is a roundup of some of the reviews that have already come out; we’ll do our best to stay away from spoilers and only deliver broad strokes.
The Guardian calls the moviea “palindromic dud” in its 2-star review. Addressing the safety concerns associated with the movie’s release Catherine Shoard said, “Lucky, really, becauseTenetis not a movie it’s worth the nervous braving a trip to the big screen to see, no matter how safe it is. I’m not even sure that, in five years’ time, it’d be worth staying up to catch on telly.” Ouch. According to Shoard,Tenetmight be dazzling but it’s also frightfully dull. “For allTenet’stechnical ambition, the plot is rote and the furnishings tired. Eastern European heavies lumber about with pliers and meat-cleavers. Clocks literally tick. Synths groan deeply on the soundtrack.” Concluding her review, she said: “The world is more than ready for a fabulous blockbuster, especially one that happens to feature face masks and chat about going back in time to avoid catastrophe. It’s a real shameTenetisn’t it.”
IndieWIRE wassimilarly unimpressed, awarding the film a C- grade. Reviewer Mike McCahill also finds it to be something of a humorless slog. “Where did it all go wrong? Deep in the film’s tangled DNA, there are traces of an effervescent, boundless, city-hopping romp. Turn time back! Reopen cinemas! Save the world!” Cahill bemoans. He continues: “But there’s zero levity inTenet: Nolan simply reverses time in an effort to bring dead ideas back to life. And if he couldn’t have envisioned Saturday-night moviegoing being among them, it feels doubly sorrowful that a film striving to lure us all outdoors should visit this many locations and not once allow us to feel sunlight or fresh air on our faces. Visually and spiritually grey,Tenetis too terse to have any fun with its premise; it’s a caper for shut-ins, which may not preclude it becoming a runaway smash.” McCahill’s final blows are for Nolan himself, as he calls the celebrated director “a very trying, ungenerous, ever-so-slightly dull boy.” That’s what I call a spanking!
Even some the “good” reviews aren’t all that impressed.Time Out New York gave the film a serviceable 3 starsbut said there was a familiarity to the movie’s spy film plot mechanics. “Christopher Nolan’s frosty espionage sci-fi delivers visual intensity but little heart,” Phil de Semlyen writes.The BBC also awarded it 3 stars, with critic Nicholas Barber calling Tenet “noisy, extravagant and fundamentally ridiculous pulp fiction.” Concluding his review, Barber said, “It collapses under the weight of all the plot strands and concepts stuffed into it. You don’t get the impression, which you usually get from his films, that every element is precisely where it should be. Some parts of it go on too long, others not long enough. It’s a treat to see a really big film again, but a smaller one might have been better.” In other words: at least 2 of those stars feels charitable.
But not everyone dislikedTenet. Jordan Farley, writing forTotal Film/Games Radar, gave the film a perfect score (5 out of 5 stars). “A monumental big-screen spectacle,Tenetis a film that perfectly exemplifies what makes the cinema experience – in all its heart-stopping grandeur – quite so special,” Farley wrote. He later calledTenet“an all-too-rare example of a master filmmaker putting everything on the table with, you sense, not a modicum of his vision compromised.” Dang! Fellow games website IGN also gave it a high score, which you may watch below.
The very brilliant Jessica Kiang,writing for the New York Times, liked the film but calledTenet“reassuringly massive in every way — except thematically.” Later in her review, she said: “Tenetdazzles the senses, but it does not move the heart — a criticism common to all of Nolan’s original films.” Later on she said: “But it’s not just lack of heart that holdsTenetback. Nolan imagines impossible technologies but won’t explore their deeper implications.” Still, Kiang was impressed with the action set pieces and the mens’ fashion. “Seek it out, if only to marvel at the entertainingly inane glory of what we once had and are in danger of never having again. Well, that and the suits,” she wrote. (The big trades,VarietyandThe Hollywood Reporter, had similarly so-so things to say – fitfully entertaining maybe but hardly revolutionary.)
So should you risk your life to seeTenet? Probably not. But if you feel safe and are in close proximity to a theater that is showing it, it could be a very good time at the movies.
