Tenet (2020)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Tenet (2020) – C. Nolan

This was the movie meant to bring us back to cinemas after the pandemic-related lockdowns were over – director Christopher Nolan shot it on actual film (with IMAX cameras) and used only minimal computer-generated effects, preferring to go to locations and do actual stunts or to use physical models and “in camera” (rather than post-production) effects.  The model for this film was apparently James Bond, with the exotic locales and exciting action sequences that this implies – but Tenet is clearly Nolan’s work with a script infused with a similar complexity to his earlier hits like Inception (2010) or Memento (2000). I mean it’s positively confusing at times (in a good way)!  Mild spoilers ahead. John David Washington plays The Protagonist, the secret agent recruited to stop evil mastermind Sator (Kenneth Branagh) from destroying the world. The gimmick here is that Sator has learned how to travel through time in reverse and he has been letting time unfold and then going back in time to "the present" in order to better plan his diabolical acts (but always with an eye to the future).  Of course, The Protagonist and his team (including Robert Pattinson) on this mission called “Tenet” (names taken from the palindromic Sator Square) also learn how to reverse time and they persuade Sator’s estranged wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki) to help them foil his plans. Soon, everyone is moving forward and backwards in time … at the same time. I have to assume that the plot holds up to scrutiny because, to be honest, I can’t really be sure that all the actions really line up.  So, similarly to Memento and Inception, this would likely reward a second viewing.  Beyond this delirium, the action sequences are well choreographed (the opening set-piece really got my heart racing) and Washington makes a charismatic hero. They really filmed everything both frontwards and backwards, apparently. Worth a look if you’ve enjoyed being befuddled by Nolan’s other films in this vein.