“TENET” Review: A Technically Stunning but Confusing Action Epic

TENET is written and directed by Christopher Nolan and stars John David Washington as The Protagonist. Armed with only one word, Tenet, and fighting for the survival of the entire world, a he must journey through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time.

From a technical and production aspect, this film is remarkable. The cinematography here is so vivid and really brings out the stunning set peices. The visual effects are also quite the sight to behold. Christopher Nolan really loves to be technically innovative when it comes to his films, and the visual effects prove just that.

Something else that I really liked about this film is the score. Ludwig Göransson does an excellent job with the score and it really makes this film stand out from Nolan's previous film scores. However the best thing about this film is the performances. John David Washington is a revelation in his role. Despite the film's lack of character background or development, Washington really breathes live into the character. Another standout in this film is Elizabeth Debicki, the wife of Andrei Sator, the film's antagonist. Debicki's character is the one character in the film who has the most development, and because of that it really allows you to sympathize with her character.

From a technical aspect this film is remarkable, but from a storytelling perspective this film is awful. This film has one of the most confusing stories I've ever seen. For a film that's supposed to be story heavy, this film is an absolute disgrace. Because of the confusing plot the film as a whole is really difficult to follow and I found myself lost several times throughout. Unfortunately due to these issues, the film is extremely boring. Running at two and a half hours, this film feels way too long and almost felt like a chore to sit through.

This film is not very good. While the production designs and performances are spectacular, the story is confusing, hard to follow, and makes for a rather boring and dreadful experience. Most of the time I just sat back to admire the gorgeous locations because storywise I didn’t understand a thing. Definitely not something worth seeing in theaters, this movie will definitely have a place on my worst films of 2020 list.

Final Grade: D+

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