[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/review\/tenet-2020-nolans-half-empty-vessel-with-barely-any-noise\/#NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/review\/tenet-2020-nolans-half-empty-vessel-with-barely-any-noise\/","headline":"Tenet (2020): Nolan’s Half-Empty Vessel With Barely Any Noise","name":"Tenet (2020): Nolan’s Half-Empty Vessel With Barely Any Noise","description":"Let\u2019s get one thing straightened out \u2014 Christopher Nolan makes resplendent cinema. Whether its chronologically mischievous narratives in 20th century breakthrough Memento, bouncing Joseph Gordon-Levitt off twisting corridors \u00e0 la Inception, or the (literally) star-spangled intergalactic regurgitation of\u00a0Interstellar, the mercurial filmmaker requires no introduction to his mastery of tapping into our childlike wonder whilst simultaneously […]","datePublished":"2020-09-02","dateModified":"2022-06-28","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/author\/leland-tan\/#Person","name":"Leland Tan","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/author\/leland-tan\/","identifier":70,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/58b6f6b2fbe1dbd1c8aba6050994c3e5b4c3c4ead14575f6065e7e4ed62b72a3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/58b6f6b2fbe1dbd1c8aba6050994c3e5b4c3c4ead14575f6065e7e4ed62b72a3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TheHomeGround Asia","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2021-07-22-222533.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2021-07-22-222533.jpeg","width":640,"height":640}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/1598917229939_reviews_movies_tenet_goodyfeed_1.jpg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/1598917229939_reviews_movies_tenet_goodyfeed_1.jpg","height":720,"width":1280},"url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/review\/tenet-2020-nolans-half-empty-vessel-with-barely-any-noise\/","about":["Review"],"wordCount":969,"articleBody":"Let\u2019s get one thing straightened out \u2014 Christopher Nolan makes resplendent cinema.Whether its chronologically mischievous narratives in 20th century breakthrough Memento, bouncing Joseph Gordon-Levitt off twisting corridors \u00e0 la Inception, or the (literally) star-spangled intergalactic regurgitation of\u00a0Interstellar, the mercurial filmmaker requires no introduction to his mastery of tapping into our childlike wonder whilst simultaneously turning our adult psyche into mush.When it comes to commandeering tropes which are often deemed tried-tested-expired by even the most venturesome filmmakers, it\u2019s Nolan who wraps his claws around stale waters, promising riches in waterfalls and Trevi fountains. Where many see difficulty it\u2019s Nolan who sees opportunity.Which makes writing this all the more gruesome. I wanted to love Tenet.It had all the right ingredientsIt encapsulated much of what pandemic fatigued movie-goers needed after being holed up indoors; a paradoxical, mind-melting plot device anchored by time; a Black \u2018James Bond\u2019 display of nitty gritty action sequences; a devilishly handsome cast; and another Nolan puzzle that would dominate dinner party conversations for months.Tenet dons the classic \u2018spy saves the world\u2019 suit by introducing our Protagonist (which is also his only callsign throughout), played by John David Washington, embroiled in a mysterious global war he doesn\u2019t yet seem to understand, spearheaded by equally talented counterparts in Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, and Kenneth Branagh for its pivotal characters.For its score, longtime collaborator Hans Zimmer took a backseat for a more sentimental project, meaning Nolan relied on Ludwig G\u00f6ransson (Black Panther, The Mandalorian) to curate the grand synergy between visuals and sonics that\u2019s trademarked as a Nolan signature in his blockbusters.Throwing the viewer into disarrayWe\u2019re steadfastly thrown into disarray as Tenet\u2019s opening seconds follows Protagonist into an asset extraction mission that takes place in an Opera house. All seems to be going well (or not, we can barely tell because of intentionally murky character dialogue, a well-documented gripe audiences have with beloved Nolan) until, amidst the swarm of gunfire, we\u2019re shown that a single bullet is un-fired from an object of which it has already hit, closing its initial entry point, ricocheting back to its firer\u2019s direction, and the surface is spanking brand new again.Our visibly perplexed Protagonist spots this anomaly, now etched into his mind, before scurrying on with his time-sensitive extraction mission. This is the film\u2019s first tease and entrapment of what its sci-fi element entails, reminiscent of Inception\u2019s opener\/Di Caprio\u2019s dream-state flurry, and in we go to the whirlpool of time travel.Except it isn\u2019t. It\u2019s inversion, the reversal of an object\u2019s entropy, allowing it to move backwards in motion while everything else around it tick-tocks forward as per normal. How it all works is briefly explained several scenes later, with Protagonist and an inversion scientist convincing him (and invariably us) that understanding it is futile \u2014 feel it, she says. To grasp inversion she advises him to first picture traditional movements in his mind\u2019s eye, then to execute it backwards. And what follows is brilliant absurdity.Inversion mayhemIn the realms of Tenet, punches, or inversion punches, are sonically portrayed as vacuum-like suctions accompanied with the visual motion of arm moving backwards, yet still inflicting damage. Try picturing an inverted wrestling match with multiple participants.Inversion car chases mean engines roar to strange screeches when being driven. Devastating explosions deconstruct from clouds of smoke into atom-less nothings, with surrounding damage reconstructing back into its original form. A Boeing 747 is un-blown to smithereens to form its whole again. Inversion fire? Sub-zero ice.All of which makes for fantastic viewing, and when coupled with backwards sound design, Tenet is unlike anything any film has offered in such elaboration, unless you count putting on Transformers entirely on rewind.But the grandiosity stops there.More questions than answersThe same intricacy and accuracy to sound, however, is alarmingly absent for the aforementioned character dialogue. A substantial amount of understanding the film hinged upon its explanations, and in all his inversion whimsy, Nolan seems to have forgotten that his audiences aren\u2019t soppy sacks of toddlers that salivate at mere booms and swashbuckling action.For all the cerebral lunacy which he wants us to feel when watching Tenet, the sheer inaudibility of speech meant viewers are left with more questions than answers, and not in a fun \u2018solve the mystery\u2019 notion.If Inception was an unsolved Rubik\u2019s cube, Tenet is that cube, but with its sides so disheveled and banged up to the point where you could no longer discern its colours. The cube becomes unplayable and \u00a0thus unsolvable, similar to how Tenet was at times unwatchable because a plethora of its key plot points and explanations was, to put it mildly, audible mumbling.We\u2019re left pondering over every minute detail in its major action sequence, which consisted of an impressive inversion \u2018Pincer movement\u2019 of soldiers in differing timelines, before we could indulge in all its glory. But by then, the pace of the movie had already swept its viewers into incongruent abyss. Purchase a second screening in attempts to re-hear what was said? Not in this economy.Unlike in Dunkirk, where dialogue wasn\u2019t pivotal, and Inception, where visual cues already contained precedence in meaning, it\u2019s deplorable that Nolan\u2019s post-pandemic endeavour suffers from something that could so easily be rectified.All this, without even getting started on the casts\u2019 poor character development, his tiresome, sexist caricature of Elizabeth Debicky\u2019s character, and his continuous blindspot for female portrayals.Under the guise of \u2018the next Inception\u2019, or even as a standalone, I wanted to love this film \u2014 but this was too far off the mark. If Tenet was intended as a pandemic reprieve, look (and listen) elsewhere.Overall Rating:\u00a02.5\/5Tenet\/Cinemablend"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Review","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/review\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tenet (2020): Nolan’s Half-Empty Vessel With Barely Any Noise","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/review\/tenet-2020-nolans-half-empty-vessel-with-barely-any-noise\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]