All Style, No Substance.

Intentionally confusing on the surface, but simple to understand once you take a breather from the needlessly inflated dialogue. The entire movie reminded me of academics who aim for superiority by using an excessive amount of jargon and a ‘unique’ structure, but in reality are just bad at presenting ideas to a learning audience.

The movie isn’t as smart as it would like to seem, and while it’s certainly pretty, the story itself is quite boring. Action and an interesting hook can only carry a narrative so far, and we’re given no reason to care for the main cast beside their familiar faces and some weak ‘family’ connections that are never developed.

The film does little to explore the waters of characters motivations, pasts, and personal connections to the key sci-fi element: time. Although, one motivation is revealed, it comes across as a cheap throw away line that links to real world fears. While this reasoning could have provided an interesting thread throughout the movie, it is chucked in with no reinforcement or impact.

Additionally, the ‘epic’ score, while up to Zimmer’s established standard for Nolan films (despite not being his work), is used excessively throughout; sometimes making it difficult to hear the actual dialogue. It’s a real shame as I have been excited to see Tenet in cinemas since pre-lockdown.

I have read plenty of glowing reviews that recommend a second viewing, however with a run time of 2 hours and 30 minutes, I won’t be wasting my time.

Rating: 2/5 stars

Side note: the only character name I can remember just two hours after seeing the movie is ‘Neil’. That’s probably not a good sign.