Me trying to decide whether or not I actually like this movie
Style is an important factor for a director because it allows them to add a unique touch to their movie. Director Christopher Nolan and often differentiates himself from other directors by creating non-linear plots. In his new movie Tenet he has taken this concept and gone absolutely crazy with it. So much so that the director’s style has greatly overshadowed the watchability of this movie.
My main problem is the plot. It’s founded on a criminal using reverse entropy to achieve his evil means. I already don’t have a great grasp of entropy, so watching a movie which is completely hinged on the concept was baffling. It makes the plot so convoluted that for the majority of the movie I didn’t understand what was going on. I was a little annoyed because it felt like Nolan sacrificed the audience’s understanding for a chance to try out a kooky new concept
Now this is problem that can be solved if a movie dedicated time to clearly explain the plot to the audience. There were points where this was attempted but usually either the explanation didn’t define things plainly enough or one of Nolan’s stylistic choices got in the way. For instance, reverse entropy was illustrated with the use of bullets, but the understanding this provided didn’t suffice for when the action scenes were based on entropy.
An example of style as an obstacle is the music. This film had a great score as Nolan’s films usually do, but the reason I know that so well is that sometimes the music’s volume was turned so much that it was difficult to hear what the actors were saying. Combined with the fact that everyone conversed quickly and quietly, finding much meaning in the dialogue was an agonizing task. This exactly the type of thing that cannot happen when the plot is this complicated.
Another one of Nolan’s tropes was the action. This movie has plenty of tense, thrilling action which I loved, but it was painfully undercut by the contortions of the plot. Why do I care about the action if don’t understand how or why it’s happening? Maybe if one action scene was replaced with another scene that clarified the concepts used in the movie, I would’ve enjoyed the rest of the action much more.
Tenet had some very solid aspects such as its action and its cinematography (which I’m sure was a herculean feat to perfect) but they’re hard to appreciate through the convolution of the story.