They fucking made a fellow UP’er (or any human for that matter) not care about Michael Caine?
This I cannot forgive.
Giving up on Tenet until a rip comes out with subtitles. Incoherent.
I enjoyed Tenet, but I took it as more of a case study exploring a hypothetical form of time travel where you have to do some supplementary reading and or multiple watches rather than your traditional movie experience. I also liked Primer though - so that probably puts me in the minority. I’m glad there are Nolan’s and Tarantino’s out there taking chances even if they fail sometimes.
2 Likes
Honestly, I don’t get the hate. This is like peak puzzle box Nolan. Solid movie if you’re into that sort of thing.
4 Likes
Its basically just inception 2.0 but only like 90% as good. (Which is still really good!)
2 Likes
You had me at written by, directed by, and produced by Christopher Nolan
liked it more than dunkirk but thats about it.
feels like i would need to watch 2 times or read a summary to understand everything better though
1 Like
that was my first reaction too. i felt like this would have worked better as a 4 hour movie or miniseries.
1 Like
Just dropped $20 on this gremlin. Don’t let me down again Nolan.
2 Likes
That opening scene is a banger. Amazing choreography and editing. They have to get across so many pieces of information without anyone explaining anything, just with the visuals and the briefest dialogue.
I’m not gonna live blog the whole thing. Just already impressed.
That was great.
I assume reading the thread will invert my opinion.
1 Like
I would tell someone TeneT is Primer but a lot more expensive and not quite as incoherently coherent.
But I mean time paradox is a genre at this point. This was a great movie in that genre.
1 Like
The hater in me wants to say it’s Primer but more expensive and not nearly as smart.
I’ve been looking forward to more Tenet reviews for weeks, and Risky is the only person to deliver so far. What the heck? Y’all waiting for the weekend or something?
2 Likes
Matt Goldberg wrote what I think is the hottest take yet. It’s the last quote.
Nolan’s success comes from how he’s been able to take this weakness and still make powerful movies about identity as they relate to grandiose concepts of time and truth, so that when we see the reverse chronology of movie like Memento, it’s not a gimmick but a way to get inside the mind of his protagonist, who has no short-term memory.
Sadly, Nolan’s new movie Tenet is all gimmick, and devoid of those fascinating questions of identity and truth that invigorated his previous efforts.
Tenet is merely an exercise in palindromic storytelling. It’s an immaculately crafted puzzle that offers no reward for solving it. By the time you’re trying to figure out what a “temporal pincer maneuver” is, you’ve ceased to care.
The sentiment running through Tenet is that you’re seeing Nolan’s riff on a Bond movie…but if you’re crafting a globetrotting affair where the Protagonist’s main motivation is protecting the gorgeous Kat and the most those two characters can manage for the most part is a chaste kiss on the cheek, then your Bond riff is missing some key notes.
And the KO punch:
Nolan seems to be in the spy genre for the action, which is fine, but it also renders Tenet into no better than a Michael Bay movie but in a three-piece suit instead of a t-shirt and jeans.
Heh, I largely agree with that review.
2 Likes
I mean, I agree that the characters are more thinly drawn than ever. I believe that’s because Chris is intensely cerebral and needs his brother’s writing to add a touch of humanity.
As it stands, yeah, the characters suck. Robert Pattinson is a plot tool, not a character. Could anyone even tell me what traits define him?
And as Matt says about Protagonist:
You root The Protagonist because John David Washington is cool, not because the character is compelling.
But! I did feel my heart tug for Elizabeth Debicki/Kat. When she jumps off the boat at the end and we understand she has been jealous of her future self all along… Man, that’s some powerful stuff. If only she could have spoken to her future self to say hold true and together, we will eventually break free.
The visuals are excellent. The staging and choreography and editing from the opening scene make this worth watching, though maybe with the dialogue turned off.
That was a good scene, and one of the only ones that really did anything for me. idk if you watched the video clovis posted in the other thread, but I like what the guy said about how one of the biggest reasons it works because there’s no exposition. We’re trusted to figure it out ourselves, and that makes it a much stronger moment in the film.
1 Like
I don’t read anything from certain posters, but I will look at that post in particular if you link it for me. Ty.
1 Like