Christopher Nolan's latest film, Tenet, found viewers saying, "Huh? What did he say?" over the brilliant but maybe too loud soundtrack created by Ludwig Göransson. Even when audiences could hear what was being said, it was often too confusing, emotionless, and exposition-heavy to be enjoyable. Instead, watching Tenet felt more like listening to a very confusing lecture and trying to keep up in order to write the report, mixed with some cool action scenes.
There are many filmmakers (and aspiring filmmakers) in the world that would love to have as big of a budget as Christopher Nolan gets for his films. The man can make a great film, so it's well deserved, but with Tenet being his biggest and most expensive film to date, do the low ratings mean it's the worst film of 2020? Other filmmakers may use the excuse of a low budget as to why their films did not succeed in terms of publicity and profit. But Nolan had the budget, the cast, and the crew to make something amazing; and despite all that, it was still a box office and audience review flop.
With a big enough budget, everything about a film will become better—except the story. There will be better lights, better actors, better CGI or effects, and so on. Christopher Nolan's Tenet was able to impress audiences and keep them watching because of the action sequences and star-power actors, but the story, by itself without all the bells and whistles, is undoubtedly lacking in many ways. The concept is very big and has an interesting representation of the Sator Square. The whole movie can be looked at as one big palindrome. And the very subtle 'twist' at the end makes Tenet worth rewatching at least once.
But all of that said, the film suffered for its heavy exposition and convoluted story so confusing, it required back-to-back scenes of the characters explaining what is going on. This is why although Tenet may become easier to understand after multiple viewings, audiences will find themselves thinking of the process as more of a chore rather than an enjoyable espionage film. If this movie had been made into a trilogy or possibly even a series, it could have had more time to develop the plot and characters for the enjoyment of the audience.
Tenet plays with the idea that everything that will happen, always was going to happen, and will continue to happen. The story seems to be about a period of time that repeats itself on a loop, meaning the end of the loop could also be seen as the beginning. In theory, this sounds like a cool idea. And it is very much in line with what a Nolan fan would expect to see from one of his films. Throw in the added pressure from a maniac Russian, the devastation to the world caused by climate change, and a fight against time to stop a World War III, and the story gets even better—on paper, that is.
Even if Tenet wasn't confusing for the average movie-goer, its storytelling devices are weak. There are three heavy-handed expositions scenes back-to-back-to-back. There is one with Priya, Michale Crosby, and then Kat all one after the other where there is almost no tension or character development, and it's all just explaining the world. Even after three full conversations about what is happening, the movie is still difficult to follow. At times, it seems as though not even the director knew exactly all the details of the world and expected audiences to not question it or to come up with their own stories.
If a movie takes five or six views to fully understand it, perhaps it is not telling the story in an effective way. Nolan seems to be obsessed with telling stories in a nonlinear way, and although this works for some of his movies, other times it hinders an audience's enjoyment of a film. Tenet, aside from being a little boring and confusing, doesn't give the audience anyone to root for. Even the main character is not given a name. And although this is probably just Nolan trying to say that this movie is about the story and not the individual characters, he hasn't given us a good story either. So there are no good characters, and the story is weak, so what does Tenet have going for it?
Tenet has a good cast and Christopher Nolan's name, itself, attached to it. Without his name, most would have never seen this movie, or saw it and thought nothing of it. The music in the film is exciting and if seen in theaters, it makes the whole experience worth it. The acting is pretty good, and the cinematography really elevates the viewing experience. The set designs and locations are gorgeous thanks to a hefty budget. And the action scenes, alone, make this movie worth watching.
With all that taken into consideration, Tenet probably isn't the worst film of 2020. Despite its occasionally poor sound design, downright boring dialogue, and messy story, this will be another film that given enough time and rewatches, will become another classic. And people will again question why they ever doubted Christopher Nolan.