Tenet (Christopher Nolan) *spoilers from post 475*

titan18

Just watched it. Felt it was nonsense tbh. It might work better as a TV show, as there was far too much plot to attempt to explain.

Also action scenes looked silly I thought. Was far too much going on, and some of it didn't make much sense (why was his future self attempting to kill present self in Oslo for example).

H8GHOTI

Seem to think the opposite to most.
Really enjoyed it, thought Washington was good but didn’t like Pattinson in it.

Loved all the action scenes and the backwards stuff was great to watch. Enjoyed the dialogue as well. I get the criticisms others mentioned but was having too good a time to care.

SimonTemplar

This is probably the Nolan film I enjoyed the least. I had very little emotional engagement with it. I have big problems with The Dark Knight Rises but at least it kept me riveted to the screen. Tenet left be fairly cold.

I like Elizabeth Debicki a lot, especially in The Man From Uncle and Widows; her character in Tenet reminded me a lot of a similar role she played in The Night Manager.

I wonder is this the film where Nolan becomes the cinematic equivalent of Gatiss and Moffat who did excellent work in the past but have become preoccupied with pseudo-intellectual convolution at the detriment to coherent and satisfying storytelling. Inception required the audience to pay attention but it never scarified enjoyment and had an emotional core. I can't say the same about Tenet.

Homelander

titan18 wrote: »

Also action scenes looked silly I thought. Was far too much going on, and some of it didn't make much sense (why was his future self attempting to kill present self in Oslo for example).

He wasn't trying to kill him, but he had to fight him and escape. If his past self unmasked his future self, it was game-over for the world.

The whole point of the film is that from the very start he was orchestrating everything via his 'future' self.

It seems to me it's most likely it's a closed infinite loop that we just see presented as "linear" because it's a movie, but it's a never-ending cycle that has no definitive beginning or end - it just exists.

Most of the things in the movie appear to be bootstrap paradoxes as well that don't have any real explainable origin, and paradoxes are raised more than once during the movie.

While the general plot is a little silly, the movie does make sense within its own established boundaries as far as I could see.

Snake Plisken

Just seen it there and delighted to have seen it on the big dcreen, love all the action sequences, really liked the fight sequence in the kitchen. Thought Washington and Pattinson were great and had good chemistry . I agree about Debicki, having watched The Night Manager recently she is playing basically the same role.
I was expecting to be disappointed with some of the lukewarm reviews but I really loved it and Nolan hasn't left me down. Look forward to watching it again when it's released on 4K Blu-Ray when released. 8/10

cdgalwegian

titan18 wrote: »

Just watched it. Felt it was nonsense tbh. It might work better as a TV show, as there was far too much plot to attempt to explain.

Even though I loved it, I did think the same that it might have been better as a series, which is not what Christopher does- that's his brother Jonathan's forte.
As another possibility, it looked to me like it needed a sequel; there's a lot of background stuff only alluded to, which the ending left dangling for those of us who loved the film.

I highly doubt that there will any notion of making a sequel to Tenet

Penfailed

glasso wrote: »

I highly doubt that there will any notion of making a sequel to Tenet

I think it's extremely unlikely too.

cdgalwegian

glasso wrote: »

I highly doubt that there will any notion of making a sequel to Tenet

Penfailed wrote: »

I think it's extremely unlikely too.

I think it's extremely unlikely too.
Still love to see it though.

cdgalwegian

cdgalwegian wrote: »

I think it's extremely unlikely too.
Still love to see it though.

Would have little interest of seeing any more of that inversion muck lol

It couldn't carry one movie as a concept nevermind two.

gmisk

p to the e wrote: »

Washington's charisma and exaggerated swagger really suited the first section of the film when they were doing a James Bond-esque film but once it went balls to the wall sci-fi he looked as lost as the rest of us. And it took me nearly 30 minutes to realise that was Aaron Taylor Johnson doing his best (or worst) Tom Hardy impression.

I thought it was more of a Jason Statham impression tbh

ebbsy

Just back from it, I enjoyed it a lot.

And the action bits were really done as well.

Well worth a look.

Muppet Man

Just watched it. Very very hard to follow. No idea what was going on from the time he started to go back in time to save her. The whole red v blue thing.... I mean it looked fantastic, great stunts etc. but the whole story was stupidly complex in its setup. I think he could have made a simpler time travel story and it would have been far more watchable.

Muppet Man

Muppet Man wrote: »

Just watched it. Very very hard to follow. No idea what was going on from the time he started to go back in time to save her. The whole red v blue thing.... I mean it looked fantastic, great stunts etc. but the whole story was stupidly complex in its setup. I think he could have made a simpler time travel story and it would have been far more watchable.

"but man if you were smart enough to understand it you would love it"

seems to be sanctimonious refrain from many die-hard Nolanites going around

it was too messy / convoluted to be a satisfying movie imo

the nature of the inversion stuff also meant that some parts of the "amazing man" set pieces just looked like something filmed and played in reverse

CatFromHue

glasso wrote: »

I highly doubt that there will any notion of making a sequel to Tenet

a sequel, no chance

a prequel set in the future, now you're talking :pac:

johnny_ultimate

Not that there’s going to be a sequel, but I’m not sure there’s even any open-ended ending here? It all wraps up pretty conclusively, like all Nolan’s films really. Of course there’s always a theoretical expansion of the ideas, but this is a pretty self-contained beast that draws a clear line under all the core plot and character beats (unsatisfying as they may be).

cdgalwegian

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Not that there’s going to be a sequel, but I’m not sure there’s even any open-ended ending here? It all wraps up pretty conclusively, like all Nolan’s films really. Of course there’s always a theoretical expansion of the ideas, but this is a pretty self-contained beast that draws a clear line under all the core plot and character beats (unsatisfying as they may be).

The Protagonist at the end of Tenet is finally a man in control, a key player; how that would be played out in the future I'd certainly like to see, but I don't think Nolan would be into future-world-building (though maybe he might like to toy with a future/present Westworld-type scenario). Being self-contained doesn't preclude a sequel.
Like most postmodern writer/directors though, Nolan uses the modernist mantra Make it New; he will always try to bring something innovative to the table, so a sequel would be highly unlikely simply for that reason; I think he shot his load with the conceptual innovation here.
However... a sequel could be an extension of the 'time wars', which instead of having the time element as an innovative core, he could revert to his other postmodern toolkit item; identity. This is perhaps why he has done a trilogy, never mind a sequel; much of his Batman (and others' superhero worlds) revolves around the whole notion of identity.
I'm just riffing here. It'll never happen. But I can dream.

ThePeeledSpud

Just back from the omniplex in Mahon Point after trying to watch it in IMax. The sound was so bad about 75% of the way through the movie that it was unwatchable the staff tried to restart the system twice but it didn't work and everyone was given refunds. Found it hard enough to follow so I'm back home now gonna stream the ending cos I couldn't be arsed going back to the cinema to watch tbh.

TiGeR KiNgS

Saw the movie yesterday.

Felt like the movie was just an excuse for set pieces with plot and exposition shoe-horned to meet it's needs ....

... almost like it was a few different scripts/ideas brought together with reckless abandon.

The acting/casting (except for Robert Pattinson) was either bad or totalling out of place. With the casting set to appease the mood in Hollywood.

A big fan of Christopher Nolan, but this was a real turkey.

3/5 stars - don't bother unless your a film student.

Penfailed

TiGeR KiNgS wrote: »

Saw the movie yesterday.

Felt like the movie was just an excuse for set pieces with plot and exposition shoe-horned to meet it's needs ....

... almost like it was a few different scripts/ideas brought together with reckless abandon.

The acting/casting (except for Robert Pattinson) was either bad or totalling out of place. With the casting set to appease the mood in Hollywood.

A big fan of Christopher Nolan, but this was a real turkey.

3/5 stars - don't bother unless your a film student.

A 'turkey'...yet you give it 3/5? That's 60%. That's above average.

TiGeR KiNgS

Penfailed wrote: »

A 'turkey'...yet you give it 3/5? That's 60%. That's above average.

2/5 is a bit mean as set pieces are well done

abff

Penfailed wrote: »

A 'turkey'...yet you give it 3/5? That's 60%. That's above average.

3/5 is actually 50% if 0/5 is not an option.

cdgalwegian

abff wrote: »

3/5 is actually 50% if 0/5 is not an option.

Ah Jaysus, let's split the difference and make the review 5/10 and have done with it.

Penfailed

abff wrote: »

3/5 is actually 50% if 0/5 is not an option.

It is an option. Anyway, 50% is average. 'Turkey' is less than average.

abff

Penfailed wrote: »

It is an option. Anyway, 50% is average. 'Turkey' is less than average.

That’s true. Giving an average rating to a turkey seems a bit over generous.

As for 5 out of 10 being average, that only works if 0 is an option.

Penfailed

abff wrote: »

As for 5 out of 10 being average, that only works if 0 is an option.

It is an option

seligehgit

gmisk wrote: »

Loved that I have to say not perfect but i had a great time watching it.
Pattinson was excellent I thought.
I have to say I found it pretty reasonably easy to follow (I was expecting more twists), there was a propensity for characters to explain how things worked a lot but I kind of needed that tbh at times.
A couple of minor questions why was the Singh woman who was in arms dealing so intent on killing Kat? Also there were some kind of rules around if you touched yourself...so to speak in the past...did protagonist not have a really long fight with himself? Does it have to be skin to skin? My head's in a bit of a whirl so I could just be confused!
I would definitely watch again.

Also I will say The Lighthouse was a pleasure to visit again spacing was terrific.
8/10

Can anybody shed any light on this query?

Enjoyed it if a tad confusing.

What was the idea of the double room??

Who was sending back the pieces to Satar?

Washington was James Bondesque although a tad wooden (decent performance ) but Pattinson stole the show.

Can peoples explain how they believe it was hinted Neil was Satar's son at the end during the conversation re the start of a long friendship?

I enjoyed the musical score in spite of Zimmer's absence.

Lefty2Guns

Went to see it yesterday. Muffled sound when speaking put a slight damper on it as it was such a difficult film to follow at the start.

Enjoyed the film overall and would definitely go see it again if the option came with sub-titles.

Some great action scenes but at times it did feel like the constant changes were different levels of a video game.

Retr0gamer

I saw this yesterday and while I was engaged just like with interstellar its a load of nonsense that thinks it's cleverer than it really is. It ultimately boils down to a villain with reasons you'd expect from a bad japanese rpg. For the complex time bending narration it ultimately goes nowhere and says nothing. The final battle is just a mess and I couldn't be engaged because it was impossible to follow and by that stage was dumber than the latest call of duty.

The sound mixing was terrible as well. Very difficult to make out dialogue. A friend of mine had a similar experience in another cinema.

Robert Pattinson though was a bit of a revelation. Best thing about the movie.

utyh2ikcq9z76b

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Not that there’s going to be a sequel, but I’m not sure there’s even any open-ended ending here? It all wraps up pretty conclusively, like all Nolan’s films really. Of course there’s always a theoretical expansion of the ideas, but this is a pretty self-contained beast that draws a clear line under all the core plot and character beats (unsatisfying as they may be).

That's what I thought about The Matrix