The Craftsmanship of Tenet
This article contains heavy spoilers. Do not read this review if you do not want to know key plot devices and story elements from the film.
Christopher Nolan’s Tenet is the most perfectly executed three act structure I have ever seen brought to the screen. Though many modern films break traditional conventions successfully, a well-crafted film in the traditional 3 acts is always wonderful to see. No single director masters this better than Nolan, who has manipulated narrative storytelling countless times to produce grandly unique takes on a simple notion. Whether dealing with The Dark Knight Trilogy in creating three separate films each encompassing a single act in a story, or Dunkirk: a WW2 film involving three stacked timelines that bring a new intensity to the old and familiar genre, Nolan does not fail to innovate on an age-old method.
Though the film plays on some familiar Cold War-era tropes and does not have much to say in the way of contemporary social issues, Tenet is a supremely entertaining spy thriller with the high-concept Nolan touch. The score, created by Ludwig Göransson in lieu of Nolan’s favorite: Hans Zimmer (unavailable due to his work on Villaneuve’s Dune), is tremendous and powerful, and often brought to the forefront during action scenes. I was astonished by the sheer volume the film chose for the score during the climactic car chase, for instance, when others would surely have gone for increasing the noisy action mainstays like car horns and tire skids. The hypnotic reverberations in Göransson’s “Trucks in Place” bring an ethereal tone to an extremely corporeal scene, elevating the scene to more than the sum of its moving parts.
Warner Bros. Entertainment ©
The genius of Tenet comes into full view at the midpoint of the film. As rising action gives way to the climax, the film’s “inversion” science fiction is used. It is not just used by the characters but on the film itself. A red and blue room with a wall down the center delineates the halves of the film, cutting neatly through each side in a twisting and daunting reversed interrogation scene. Up until this point, the film has been relatively straight-forward, rewarding us with only a few instances of the “inverted” to behold.
We see the entirety of the rest of Tenet from an inverted perspective now, with each sequence coming to clarify the half of information the audience was deliberately starved of. Yet, we were not truly kept in total darkness. Here at the Freeport heist, a particular shot of the plane’s turbine. There inside during the scrambled lockpicking, a purposeful shot of Robert Pattinson noticing the flapping metal door that was no longer sealed to the floor. Here during the chase, a car driving the wrong way and flipped. There in a flashback, a woman diving from a yacht. Each bread crumb was intentionally laid by Nolan and his editors as they crafted a story first in one direction, and then in perfect juxtaposition.
As what was occurring dawned on me during the climax and midpoint of the film, I had a visceral reaction of joy. I knew exactly how the rest of the film was meant to proceed, and yet there was still more to unfold. The ending sequence was proof of the visual creativity present. It takes a lofty mind to capitalize on the concept of “inversion”. A building shot with a rocket launcher from two different points in both reversed time and normal time, resulting in the destruction of said building no matter how time was unfolding, was the whipped cream on an ice cream sundae. The cherry on top, however, was the way in which sparsely developed characters made an ending scene impactful and emotional through simple expository language and a sacrifice I won’t ruin. I cared more for Pattinson’s and Washington’s characters by the culmination of the film than I had realized I would.
Vanity Fair © / Warner Bros. Pictures ©
Though the film may leave some confused, and the complexities surely may drive some to give poor reviews, a close following of each shot reveals the simple and genius craft that was put into Tenet.
A mind-bending spy thriller to be sure, Tenet brings just enough character development and just enough heart to showcase a brilliant glance at what modern film is capable of. Not just the mighty heroes we adore at the box office, not just the next installment of an Ian Fleming novel, and not just a rehash of a classic animated movie, film is still capable of delivering true innovation on what is familiar but rarely perfected. Though Tenet may not be a perfect film in content or social justice messaging, it is surely a perfect example of the structure of a film, the nature of Christopher Nolan’s work as an auteur, and of Ludwig Göransson’s monumental talents as the new kid on the block in the world of composing.
I would highly recommend experiencing Tenet for yourself in the biggest, loudest theater you can find, as it truly brings a heightened awareness of the possibilities of cinema.
Plus, it’s awesome.
