Category: Cinema

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cast (the considering, disappointing rather was acting the especially) shtick its on heavily too relying than other quality much without ass own its up far too just It’s. much so not, TENET.

«Darko Donnie» or «Primer» like plot the follow can who anyone flatter they crafted-well but complex so are that ones the and hand one on «Endgame: Avengers» or ones «Terminator» good the, «Future The To Back» like details practical the into get to bother don’t that ones the probably are stories traveling-time best The. pretentious even – good own its for ambitious too, messy gets it, enough down dumbed not if that, is are (films travel-time most guess I which (movies concept high with problem The.

all at me for work didn’t movie the But. time long, long a in experience theatrical first my it’s since especially, love to liked really, really have would I movies those of one It’s: way good a in not but, speechless me let, Movie The-Gimmick: it call to like I as or TENET or as I like to call it: Gimmick-The Movie, let me speechless, but not in a good way: It’s one of those movies I would have really, really liked to love, especially since it’s my first theatrical experience in a long, long time. But the movie didn’t work for me at all.

The problem with high concept movies (which I guess most time-travel films are) is, that if not dumbed down enough, it gets messy, too ambitious for its own good – even pretentious. The best time-traveling stories are probably the ones that don’t bother to get into the practical details like «Back To The Future», the good «Terminator» ones or «Avengers: Endgame» on one hand and the ones that are so complex but well-crafted they flatter anyone who can follow the plot like «Primer» or Donnie Darko.

TENET, not so much. It’s just too far up its own ass without much quality other than relying too heavily on its shtick (especially the acting was rather disappointing, considering the cast).

I think one of the problems is that TENET’s underlying concept of recursion is so abstract the movie has to invest a really big part of the runtime to let the audience adjust to the idea. Which feels like prolonged waiting in line to see the movie itself. (Remember the days when one had to wait in line for a movie ticket?). The whole first part of explaining the concept, planting some plot-devices and repeating the idea for good measure might be the necessary way to set up the story, but it’s way too boring to even really care once the second part starts.

Sure, TENET might be interesting, ambitious, clever – all that good stuff that Nolan normally does really well. But in the end the movie lacks elegance and heart – feeling way too much like work with too little payoff too late.

You know what lacks heart, too? This very review. I’m not feeling it today, so let’s start up the code and let some algorithm do the first part of this review of TENET…