TENET

                                                                        

Christopher Nolan has always had a penchant for non-linear storytelling. He has taken it to a whole different level with Tenet. A much-anticipated movie in these testing times. I cannot remember having stayed away from the big screen for such a long time. What better way to break that streak than to watch this masterpiece. Nolan is no stranger to creating convoluted plots. He usually indulges in a lengthy exposition to help the “Average Joe” amongst us to get up to speed with the developments in the plot. However, he has kept it to a minimal in Tenet, which in a way makes it much more difficult for the audience to digest the concept in the first viewing. Nonetheless the movie is a treat for the eyes and the grey cells.             

The central character is a CIA agent. To add to the aura, he is unnamed and is just known as the “Protagonist”. The entire movie is seen from the perspective of the protagonist played convincingly by John David Washington. He is joined by a British Counterpart Neil (Robert Pattinson), a character which is clouded with mystery throughout. In many ways we can relate more to the protagonist as he is seen struggling to grasp the concepts of time inversion and temporal pincer movement to name a few. The movie begins with an attack on an Opera house in Kiev and is a pre-cursor to what is yet to come. The movie is filled with brilliant sequences with a heavy dosage of adrenaline. The cinematography and especially the brilliant background score keep us engaged even though the complex plot might prove to be overwhelming for most of us.

At the end of the day the movie like many others, is shown as a tussle between the good and the bad which involves saving the world from a Russian arms dealer who is nothing short of insane. Not much has changed from the cold war days as Russians are still portrayed as embodiments of evil in the western movies. Time travel has been a tried and tested method in Hollywood over the decades. Still Nolan improves upon it with his own version. This involves the reversal of time where certain objects move backward in time, while the environment around them keep progressing forward. The groundbreaking concept is brought to reality with stunning cinematography and visual effects as it creates a visually captivating image.