Quite a lot of Interstellar has the same problem. When watching at home I’m continuously riding the volume control to hear what they’re saying but preventing the walls from shaking.
I found d it difficult to really get into the final big battle- all the good guys were running around shooting and you barely saw who they were fight against! There were lots of exciting explosions, but i only saw one or two actual antagonists..
I saw the film about 4 hours ago and this is me attempt of trying to articulate my thoughts on the film. Technically, I think it’s very impressive. Generally speaking it looks beautiful and in IMAX the scale of the film was unbelievable, especially the inverted action sequences. Having said that, I found the film to be particularly difficult to get a hold of. The film moves at an incredible pace and the exposition that’s delivered is at such speed that it’s almost impossible to gather what’s going on, let alone how quiet some of dialogue is at at any given time. I’m personally of the opinion that the main weakness in Nolan’s films as a whole is his characters. They often feel distant and cold and never more so here. At least in Inception Cobb had his dead wife to ground him and allow me as an audience member to sympathise and root for him, but here John David Washington’s character is literally nameless, and despite his superficial charisma is almost inhuman, without a discernible identity. To summarise, technically brilliant but convulsed and incredibly frustrating/difficult to enjoy.
Every reviewer seems to be having a hard time distinguishing between "Tenant" and "Tenet" - Maybe they'll change the title for the Blu-Ray release, heh
I am honestly one of the biggest Nolan fans there is, however this film genuinely seems to be missing a soul. Originality of the concept and execution of these ideas were solid , the visuals were on point, the music reached the prefect crescendos where they should've .. yet something felt cold and missing. You have to be able to care about the characters in a story to care about the story itself. If the characters are just tools used as expository vehicles it fails to leave an impression on the viewer. This fails where interstellar did not .. you felt connected with the father - daughter bond and even the connection between Brand and Coopers character. Here the hero is simply called protagonist - I personally found it really hard to give a fuck about the protagonist, the only character you slightly care about is Elizabeth Debickis. Good characters and an emotional core would've really made this film something special. A shame really.
It annoys me that people are being so forgiving regarding Tenet. This movie must have the worst sound mixing ever . I think I missed at least 40% of the dialogue. In a movie with some much exposition, it is unforgivable.
Imagine, in Back to the Future 2, Doc Brown explaining to Marty McFly (and the audience) exactly how Biff created a parallel universe where he's now a gangster and super powerful, while wearing a voice-muffling mask, with bass-heavy synth music drowning out the dialogue. Would you have enjoyed it as much not understanding fully what was going on? Your answer will decide your feelings on Tenet.
Just seen this. Found most of it to be incomprehensible word salad. Then there was all the muffled, inaudible dialogue - delivered whilst wearing masks, or muddled during explosions. Overall it wore me down and was as about as exasperating as a Transformers movie, albeit still aiming to be a lot smarter.
Many reviewers seem to be afraid to say a confusing film is a confusing film ... Brilliantly shot, beautiful technical marvel, lovely acting performances and set pieces... A very, "what time is it, where is my watch?", kind of film. And its unrelenting brick-walled sound mixing. Fatiguing, and awful with over booming bass, and dialogue drowned out at times. In a film heavy on dialogue in helping you 'understand', it was unforgivable to me.
I found it very frustrating at times to be honest. Its incredible what they've done to write and make such an original concept, but it didn't enjoy the lack of moments to breathe and understand what the hell was happening!
I’m surprised by clarissas comments only because I agree about struggling to connect with his films... but for me it’s Dunkirk and tenet that I struggled to connect with 🤷♂️😂
Upside: my local VUE tickets are half normal price. As a Nolan ‘fan’ I felt TENET is deliberately obscure due to its use of sound etc. The idea is quite simple. The visuals are excellent. The emotion is lacking.
I did enjoy the film but I found it hard to connect with any of the characters other than Elizabeth Debicki. I do love Nolan’s intricate and puzzling plots, but I’d like to feel at least some kind of emotional connection, which is why Memento is my favourite of his filmography, as it combines complexity and emotion into the narrative
I’m fully the other way round with Dunkirk and Tenet where I understood what was great about them but they completely failed to connect with me. Like, I know I need to watch Tenet again to understand it properly but I have no compulsion to
Some good points but it’s the other way round here. For me Dunkirk failed as both story and spectacle and I honestly can’t understand the love that film gets. But liking Nolan’s other stuff per se, with the exception of Dark Knight Rises where almost everything seemed off and laboured, I wanted to give Tenet a chance. I think ‘self serious’ and providential but without the flesh in the bones sums up Tenet like a slightly better version of a Zack Snyder film. It’s confusing rather than clever, unclear rather than surprising, silly but not entertaining. Christopher needs to move on from his time obsession. There are other stories to tell and the clocks ticking etc.
Tenet was obviously an incredible piece of filmmaking, and had an interesting concept, but it lacked any humanity. As a contrast, Parasite is a film about complex, nuanced characters with rich interpersonal relationships. When THINGS happen to them I care because I care about the characters. Tenet contains no characters, only silhouettes. I can't tell you one single thing about 'The Protagonist' or Neil. Nothing - they have no wants or needs, or motivations. Kat and her husband are slightly more fleshed out, but not much. So when THINGS happened to them I didn't care about the outcome and for me it lacked tension. I wanted to love it, but I couldn't ground myself emotionally in the story. I think I will enjoy it more on a second viewing, but only because my expectations are now very different - it's a rollercoaster ride and should be enjoyed as such.
I did like it a lot. It was great cinema experience but it really is very confusing, incomprehensible to hear the dialouge because of the audio and it leaves so many questions but the music was amazing and I loved a lot of the cast especially Pattinson. Goddamn he was good. Gotta give appreciation to JDW for bringing a good deal of charm and prescence to a role that doesn't have much background or detail,thought he did great. Standouts overall were some of the action sequences, the last 45 mins giving me so much anxiety, the visuals, score, JDW and Rob's chemistry and Rob's performance.
On one hand I found Tenet to be ridiculously ambitious, bonkers, exciting, totally unique and a true theatre experience. On the other hand I found it somewhat cold, emotionally unengaging and overly complicated. Even as someone who usually relishes in complex narratives this was often overwhelming which I personally felt affected my connection to film. But I think that divisive nature of the film is exactly what we needed to kick up a storm and get people going back to the cinema.
The sound mixing lead to me missing so much of the whispered stale dialogue. I was just sitting there agitated I wasn't able to follow the story. Nolan's strength usually is storytelling. To me all the cool sequences were for sure amazing, but to me didn't have any meaning so naturally fell flat.
Just got back from this. Not impressed. Some good set pieces but unnecessarily complicated and only made more difficult to follow because of Nolan's insistence on having characters deliver vital information behind masks or drowned out by ambient sound. For the last 20 minutes or so I had only the vaguest idea of what they were trying to do and why, and that was quite boring. Disappointed. I wondered if this film might have been saved had the climax merely related to Debicki confronting her husband, rather than all the dull explosions in the desert.
Reviewers 2010: Inception is so confusing, I am not able to follow it. Reviewers 2012: Inception is one of the most entertaining and engaging movie of all times. Reviewers 2012: I can't hear a word Bane speaks in The dark knight rises. Reviewers 2014: Bane has become one of the most Iconic characters in DC franchise. Reviewers 2014: I can't hear a think with that loud music in Interstellar. Reviewers 2016: Interstellar is one of the movie which had the best scores. Reviewers 2017: Dunkirk has so many underdeveloped characters, I am not connected. Reviewers 2020: Dunkirk is one of the best War suspense movie of all time. Reviewers 2020: Tenet-All the above. Reviewers 2022: Tenet is a Masterpiece.
Tenet is a movie that will dramatically improve upon repeat viewings WITH subtitles. It’s a supremely unique film that will not (perhaps cannot) be fully appreciated after one viewing.
Loved the action and set pieces. But I only understood about 75% of the inversion/time travel stuff. The 3 leads were excellent together. And off course Sir Kenneth Branagh is always great & a real nice 1 scene cameo by Sir Michael Caine. All in all not one of Nolan's best works but still a really enjoyable time in the cinema. I can't wait to see what he dreams up next.
Fascinated to see so many comments about the sound mixing in respect of the booming soundtrack and muffled dialogue. After watching it last week in a Showcase XPlus Atmos cinema, I was so annoyed with the sound that I gave some lengthy feedback to the cinema manager, who was polite, appreciative of the comments and sufficiently moved to give me a complementary ticket for my pains. He mentioned that the director had not actually released an Atmos cut of the film, so despite the marketing, it doesn't actually draw on the tech available these days. Now it seems that it was just the poor work on the film itself and not a rogue projectionist turning the volume up to 11 and fiddling with the EQ deck. Frankly, I felt that Mr Nolan hired a cack-handed novice to mix the sound and never bothered to audition the final mix for distribution. No excuse for someone with his experience and track record.
I really liked the film especially John David Washington and Robert Pattinson, I just felt some of the sounds were quite overpowering at some points to the point where I was hoping there was a quiet, just talking moments between characters. I'd still watch it again though.
Nolan deliberately took liberties with the theory surrounding time inversion/travel in order to make the plot somewhat viable. It's a good film but it leaves so many questions and loose ends that it's almost as if it's setting up a sequel even though there most definitely won't be one.
It was pretty good, feel like I need to see it a second time as the dialogue audio seems quite quiet and it's hard to pay attention to it. I like the quote he would be a good Bond, that's true he should be in contention now. Robert Pattinson and Kenneth Branagh were good as well. Be interesting to hear Mark review it.
I honestly just thought this was a bad film, there are too many basic issues in the production of this film, namely the sound mixing, which just take away from the execution of the film
Its ok Clarisse. I prefer Burton's Batman more than Nolan's trilogy but still, I admire his films. Although I hate The Dark Knight Rises, I'll take Batman & Robin instead. At least it has fun sets and it's fast-paced even though it is embarrassing.
So many bandwagon comments about the sound and not hearing lines... the sound mixing was not dreadful, I felt it blended well but must admit a couple of occasions I had to try and repeat to myself a couple of lines. Overall this was an excellent movie. The soundtrack was phenomenal and the performances were excellent. The action was sublime. My only frustration was that I didn’t particularly connect with any characters or experience any of their emotional journeys.
I hadn't thought about it, but drawing the comparison to bond, is really interesting. Thinking about it now, it was incredibly bond-esque in fashion. I think I just saw what Nolan would do if he directed a bond film.
With the exception of The Prestige and possibly Memento, I really, really dislike Christopher Nolan films and cannot connect with any of them. They feel very contrived on all levels, consistently fail to suspend disbelief and put me in a strange state of both irritation and tedium. Meanwhile, everyone else seems to inexplicably love them. I really have given him more than a fair go too - every time he has a film out, I always get persuaded to go and see it by people raving about how good it is - but I have to stand firm this time. Dunkirk was perhaps the worst one I sat all the way through, but I did leave about two thirds into Interstellar, which started okayish but suddenly became preposterous. The trailer and the review suggests I'd have been in for more of the same...
I’ve been thinking about how to approach this review on Tenet without giving the impression of bashing the movie or hating on it. Cause I did like this movie but I certainly have a lot to say. Let’s start with this, I was like everyone else with Tenet. I was super excited, who wouldn’t be! Christopher Nolan directing, big budget summer blockbuster, with a complex plot, awesome trailer and a great cast! I’ve been waiting for this movie for a long time and as soon as I found a showtime for my city I decided I had to go. So I saw Tenet and I have to say, this is a Christopher Nolan movie. It has his style of direction all over it. The complex and dense plot, big action spectacles and a long runtime. Will people like it, most likely unfortunate for me not so much. What really bothered me about this movie was the plot and how Nolan told this story. It didn’t feel cohesive or even understandable really but rather very confusing, rushed and the outcome of it all made me question what was the purpose of all that just happened. Even some of the plot points of this movie that kinda make sense doesn’t actually do. Like I didn’t really know much about the villain or his goals and there wasn’t enough character development to him other than a cliche evil plan, him being just a jerk but the actor who portrays him did a good job. The acting of this character gave an impression of unintentionally being funny and entertaining. But a lot of this movie felt like it was trying to be an extravaganza of action scenes, set pieces and dazzling spectacles. Luckily It does accomplish that though, a lot of the times. The action is really well done and does a lot of the spectacles. I just wish that the movie presented a more compelling story, because it felt as though it was kinda trying too. The story, plotting and even sometimes the screenplay felt so jumbled throughout the entire runtime. It tries to be so intellectual and complex but at the end it didn’t succeed at it. Overall Tenet wasn’t as great as I hoped for but, big and sometimes fun action scenes, good acting, sound design, and the look of the movie are all positives for Tenet. Maybe I just wasn’t smart enough to appreciate all this movie had to offer and that’s unfortunate, but I did have some fun with Tenet and think most people will enjoy it.
Saw it last night! Still don't get it! I find Nolan's not great at showing you plot points. Instead characters mumble them. Still really respect what he does though. Score was amazing btw.
I agree with this review - I enjoyed the film and was engaged throughout. I didn’t find that not understanding everything that was going on detracted from my enjoyment in any way. I too just went with the flow of it and didn’t get too hung up on the bits I didn’t understand.
Surprised it reminded me more of le Carre than Bond, what with the paranoia and stale beer statecraft. Could have done with more breathing space, especially in the first 30! Check out my review for more of my thoughts.
I wasn't fussed on this movie, I think teenagers would enjoy it. The dialogue was weak with some of the acting also being weak. The whole movie just seemed rushed and none of the characters had any bond together on screen, also no backstory for any character plus the meaning of the story was just lame. This is the 1st Nolan film which didn't grip me at all. Only good scenes was John David's fighting scenes and that's it.
Funny how she has an issue with the elizabeth debicki character when she is really the only one who the audience can relate with. She's basically the heart and soul of the movie, whilst all the male characters are just running around blowing stuff up. You couldn't get a more 2D lead than Washington's character, I mean he has zero backstory, a stereotypical James Bond persona and is literally only referred to as 'The Protagonist'. But I guess if your out looking for sexism then you're bound to find it in some obscure place...
Clarisse agrees with me that the expository dialogue is deliberately obscured by background noise etc. to purposely confuse the audience! YESSS! Now I feel super smart for coming to the same conclusion. :-P
Great review although I don't agree with it. I'm in the "it was technically clever but emotionally soulless" camp. But I loved Clarisse's review. Where can we see/hear/read more?
‘I have personally not connected with one of his films until Dunkirk and Tenet’ Which is exactly why I need Mark’s view on this film. Seeing the parallels between this and Inception, which Mark and I loved.
Yes the visuals were stunning and concept is interesting but even if i dismiss the ridiculously poor dialogue and at times actors diction, the protagonist has zero charisma and i cant understand that casting. Pattison & Branagh were excellent as always. Im a Nolan fan but I wont be in a rush to see this again.
One could make the same case about the near completely expository dialogue being made purposely hard (I don't know if this is the case) to understand as a good thing for any director who employs shaky camera movement such that their action sequences are rendered incoherent - it would still be a bad case, but you could make it.
For me Nolan treats the audience with contempt in Tenet. Somehow in a film knee deep in exposition he managed to not really articulate and explain what the hell was going on. Found the tone and dialogue (that which was audible) to come across as both pretentious and forced. Character development was abysmal. Kenneth Branagh’s villain is a lazy by the numbers ‘Russian bad guy’. In terms of Visuals/Score and Acting none of these areas can be faulted however these aspects alone do not a good film make. There’s a good concept in there for a story but it’s buried in this sloppy mess of a film.
To walk out of this film without any comment on the horrendous editing, bad sound mix and overly loud booming audio is quite surprising. Also, can we also bring up the fact that John David Washington is so incredibly bland in this part? He looks like he's putting so much effort into looking "cold" and "callous" that he just comes across as "weak" and "uninterested". Pity this film wasn't made a while back so his Dad could have done a better job.
It’s loud, long and laborious. Too convoluted for its own good. Nolan has more in common with Michael Bay than he does with Kubrick. Also a fight in reverse looks goofy as hell
There was a bit in Tenet where they’re in Estonia and I realised, due to the palindromic mechanics of the film, that we were only halfway through the story, which meant I’d have to watch the same amount of film before it actually ended and my god, that was a unpleasant feeling. There’s also a part where one of the characters literally says “but you don’t need to worry about that” in relation to the science and plot, and I feel like that was just Chris Nolan talking to the audience. It’s absolute tosh.
I never liked Nolan's Movies (The Prestige wasn't bad), i just don't see what's supposed to be so special about them. but haven't seen Dunkirk yet. Maybe i should give it a try...
Dunkirk is a great movie, my second favourite Nolan after The Prestige. I think what helps both movies is that they have a grounding in reality, the with the added Nolan twist on that reality. It's when Nolan goes totally his own way that I think he needs reigning in a bit or at least somebody to advise on making a movie for a mass audience, and that's seems to be the case with Tenet. Just tried to watch Inception again (was just on TV) and apart from a few great scenes it's largely boring incomprehensible nonsense.
Christopher Nolan is really starting to suffer from David Lean syndrome, with scale and spectacle being prioritised over character and story. I just found myself left cold by Tenet tbh - it all felt… empty.
No second ticket from me and I will think long and hard before seeing his next movie! Back fired for me! It just was not an enjoyable movie for me as it tipped too far into the realm of just confusing and messy plot
The movie was staggeringly incoherent and dull. The only interesting point to Tenet is considering why so many think it praiseworthy. I'm assuming so-called fans really enjoyed the movie rather than just trying to appear intelligent or sophisticated??
It's too fast and too complicated, and this is from the most ardent Nolan fan. Must say I almost insta-clicked off when this lady said she hadn't connected with any of Nolan's films until the last two. Whilst I enjoyed the last two, they are his weakest imo. The Prestige and Inception are untouchable.
The son is the most important person the in movie coz he creates tenet and tries to communicate with his pops in the future like the Flashpoint movie Varry gives Bats a letter from his father from the past.
My conspiracy theory is Christopher Nolan only has those muffled expositional scenes in there for the studio heads and actually he doesn't want barely any dialogue in his film. He wants it to be almost purely cinematically experential and experimental but still get a $200 mill budget and a massive audience. Its either that or he just doesn't know how to mix sound lmao
Why is everyone saying "tennant" - am I missing something?
Had no issue with any of Nolans dialogue mixing until Tenet. Large sections of dialogue was incoherent for me.
Quite a lot of Interstellar has the same problem. When watching at home I’m continuously riding the volume control to hear what they’re saying but preventing the walls from shaking.
It was clearly intentionally done to me.
I found d it difficult to really get into the final big battle- all the good guys were running around shooting and you barely saw who they were fight against! There were lots of exciting explosions, but i only saw one or two actual antagonists..
I saw the film about 4 hours ago and this is me attempt of trying to articulate my thoughts on the film. Technically, I think it’s very impressive. Generally speaking it looks beautiful and in IMAX the scale of the film was unbelievable, especially the inverted action sequences. Having said that, I found the film to be particularly difficult to get a hold of. The film moves at an incredible pace and the exposition that’s delivered is at such speed that it’s almost impossible to gather what’s going on, let alone how quiet some of dialogue is at at any given time.
I’m personally of the opinion that the main weakness in Nolan’s films as a whole is his characters. They often feel distant and cold and never more so here. At least in Inception Cobb had his dead wife to ground him and allow me as an audience member to sympathise and root for him, but here John David Washington’s character is literally nameless, and despite his superficial charisma is almost inhuman, without a discernible identity. To summarise, technically brilliant but convulsed and incredibly frustrating/difficult to enjoy.
Every reviewer seems to be having a hard time distinguishing between "Tenant" and "Tenet" - Maybe they'll change the title for the Blu-Ray release, heh
I am honestly one of the biggest Nolan fans there is, however this film genuinely seems to be missing a soul. Originality of the concept and execution of these ideas were solid , the visuals were on point, the music reached the prefect crescendos where they should've .. yet something felt cold and missing.
You have to be able to care about the characters in a story to care about the story itself. If the characters are just tools used as expository vehicles it fails to leave an impression on the viewer. This fails where interstellar did not .. you felt connected with the father - daughter bond and even the connection between Brand and Coopers character. Here the hero is simply called protagonist - I personally found it really hard to give a fuck about the protagonist, the only character you slightly care about is Elizabeth Debickis.
Good characters and an emotional core would've really made this film something special. A shame really.
I wish there was more of Robert Pattinson and John David Washington together, talking. Pattinson was great but massively underused.
45 seconds of Michael Caine is actually an hour in Christopher Nolan Time...
It annoys me that people are being so forgiving regarding Tenet. This movie must have the worst sound mixing ever . I think I missed at least 40% of the dialogue. In a movie with some much exposition, it is unforgivable.
Imagine, in Back to the Future 2, Doc Brown explaining to Marty McFly (and the audience) exactly how Biff created a parallel universe where he's now a gangster and super powerful, while wearing a voice-muffling mask, with bass-heavy synth music drowning out the dialogue. Would you have enjoyed it as much not understanding fully what was going on? Your answer will decide your feelings on Tenet.
Just seen this. Found most of it to be incomprehensible word salad. Then there was all the muffled, inaudible dialogue - delivered whilst wearing masks, or muddled during explosions. Overall it wore me down and was as about as exasperating as a Transformers movie, albeit still aiming to be a lot smarter.
Many reviewers seem to be afraid to say a confusing film is a confusing film ... Brilliantly shot, beautiful technical marvel, lovely acting performances and set pieces... A very, "what time is it, where is my watch?", kind of film. And its unrelenting brick-walled sound mixing. Fatiguing, and awful with over booming bass, and dialogue drowned out at times. In a film heavy on dialogue in helping you 'understand', it was unforgivable to me.
Does anybody know if Mark's review will be on this channel?
I found it very frustrating at times to be honest. Its incredible what they've done to write and make such an original concept, but it didn't enjoy the lack of moments to breathe and understand what the hell was happening!
I’m surprised by clarissas comments only because I agree about struggling to connect with his films... but for me it’s Dunkirk and tenet that I struggled to connect with 🤷♂️😂
Red Dwarf did this year's ago!
Upside: my local VUE tickets are half normal price. As a Nolan ‘fan’ I felt TENET is deliberately obscure due to its use of sound etc. The idea is quite simple. The visuals are excellent. The emotion is lacking.
I did enjoy the film but I found it hard to connect with any of the characters other than Elizabeth Debicki. I do love Nolan’s intricate and puzzling plots, but I’d like to feel at least some kind of emotional connection, which is why Memento is my favourite of his filmography, as it combines complexity and emotion into the narrative
I’m fully the other way round with Dunkirk and Tenet where I understood what was great about them but they completely failed to connect with me. Like, I know I need to watch Tenet again to understand it properly but I have no compulsion to
I think I'm going to rewatch the film with subtitles.
Some good points but it’s the other way round here. For me Dunkirk failed as both story and spectacle and I honestly can’t understand the love that film gets. But liking Nolan’s other stuff per se, with the exception of Dark Knight Rises where almost everything seemed off and laboured, I wanted to give Tenet a chance. I think ‘self serious’ and providential but without the flesh in the bones sums up Tenet like a slightly better version of a Zack Snyder film. It’s confusing rather than clever, unclear rather than surprising, silly but not entertaining. Christopher needs to move on from his time obsession. There are other stories to tell and the clocks ticking etc.
This movie has atrocious audio issues. If I can't hear the dialogue then your movie is bad. Period.
Tenet was obviously an incredible piece of filmmaking, and had an interesting concept, but it lacked any humanity.
As a contrast, Parasite is a film about complex, nuanced characters with rich interpersonal relationships. When THINGS happen to them I care because I care about the characters.
Tenet contains no characters, only silhouettes. I can't tell you one single thing about 'The Protagonist' or Neil. Nothing - they have no wants or needs, or motivations. Kat and her husband are slightly more fleshed out, but not much. So when THINGS happened to them I didn't care about the outcome and for me it lacked tension.
I wanted to love it, but I couldn't ground myself emotionally in the story. I think I will enjoy it more on a second viewing, but only because my expectations are now very different - it's a rollercoaster ride and should be enjoyed as such.
I did like it a lot. It was great cinema experience but it really is very confusing, incomprehensible to hear the dialouge because of the audio and it leaves so many questions but the music was amazing and I loved a lot of the cast especially Pattinson. Goddamn he was good. Gotta give appreciation to JDW for bringing a good deal of charm and prescence to a role that doesn't have much background or detail,thought he did great.
Standouts overall were some of the action sequences, the last 45 mins giving me so much anxiety, the visuals, score, JDW and Rob's chemistry and Rob's performance.
Was OK, 5/10 for me, suffers from the recurring Nolan issue of not being able to hear 25% of the dialogue ....
On one hand I found Tenet to be ridiculously ambitious, bonkers, exciting, totally unique and a true theatre experience.
On the other hand I found it
somewhat cold, emotionally unengaging and overly complicated.
Even as someone who usually relishes in complex narratives this was often overwhelming which I personally felt affected my connection to film.
But I think that divisive nature of the film is exactly what we needed to kick up a storm and get people going back to the cinema.
The sound mixing lead to me missing so much of the whispered stale dialogue. I was just sitting there agitated I wasn't able to follow the story. Nolan's strength usually is storytelling. To me all the cool sequences were for sure amazing, but to me didn't have any meaning so naturally fell flat.
It's a film about a woman trying to kill her husband.
I'm the opposite. I've connected with Nolan's movies from Following all the way up to Interstellar. Dunkirk I just did not get. (Technically speaking)
Just got back from this. Not impressed.
Some good set pieces but unnecessarily complicated and only made more difficult to follow because of Nolan's insistence on having characters deliver vital information behind masks or drowned out by ambient sound.
For the last 20 minutes or so I had only the vaguest idea of what they were trying to do and why, and that was quite boring.
Disappointed.
I wondered if this film might have been saved had the climax merely related to Debicki confronting her husband, rather than all the dull explosions in the desert.
Reviewers 2010: Inception is so confusing, I am not able to follow it.
Reviewers 2012: Inception is one of the most entertaining and engaging movie of all times.
Reviewers 2012: I can't hear a word Bane speaks in The dark knight rises.
Reviewers 2014: Bane has become one of the most Iconic characters in DC franchise.
Reviewers 2014: I can't hear a think with that loud music in Interstellar.
Reviewers 2016: Interstellar is one of the movie which had the best scores.
Reviewers 2017: Dunkirk has so many underdeveloped characters, I am not connected.
Reviewers 2020: Dunkirk is one of the best War suspense movie of all time.
Reviewers 2020: Tenet-All the above.
Reviewers 2022: Tenet is a Masterpiece.
Tenet is a movie that will dramatically improve upon repeat viewings WITH subtitles. It’s a supremely unique film that will not (perhaps cannot) be fully appreciated after one viewing.
Loved the action and set pieces. But I only understood about 75% of the inversion/time travel stuff. The 3 leads were excellent together. And off course Sir Kenneth Branagh is always great & a real nice 1 scene cameo by Sir Michael Caine. All in all not one of Nolan's best works but still a really enjoyable time in the cinema. I can't wait to see what he dreams up next.
Fascinated to see so many comments about the sound mixing in respect of the booming soundtrack and muffled dialogue.
After watching it last week in a Showcase XPlus Atmos cinema, I was so annoyed with the sound that I gave some lengthy feedback to the cinema manager, who was polite, appreciative of the comments and sufficiently moved to give me a complementary ticket for my pains. He mentioned that the director had not actually released an Atmos cut of the film, so despite the marketing, it doesn't actually draw on the tech available these days. Now it seems that it was just the poor work on the film itself and not a rogue projectionist turning the volume up to 11 and fiddling with the EQ deck.
Frankly, I felt that Mr Nolan hired a cack-handed novice to mix the sound and never bothered to audition the final mix for distribution. No excuse for someone with his experience and track record.
Tenet made me feel NOTHING.
I really liked the film especially John David Washington and Robert Pattinson, I just felt some of the sounds were quite overpowering at some points to the point where I was hoping there was a quiet, just talking moments between characters. I'd still watch it again though.
Clarisse Loughrey's accent is amazing: it weaves and bobs from English-Londoner to a hint of Scottish to a hint of American, to a hint of New Zealand.
Could barely hear them talk with all the booming music. Working in a cinema, we've seen a few complaint about that already.
I am going to see it again. Just not in the cinema. The sound mix and volume combined was absolutely excruciating.
Nolan deliberately took liberties with the theory surrounding time inversion/travel in order to make the plot somewhat viable.
It's a good film but it leaves so many questions and loose ends that it's almost as if it's setting up a sequel even though there most definitely won't be one.
Still waiting for Nolan to step outside his comfort zone and do a rom-com
It was pretty good, feel like I need to see it a second time as the dialogue audio seems quite quiet and it's hard to pay attention to it.
I like the quote he would be a good Bond, that's true he should be in contention now. Robert Pattinson and Kenneth Branagh were good as well.
Be interesting to hear Mark review it.
I didn't think I could disagree with someone's opinion for 8 minutes straight
Great review. Saved me the price of a ticket for Tenet. If it inspires someone to spout that much gibberish, it's definitely missable.
I honestly just thought this was a bad film, there are too many basic issues in the production of this film, namely the sound mixing, which just take away from the execution of the film
Its ok Clarisse. I prefer Burton's Batman more than Nolan's trilogy but still, I admire his films. Although I hate The Dark Knight Rises, I'll take Batman & Robin instead. At least it has fun sets and it's fast-paced even though it is embarrassing.
Prestige is 'effin brilliant. Memento is also great.
So many bandwagon comments about the sound and not hearing lines... the sound mixing was not dreadful, I felt it blended well but must admit a couple of occasions I had to try and repeat to myself a couple of lines. Overall this was an excellent movie. The soundtrack was phenomenal and the performances were excellent. The action was sublime. My only frustration was that I didn’t particularly connect with any characters or experience any of their emotional journeys.
Didn’t like it . It’s decent but like a lot of Nolan’s work just left me cold
Slightly bizarre that she views a selfless mother concerned about her son as sexist. All parents should be selfless.
the more i think about it the worse this movie gets for me, it is either too smart for me or too smart for its own good
I hadn't thought about it, but drawing the comparison to bond, is really interesting. Thinking about it now, it was incredibly bond-esque in fashion. I think I just saw what Nolan would do if he directed a bond film.
Next up--Polanski's "The Tenet."
With the exception of The Prestige and possibly Memento, I really, really dislike Christopher Nolan films and cannot connect with any of them. They feel very contrived on all levels, consistently fail to suspend disbelief and put me in a strange state of both irritation and tedium. Meanwhile, everyone else seems to inexplicably love them. I really have given him more than a fair go too - every time he has a film out, I always get persuaded to go and see it by people raving about how good it is - but I have to stand firm this time. Dunkirk was perhaps the worst one I sat all the way through, but I did leave about two thirds into Interstellar, which started okayish but suddenly became preposterous. The trailer and the review suggests I'd have been in for more of the same...
I’ve been thinking about how to approach this review on Tenet without giving the impression of bashing the movie or hating on it. Cause I did like this movie but I certainly have a lot to say. Let’s start with this, I was like everyone else with Tenet. I was super excited, who wouldn’t be! Christopher Nolan directing, big budget summer blockbuster, with a complex plot, awesome trailer and a great cast! I’ve been waiting for this movie for a long time and as soon as I found a showtime for my city I decided I had to go. So I saw Tenet and I have to say, this is a Christopher Nolan movie. It has his style of direction all over it. The complex and dense plot, big action spectacles and a long runtime. Will people like it, most likely unfortunate for me not so much. What really bothered me about this movie was the plot and how Nolan told this story. It didn’t feel cohesive or even understandable really but rather very confusing, rushed and the outcome of it all made me question what was the purpose of all that just happened. Even some of the plot points of this movie that kinda make sense doesn’t actually do. Like I didn’t really know much about the villain or his goals and there wasn’t enough character development to him other than a cliche evil plan, him being just a jerk but the actor who portrays him did a good job. The acting of this character gave an impression of unintentionally being funny and entertaining. But a lot of this movie felt like it was trying to be an extravaganza of action scenes, set pieces and dazzling spectacles. Luckily It does accomplish that though, a lot of the times. The action is really well done and does a lot of the spectacles. I just wish that the movie presented a more compelling story, because it felt as though it was kinda trying too. The story, plotting and even sometimes the screenplay felt so jumbled throughout the entire runtime. It tries to be so intellectual and complex but at the end it didn’t succeed at it. Overall Tenet wasn’t as great as I hoped for but, big and sometimes fun action scenes, good acting, sound design, and the look of the movie are all positives for Tenet. Maybe I just wasn’t smart enough to appreciate all this movie had to offer and that’s unfortunate, but I did have some fun with Tenet and think most people will enjoy it.
Saw it last night! Still don't get it!
I find Nolan's not great at showing you plot points. Instead characters mumble them.
Still really respect what he does though.
Score was amazing btw.
Dunkirk and Tenet are two of his worst films, imho. They are dull and frenetic at the same time, which is some feat.
I agree with this review - I enjoyed the film and was engaged throughout. I didn’t find that not understanding everything that was going on detracted from my enjoyment in any way. I too just went with the flow of it and didn’t get too hung up on the bits I didn’t understand.
I should have obeyed the Basil Exposition lady at the beginning who says 'don't try to understand it, feel it.'
Surprised it reminded me more of le Carre than Bond, what with the paranoia and stale beer statecraft. Could have done with more breathing space, especially in the first 30! Check out my review for more of my thoughts.
This movie proved to me that Robert Pattinson needs to play James Bond!
I wasn't fussed on this movie, I think teenagers would enjoy it. The dialogue was weak with some of the acting also being weak. The whole movie just seemed rushed and none of the characters had any bond together on screen, also no backstory for any character plus the meaning of the story was just lame. This is the 1st Nolan film which didn't grip me at all. Only good scenes was John David's fighting scenes and that's it.
Funny how she has an issue with the elizabeth debicki character when she is really the only one who the audience can relate with. She's basically the heart and soul of the movie, whilst all the male characters are just running around blowing stuff up. You couldn't get a more 2D lead than Washington's character, I mean he has zero backstory, a stereotypical James Bond persona and is literally only referred to as 'The Protagonist'. But I guess if your out looking for sexism then you're bound to find it in some obscure place...
Clarisse agrees with me that the expository dialogue is deliberately obscured by background noise etc. to purposely confuse the audience! YESSS! Now I feel super smart for coming to the same conclusion. :-P
Great review although I don't agree with it. I'm in the "it was technically clever but emotionally soulless" camp. But I loved Clarisse's review. Where can we see/hear/read more?
Also I loved every cast member in this film. Kenneth Branagh especially I loved how OTT he was
Tenet not Tenent
I think Nolan mistakes inordinate complexity for intelligence.
‘I have personally not connected with one of his films until Dunkirk and Tenet’
Which is exactly why I need Mark’s view on this film. Seeing the parallels between this and Inception, which Mark and I loved.
"Guaranteed second viewing" you're not alone in this conspiracy theory
Yes the visuals were stunning and concept is interesting but even if i dismiss the ridiculously poor dialogue and at times actors diction, the protagonist has zero charisma and i cant understand that casting. Pattison & Branagh were excellent as always. Im a Nolan fan but I wont be in a rush to see this again.
One could make the same case about the near completely expository dialogue being made purposely hard (I don't know if this is the case) to understand as a good thing for any director who employs shaky camera movement such that their action sequences are rendered incoherent - it would still be a bad case, but you could make it.
This movie was LOOOOOOUUUUDDDDD!!!!
Fun ride and top drawer cast, but the plot is utterly baffling! I really need to re-watch it with subtitles...
Was I the only one confused by the mentions of Elizabeth Debicki's cat?
Thats her characters name could you really not follow that
Couldn't understand what the characters were saying a lot of the time, didn't really understand the plot.
But I absolutely loved it.
For me Nolan treats the audience with contempt in Tenet.
Somehow in a film knee deep in exposition he managed to not really articulate and explain what the hell was going on. Found the tone and dialogue (that which was audible) to come across as both pretentious and forced. Character development was abysmal. Kenneth Branagh’s villain is a lazy by the numbers ‘Russian bad guy’.
In terms of Visuals/Score and Acting none of these areas can be faulted however these aspects alone do not a good film make.
There’s a good concept in there for a story but it’s buried in this sloppy mess of a film.
To walk out of this film without any comment on the horrendous editing, bad sound mix and overly loud booming audio is quite surprising. Also, can we also bring up the fact that John David Washington is so incredibly bland in this part? He looks like he's putting so much effort into looking "cold" and "callous" that he just comes across as "weak" and "uninterested". Pity this film wasn't made a while back so his Dad could have done a better job.
Just seen it. A confusing mess, the music is SO loud, spent a lot of the time with my fingers in my ears, and left with a banging headache.
It’s loud, long and laborious. Too convoluted for its own good. Nolan has more in common with Michael Bay than he does with Kubrick. Also a fight in reverse looks goofy as hell
There was a bit in Tenet where they’re in Estonia and I realised, due to the palindromic mechanics of the film, that we were only halfway through the story, which meant I’d have to watch the same amount of film before it actually ended and my god, that was a unpleasant feeling.
There’s also a part where one of the characters literally says “but you don’t need to worry about that” in relation to the science and plot, and I feel like that was just Chris Nolan talking to the audience.
It’s absolute tosh.
I felt like I had homework to do after watching this film to try and understand it!
Tenet is essentially “Exposition The Movie (for lip readers)” with Kenneth Branagh reprising his Viktor Cherevin from Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.
I never liked Nolan's Movies (The Prestige wasn't bad), i just don't see what's supposed to be so special about them. but haven't seen Dunkirk yet. Maybe i should give it a try...
I feel like Nolan really wants to make a sequel to this film.
Really enjoy Clarisse’s reviews. Funny and interesting
Dunkirk is a great movie, my second favourite Nolan after The Prestige. I think what helps both movies is that they have a grounding in reality, the with the added Nolan twist on that reality. It's when Nolan goes totally his own way that I think he needs reigning in a bit or at least somebody to advise on making a movie for a mass audience, and that's seems to be the case with Tenet.
Just tried to watch Inception again (was just on TV) and apart from a few great scenes it's largely boring incomprehensible nonsense.
Christopher Nolan is really starting to suffer from David Lean syndrome, with scale and spectacle being prioritised over character and story. I just found myself left cold by Tenet tbh - it all felt… empty.
It's subjective so she can't do anything about it, BUT she connected with the coldest of his films(Dunkirk) ? How the F does that work?
The music was brilliant but the mixdown or balance of that audio has been questioned
No second ticket from me and I will think long and hard before seeing his next movie! Back fired for me!
It just was not an enjoyable movie for me as it tipped too far into the realm of just confusing and messy plot
He peaked with Memento
The movie was staggeringly incoherent and dull. The only interesting point to Tenet is considering why so many think it praiseworthy. I'm assuming so-called fans really enjoyed the movie rather than just trying to appear intelligent or sophisticated??
Watching this because the Kermode review isn't up yet...meh.
Some lovely interlaced video here.
‘I know Robbie went into this whole incredible explanation... just.. things go back in this movie.’
Inspired critique. Inspired.
Nolan makes video game plotlines into movies
It's too fast and too complicated, and this is from the most ardent Nolan fan. Must say I almost insta-clicked off when this lady said she hadn't connected with any of Nolan's films until the last two. Whilst I enjoyed the last two, they are his weakest imo. The Prestige and Inception are untouchable.
The son is the most important person the in movie coz he creates tenet and tries to communicate with his pops in the future like the Flashpoint movie Varry gives Bats a letter from his father from the past.
My conspiracy theory is Christopher Nolan only has those muffled expositional scenes in there for the studio heads and actually he doesn't want barely any dialogue in his film. He wants it to be almost purely cinematically experential and experimental but still get a $200 mill budget and a massive audience. Its either that or he just doesn't know how to mix sound lmao