Action-Adventure TENET

[TheVileOne]

It was a release that Nolan pushed for.

Yeah and I don't think he's blameless here.

 

[Web-Head]

Looks like theaters in New York outside of NYC can reopen starting next Friday. Maybe this will give them a boost

Not all of them. Only one's who fit a certain criteria.

 

[TheVileOne]

Even if theaters reopen they can't open at full capacity, and plenty of people won't even go.

 

[OutOfBoose]

I think this release helped theaters to stay afloat.

 

[Chesterfield]

It's not a terrible film but It's surprisingly forgettable. Pandemic or not this film would have been overshadowed by other releases orihinally scheduled to be released in theatres/cinemas this year.

 

[weezerspider]

I think this release helped theaters to stay afloat.

Well, I can say for the two companies I have stock in, it’s been the opposite. We were being given a lot more leeway on rent when the industry was shut down. Both companies opened specifically for Tenet and we’ve been burning money since and because we’re open for business, we aren’t getting any leeway or help from the landlords.

Here’s an article discussing some of this:
Tenet May Not Be Flopping, But Its Performance Is Hurting Theaters That Reopened For It - LRM

 

[Evil Twin]

I think this release helped theaters to stay afloat.

WW84 or Black Widow would have helped more.

 

[Stringer]

It's not a terrible film but It's surprisingly forgettable. Pandemic or not this film would have been overshadowed by other releases orihinally scheduled to be released in theatres/cinemas this year.

Can't say I agree with this. Fast and Furious? Black Widow? Mulan? Which one of these movies would have been a higher quality summer release?

 

[Chesterfield]

Can't say I agree with this. Fast and Furious? Black Widow? Mulan? Which one of these movies would have been a higher quality summer release?

I'm not focusing so much on quality but overall general entertainment that would have people coming back to re-watch. A Nolan film that isn't batman isn't out-grossing Fast and Furious and definitely not Black Widow. That being said, the "Quality" of TENET was riddled with enough problems of its own.

 

[Stringer]

I'm not focusing so much on quality but overall general entertainment that would have people coming back to re-watch. A Nolan film that isn't batman isn't out-grossing Fast and Furious and definitely not Black Widow. That being said, the "Quality" of TENET was riddled with enough problems of its own.

Oh for sure, it has many problems, but it's also not nearly as formulaic as the others. I imagine the discussion of TENET would have been much greater than the other releases which would have given it the legs that it's current tiny audience couldn't provide.

The more I think about it, it's difficult to say how things would have turned out even in ideal circumstances. Perception is just all out of whack in this new world.

 

[Drizzle]

WW84 or Black Widow would have helped more.

This. Either of those would still have done better numbers in a pandemic. I want to see Tenet but I'm perfectly content with waiting until it's on VOD in December. Like it or not, Tenet was never going to be the film to save the theater industry in the pandemic simply because it isn't a franchise film.

 

[Evil Twin]

Yeah, TENET, for better or worse, was never destined to be the four quadrant crowd-pleaser that would bring people back to theaters in the midst of a pandemic.

I think it's kind of hard for any film to be that, but maybe the idea of putting all your eggs in one basket was the problem. Perhaps three or four movies opening up such as Candyman, In the Heights, and Death on the Nile, where none had to make a half billion to turn a profit, would have been more sustainable and the quantity of releases would have created more chances for a breakout. Instead they went all or nothing.

 

[Blade Hoarder]

It's not a terrible film but It's surprisingly forgettable. Pandemic or not this film would have been overshadowed by other releases orihinally scheduled to be released in theatres/cinemas this year.

I think this movie would have a worse tomato meter if not for the pandemic. A lot of reviews reek of “this movie is okay but at least I could go out”.

 

[shauner111]

Disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll watch it again in a couple of months to try to get a better understanding of the plot but for this first watch...I could barely understand what the hell was happening. Which isn’t good when almost all of the dialogue is exposition. A lot of asking questions, answering, rinse and repeat. You don’t have a line in the movie like “don’t try to understand it, just feel it” and then proceed to constantly explain things. It’s like PTA’s Inherent Vice which says “ah just vibe with it man!” but so much of the dialogue are interactions specifically about a head-spinning case. Pick one. Maybe just pull a Fury Road and strip the dialogue down so we can enjoy the insane visuals? The car chases were nuts. But Tenet overstays its welcome in the final hour (third act was the weakest).

Pattinson and Washington are charming but all of the characters including them are cardboard cutouts. Debicki is another plot device Nolan’s rogues gallery of “female characters”.

Everyone has discussed sound mixing so I won’t touch that. But I will say that the score was another issue. This movie doesn’t allow time to breathe. It never catches its breath and that has to do with the action beats, the way it’s cut, the music, the mix, the loud villain.

By far Nolan’s most over indulgent movie and the one in his filmography that has the least amount of substance. And that’s what disappointed me the most. It’s like a more mathematical Mission Impossible or Bond but not in a good way. I fear that Chris is now just trying to confuse the audience for the sake of doing it. Tenet learns nothing from the simplicity of the Dunkirk experience (but even THAT had confusing time jumps that weren’t necessary IMO).

2.5/5 i hope my rating goes up upon rewatch.

 

[BatLobster]

I think some people may just falling out of love with Nolan's style a bit, which is totally fine btw.

Personally for me, this movie was like Inception on steroids and that's exactly what I dug about it. There was an emotional/thematic core to this film that deals with grapples with some pretty big human themes like all his work does, but it wasn't spoonfed like a lot of his other films. It's not a weighty film, it's definitely meant to be more of a popcorn movie but there's definitely some trippy existential stuff to chew on there if you can get past the icy, heady exterior. But as a viewing experience, it was a blast for me, even if at times it stretches the limits of what your brain can digest while watching a big, loud movie.

I thought the "don't try to understand it, feel it" applied pretty well to my experience. I engaged with the visuals, the action, the music, the concept of inversion, and stopped trying to hang on every line of dialogue, stopped hoping to catch everything-- just let myself have a visceral experience. Reading up on it and connecting dots in the weeks after seeing it helped give me a deeper appreciation of the film and I'm still looking forward to seeing it again.

I still can't put my finger on where this ranks in his filmography for me, but it'll be interesting to see how that plays out. It could go up or down for me, still too early to tell. It's certainly not for everyone, and that's cool. I can completely get not liking this film. But for me it had really been a full decade since I'd seen Nolan fully unleash a full-on, balls to the wall Nolan-y action film, and I was pretty satisfied to get just that with Tenet. It didn't disappoint me in that regard. And I do think the whole car chase sequence was *chef's kiss*. That's the stuff I go to the movies for.

 

[Neil McCauley]

I liked Kat tbh, alongside Murph and Catwoman and Natalie i'd say Nolan does have some good female characters.

 

[Airwings]

Do anyone think Warner Brothers are going to borrow some time-reversal special effects for The Flash and Flashpoint?
Like the Matrix influenced the action genre with its camera work (even Bond used that).

 

[OutOfBoose]

Maybe Nolan is falling out with quality storytelling? Nobody can say no to him these days and he just sinks deeper into his bad habits.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I think some people may just falling out of love with Nolan's style a bit, which is totally fine btw.

Personally for me, this movie was like Inception on steroids and that's exactly what I dug about it. There was an emotional/thematic core to this film that deals with grapples with some pretty big human themes like all his work does, but it wasn't spoonfed like a lot of his other films. It's not a weighty film, it's definitely meant to be more of a popcorn movie but there's definitely some trippy existential stuff to chew on there if you can get past the icy, heady exterior. But as a viewing experience, it was a blast for me, even if at times it stretches the limits of what your brain can digest while watching a big, loud movie.

I thought the "don't try to understand it, feel it" applied pretty well to my experience. I engaged with the visuals, the action, the music, the concept of inversion, and stopped trying to hang on every line of dialogue, stopped hoping to catch everything-- just let myself have a visceral experience. Reading up on it and connecting dots in the weeks after seeing it helped give me a deeper appreciation of the film and I'm still looking forward to seeing it again.

I still can't put my finger on where this ranks in his filmography for me, but it'll be interesting to see how that plays out. It could go up or down for me, still too early to tell. It's certainly not for everyone, and that's cool. I can completely get not liking this film. But for me it had really been a full decade since I'd seen Nolan fully unleash a full-on, balls to the wall Nolan-y action film, and I was pretty satisfied to get just that with Tenet. It didn't disappoint me in that regard. And I do think the whole car chase sequence was *chef's kiss*. That's the stuff I go to the movies for.

Agree a lot with this, Tenet was a wild ride for me and I can't wait to see it again just to catch the parts I missed first time. I think the movie will reward repeat viewings.

 

[Persona]

I don't think any film short of a surprise Avengers movie was going to do big numbers these days. No, Tenet isn't some ultimate crowd-pleaser--frankly, it's a cold mess of a movie, if still impressive in some ways--maybe Wonder Woman would have had a bit more legs and positive WOM (is anyone actually looking forward to Black Widow? Looks pretty dull to me and I don't understand why it wasn't Phase 2 or something), but I doubt WW84 would have made a whole lot more than what Tenet's doing.

 

[BatLobster]

To be completely honest, even if this had been a normal year, there honestly wasn't a ton I was really looking forward to this year in the blockbuster department. WW84 looks...fine. Black Widow, I couldn't be less excited about. There was Ghostbusters Afterlife and that's really about it for me. I'm not sure if any of them were enough to bring people back out en masse in the US.

And I also think the lack of a summer movie season took away from the potential "counter programming" aspect of Tenet. A fresh, original and unconventional blockbuster becomes that much more refreshing when it's placed in the midst of a CGI spectacle, IP-driven films, and it probably becomes that much more frustrating when it's the only big film people have braved out into the apocalypse to see.

2022 on the other hand, (prays to the movie gods that it's no later than that, and that cinemas survive) should be freaking LIT though.

Maybe Nolan is falling out with quality storytelling? Nobody can say no to him these days and he just sinks deeper into his bad habits.

It's just that I've been hearing people say this with each of his films for roughly the past 6-8 years. For me, while I certainly wouldn't call Tenet his best work, it fits quite nicely inside his body of work and probably could end up being one of his signature films alongside Memento and Inception. By signature I don't mean "best", but the most pure representation of how he conceives an abstract concept and then executes it cinematically in a way that is engaging and very intertwined with film genre.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I think some people may just falling out of love with Nolan's style a bit, which is totally fine btw.

Personally for me, this movie was like Inception on steroids and that's exactly what I dug about it. There was an emotional/thematic core to this film that deals with grapples with some pretty big human themes like all his work does, but it wasn't spoonfed like a lot of his other films. It's not a weighty film, it's definitely meant to be more of a popcorn movie but there's definitely some trippy existential stuff to chew on there if you can get past the icy, heady exterior. But as a viewing experience, it was a blast for me, even if at times it stretches the limits of what your brain can digest while watching a big, loud movie.

I thought the "don't try to understand it, feel it" applied pretty well to my experience. I engaged with the visuals, the action, the music, the concept of inversion, and stopped trying to hang on every line of dialogue, stopped hoping to catch everything-- just let myself have a visceral experience. Reading up on it and connecting dots in the weeks after seeing it helped give me a deeper appreciation of the film and I'm still looking forward to seeing it again.

I still can't put my finger on where this ranks in his filmography for me, but it'll be interesting to see how that plays out. It could go up or down for me, still too early to tell. It's certainly not for everyone, and that's cool. I can completely get not liking this film. But for me it had really been a full decade since I'd seen Nolan fully unleash a full-on, balls to the wall Nolan-y action film, and I was pretty satisfied to get just that with Tenet. It didn't disappoint me in that regard. And I do think the whole car chase sequence was *chef's kiss*. That's the stuff I go to the movies for.

Agree a lot with this, Tenet was a wild ride for me and I can't wait to see it again just to catch the parts I missed first time. I think the movie will reward repeat viewings.

I think some people may just falling out of love with Nolan's style a bit, which is totally fine btw.

Personally for me, this movie was like Inception on steroids and that's exactly what I dug about it. There was an emotional/thematic core to this film that deals with grapples with some pretty big human themes like all his work does, but it wasn't spoonfed like a lot of his other films. It's not a weighty film, it's definitely meant to be more of a popcorn movie but there's definitely some trippy existential stuff to chew on there if you can get past the icy, heady exterior. But as a viewing experience, it was a blast for me, even if at times it stretches the limits of what your brain can digest while watching a big, loud movie.

I thought the "don't try to understand it, feel it" applied pretty well to my experience. I engaged with the visuals, the action, the music, the concept of inversion, and stopped trying to hang on every line of dialogue, stopped hoping to catch everything-- just let myself have a visceral experience. Reading up on it and connecting dots in the weeks after seeing it helped give me a deeper appreciation of the film and I'm still looking forward to seeing it again.

I still can't put my finger on where this ranks in his filmography for me, but it'll be interesting to see how that plays out. It could go up or down for me, still too early to tell. It's certainly not for everyone, and that's cool. I can completely get not liking this film. But for me it had really been a full decade since I'd seen Nolan fully unleash a full-on, balls to the wall Nolan-y action film, and I was pretty satisfied to get just that with Tenet. It didn't disappoint me in that regard. And I do think the whole car chase sequence was *chef's kiss*. That's the stuff I go to the movies for.

I have to agree, while I was confused at parts, I absolutely loved this. This certainly would have been a different type of movie for this summer. And for me Nolan took what he learned making Inception and just went to town with it here.

I can't wait to watch this one again myself. And would love a Nolan directed sequel.

 

[Closerframe]

Finally watched this a couple weeks ago and I’ve concluded that this is not Nolan’s worst film—The Dark Knight Rises still holds that title. Will have to rewatch to really determine if I liked it as a film or strictly from a visual perspective.

 

[Detective Conan]

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I really don’t know what they expected.