*** TENET *** (SPOILER THREAD)

21,943 Views | 230 Replies | Last: 1 mo ago by TCTTS
TCTTS
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AG
I likely won't get to see this for weeks, but that's exactly why I'm starting this thread - so the other thread can be delegated to non-spoiler reactions only, for those of us left in the dust, as the first public domestic showings begin tonight (and theaters are still closed here in California). Wish I could be in here with you guys, but alas, Covid has other plans...
MonkeyKnifeFighter
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Fat Bib Fortuna
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Having watched the first 45 minutes or so thanks to our good friends at The Pirate Bay, I can honestly say that I am not smart enough to understand this movie and will need some sort of Pop-Up video version of it, or a "Tenet for Dummies" book to follow along while I watch.
hunter2012
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MuckRaker96 said:

Having watched the first 45 minutes or so thanks to our good friends at The Pirate Bay, I can honestly say that I am not smart enough to understand this movie and will need some sort of Pop-Up video version of it, or a "Tenet for Dummies" book to follow along while I watch.
Sounds like my kind of movie, I'll probably post tonight after i see it at 6...
scoop12
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This movie will take a few watches to understand everything. It is incredibly action packed and draws you in completely from the beginning, but confusing as hell. My favorite character was Pattinson (Neil). He did a great job.

Branagh is very intense and ruthless. Has no issues beating his wife and his first scene with Washington he threatens to choke him with his own genetalia.

As with many Nolan movies, it can be hard to hear the dialogue at times over the score, which only adds to the confusion. Wish I could watch it with captions.

I'm not sure if this will do well commercially because word of mouth might turn people off. It is that confusing.

Nolan sets this up for a sequel and/or a series at the end when you learn that Washington and Pattinson have been working together for years and Washington recruited him in the future.

Can't wait to watch it again to figure out what the heck happened, but it was definitely a unique experience.
Fat Bib Fortuna
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I liked it less than Inception, which I liked a lot less than the Batman movies and The Prestige. Overall, I really enjoyed Pattison and it really makes me excited to see him in The Batman. I'm sure he's had to dig deep to gt past the Vampire/Diggory box, so good for him for really being cool to watch on screen.

Kenneth Branagh has to be one the short list of most underrated actors of our time, at least in the US, I imagine he's giant in the UK.

The end twist I thought was not that hard to see coming given how much discussion of forwards and backwards there was. Branagh's motivation was tough for me to accept, but that's sort of my issue not the movie's. When you finally let us in on the big secret and it's not this mind-blowing thing for you personally, it makes the rest of the film not quite as power-packed as it could have been.

I never got tired of the action scenes, which did happen to be in Inception during the great ski chase extravaganza. There aren't a lot of movies that come along that really have you struggling to understand what your eyes are telling you - watching everyday things move in reverse and forwards at the same time is a challenge to the mind - at least my old one - I'd put the "newness" of the effects of Tenet on par with the way I felt after seeing the Matrix or Jurassic Park for the first time.

I liked the protgaonist because I've never seen that guy before and a new person in a huge role really makes it easy to believe in them. By the same token, when Michael Caine rolls up in a Nolan movie, it's pretty hard to believe in his character because he's in every Nolan movie. I loved him in Batman and in the Prestige and I love the loyalty factor but it stretches things a bit. Also it took me the entire movie to figure out that actress playing Barbara was Fleur Decour from the Harry Potter series. Two of the four Tri-Wizard Tournament champions in the same film! I kept hoping against hope that Victor Krum would come strolling in.

I'm sure many will tell me I need to see it on the big screen with all the high-def whatevers, but that's just not realistic for me at this point. The computer monitor with multiple pauses and rewatches still left me with a million questions. Like the previous poster said, I'm sure watching with the closed captions on would greatly have enhanced my ability to know WTF was going on in many circumstances. It was interesting, but I don't find myself ga-ga to watch it again; which is pretty much how I felt about inception; I don't think I've seen it since I saw in the movie theater. Regardless of my opinion, it's great to have new movies back in the theater.

scoop12
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Good take. Agreed, I liked it less than Inception. With Inception, you could follow the concept pretty quickly and just enjoy the action and world built around it. In this one, there's so much going on that you're trying to figure out, that I couldn't always focus on what was right in front of me. I was still processing things that had previously happened.

I was also really excited to see Pattinson's abilities as an action star and he didn't disappoint. Makes me that much more excited for Batman. There was a scene at the end where he was sprinting and he was a lot more naturally athletic than I expected.

I got confused several times when they would switch directions. Or maybe I just missed how/when it happened. For example, at the end on the yacht, when did Branagh and the wife start going forward in time again? Did I miss them getting into another turnstile to reverse? And how was Pattinson going backwards in the final sequence as part of the blue team. What did he use to reverse direction?
G Martin 87
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Saw it in IMAX. Visually amazing, but LOUD. Really needed captions too. It probably would have made a lot more sense if I had been able to understand more than a quarter of the dialogue. I actually look forward to watching it again with captions.
G Martin 87
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Pattinson used the turnstile in the cavern to switch temporal direction.

Where I need help is understanding how the deadman switch was going to cause the end of the world. I couldn't hear the explanation well at all. I assume that the reason has something to do with the assembled algorithm being buried in a known location, but I'm not sure.
YNWA_AG
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I loved it. I enjoyed the concept of the movie more than inception but I think inception was more well made. I wish the prologue of the movie at the opera was tied to the climax of the movie.

Nolan found a way to incorporate the indistinguishable bane mask sound throughout the entire movie. Well "it's not Estonian it's backwards"
FightinTexasAg15
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Just finished it. A little disappointed overall. It's probably my least favorite Nolan film this far. It's entertaining and it's not bad per-say, it just wasn't great. If you can watch it with subtitles - do that. There's some really cool concepts but none of them get fleshed out in meaningful ways

The bad: The sound mixing, the overall pacing of the movie and structure of the acts, Michael Cain's tiny role, lack of connection to the characters, some of the dialogue "Even my son!?"

The good: Robert Pattinson stole the show, the scenery and set pieces were great, action sequences were pretty good, the airport scene lived up to the hype

Overall I'd say 6 or 7 / 10
Cinco Ranch Aggie
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All I'll say is ... I'm going to need several more viewings to really get what I just saw. I went solo tonight, and told my wife that I was going to describe the movie as a James Bond time travel film. Don't know if that's really accurate, but it's the best I could come up with after just this one viewing.
scoop12
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Not then but before the operation even began. He was on the blue team going backwards in time. When did that whole team invert?
hunter2012
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So I'm going to need to see it a few more times to process...
G Martin 87
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Nolan himself describes Tenet as his James Bond movie.
hunter2012
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There is somewhat of a funny paradox, if they're trying to prevent the end of the world and the world hasn't stopped existing then that only means that they succeeded the mission and it's all rather anticlimactic. The mere fact there's a movie means the good guys win, as it's time travel that makes it the premise of the movie.
G Martin 87
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The prologue actually is tied to the ending. The agent who saved the Protagonist in the opera house had a red string on his backpack.
hunter2012
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if I have a gripe it's the audio, i missed alot of dialogue. I need to see it with subtitles.
hunter2012
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Good catch, i was wondering where that opening scene fit in.
G Martin 87
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hunter2012 said:

if I have a gripe it's the audio, i missed alot of dialogue. I need to see it with subtitles.
That's my only problem with it too. Most of the dialogue is unintelligible. And that's a big problem with a high-concept sci-fi movie like this.
YNWA_AG
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It's not Estonian it's backwards
G Martin 87
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YNWA_AG said:

It's not Estonian it's backwards
I loved that a lot of the filming occurred in Estonia. Coincidentally, I wore my Saku beer baseball cap to the showing tonight. Terviseks!


42799862
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FancyKetchup14
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AG
holy lord that movie turned my brain into mush. Loved it
Bunk Moreland
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Incredible. Tons to discuss. Probably need to wait until tomorrow. I need a stiff whiskey and a good night's sleep after that.
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Saxsoon
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Honestly the movie tracked very well for me and wasn't terribly difficult to follow outside of a few moments but it was nothing distracting. Actually at the end this reminded me Of Ethan Hawkes' Predestination which was honestly more convoluted.

Absolutely loved it and just how ambitious it was. Everything came tied together at the end
cp2011
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Agree with what seems to be the common sentiment: sound mixing made half the dialogue unintelligible, some of the lines were weak (specifically between Kat & husband), plot was advanced too quickly & without explanation (e.g., how did we get from on the yacht to separated in Tallinn with Protagonist & Neil on their own in a gunfight with Russians?).

The whole time I was watching all I could think was "Am I just too stupid to understand what's going on here?" Action scenes were awesome and it was great to get back to the movies again, but overall I think this is probably 7th place on my Nolan list
Bunk Moreland
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Same. I was surprised at how well I was able to follow along after the first 40 minutes or so. Once he let's us in the sandbox things began to make enough sense to process.

I'm sure on upcoming watches I'll fill in gaps or things I missed
Saxsoon
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It helps that I am a sucker for time travel movies (yes Chris, your film is a time travel film with a lot of the tropes). Predestination, primer, etc definitely helped me track.

The entire concept of the temporal pincer was so cool and that final battle with red and blue teams was inspired. And then having pattinsons character switching streams to save them but at the same time sacrificing himself. Incredible. Loved how they recruited each other and that the protagonist was planning and running an even bigger pincer from the future.

Do agree dialogue, especially Priya with the accent was rough at times. Weirdly once inversion got involved I tracked the film better
FancyKetchup14
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Kinda felt like a blend of Memento, Inception, and Interstellar.
AggieLumberjack
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I liked it but not near as much as Inception. Like others have said the lack of hearing dialogue was annoying. Maybe hearing the dialogue would expose plot holes so he covered it up. Took a lot of concentration to follow.
MonkeyKnifeFighter
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MonkeyKnifeFighter
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