Tenet has received mostly positive reviews. (Photo: Warner Bros)The reviews of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet have started trickling in. Tenet has been delayed multiple times and the movie still does not have a confirmed India release date.
Dubbed an espionage thriller, Tenet will be Nolan’s first movie since 2017’s war epic Dunkirk. John David Washington leads the cast, while Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, Michael Caine, and Kenneth Branagh play supporting roles.
Variety’s Guy Lodge wrote in his review, “The sheer meticulousness of Nolan’s grand-canvas action aesthetic is enthralling, as if to compensate for the stray loose threads and teasing paradoxes of his screenplay — or perhaps simply to underline that they don’t matter all that much. “Tenet” is no holy grail, but for all its stern, solemn posing, it’s dizzy, expensive, bang-up entertainment of both the old and new school. Right now, as it belatedly crashes a dormant global release calendar, it seems something of a time inversion in itself.”
The New York Times’ Jessica Kiang’s impression was more mixed. She noted, “Indeed, take away the time-bending gimmick, and “Tenet” is a series of timidly generic set pieces: heists, car chases, bomb disposals, more heists. But then, the lie of Nolan’s career has been that he makes the traditionally teenage-boy-aimed blockbuster smarter and more adult, when what he really does is ennoble the teenage boy fixations many of us adults still cherish, creating vast, sizzling conceptual landscapes in which all anyone really does is crack safes and blow stuff up.”
Digital Spy’s Ian Sandwell opined, “As mind-bending as the science is, it’s equally dizzying to think of the work that has gone into realising Tenet, especially when things get increasingly timey-wimey. Solely in terms of technical aspects, it’s an incredible feat of filmmaking.”
The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey wrote in his review, “Tenet is a thrilling place to get lost in. “Don’t try to understand it. Feel it,” explains Laura (Clémence Poésy), who serves as one of the film’s exposition machines. The advice is directed as much to us as it is to the film’s hero. But while the appeal of Nolan’s films usually comes from watching all the pieces fall neatly into place, the final picture bringing a sense of order to existence, the director has found himself increasingly drawn towards chaos.”