Tenet NFometer

Christopher Nolan's time inverting spy film that follows a protagonist fighting for the survival of the entire world.
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Vader182 wrote:
September 4th, 2020, 5:41 pm
Ruth wrote:
September 4th, 2020, 5:37 pm
I think the emotional potential of this film is fumbled a lot by its 3rd act, or near ending, since I know some people missed a key thing that actually makes the film, well, more emotional
such as Neil having to die. the red tag is a giveaway, but the where/when/how of this is really messy and if you haven’t caught onto everything happening onscreen by the time his fate is revealed, it may confuse you further into not catching onto what is sure supposed to be one of the bigger emotional moments in the film
the film also makes it very easy to misread branagh’s character and that also doesn’t help
i didn't miss this but also
it's a payoff of their...banter? they aren't exactly butch and sundance.

tenet does a very odd thing where the movie is surrounded (suffocated?) by "negative space" around the story. Organizations, plots, characters, arcs, relationships, even ecological disasters are all.... orbiting off screen. you get the innuendo, the half-life, of all these ideas and resonances, without them ever manifesting in the actual narrative.

Neil and protagonist's relationship is part of that too. maybe it deepens on rewatches, who knows.

-Vader
yeah i think i even mentioned something like this back when i was initially talking about the film
the movie opens some interesting “could be” “might be” doors, but doesn’t actually go through them, so it’s like you can see the potential, but it’s also not really there, meaning ultimately not there at all?

similarly to sator - i guess i view him as an accurate representation of what toxic masculine abuse is to women, and he’s scary not because he’s trying to destroy the world, but also because of how his relationship with kat is presented. his motives for doing the things he does is not just a reflection because the script repeats the same line a few times but also the movie communicates a genuine similarity of the thought patterns male abusers go through. what i found to be a legitimately disturbing look into a possessive, narcissistic psyche of that man, others found to be a corny generic supervillain with abuse thrown on top bc it makes a villain extra bad. and what’s worse is that both takes could be equally right?

potential lies there, but it’s not very elaborated upon, so ultimately i’m left wondering if my thoughts are even correct or if i’m just projecting something that isn’t there
i still really really like this film, likely a lot more than other people, and more than my own words may reveal, and i love a lot of the things it did, but i just wish it did some of the other things more

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9/10 first time. Great to see it in IMAX and look forward to seeing it again soon.

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Put me down for an 8/10. It's a bit of let down after Dunkirk which is like top 3 Nolan for me. There's part of me that thinks this is Nolan being self aware and trolling audiences
I mean the part of the plane crash where they throw all of the gold bricks on the ground feels kind of like an allegory for how Nolan goes all in with these budgets. He's crashing this jet because he can, he's throwing all the fake gold bricks on the ground because he can. It's like the joker setting money on fire.
These action scenes really are amazing but its not what i've come to expect from Nolan as far as emotional weight and philosophical themes go. I mean The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar are every bit as messy as this movie (imo), but here there just isnt as much to latch onto emotionally.

All that being said i'm itching to see it again asap.

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Ruth wrote:
September 4th, 2020, 5:59 pm
Vader182 wrote:
September 4th, 2020, 5:41 pm
Ruth wrote:
September 4th, 2020, 5:37 pm
I think the emotional potential of this film is fumbled a lot by its 3rd act, or near ending, since I know some people missed a key thing that actually makes the film, well, more emotional
such as Neil having to die. the red tag is a giveaway, but the where/when/how of this is really messy and if you haven’t caught onto everything happening onscreen by the time his fate is revealed, it may confuse you further into not catching onto what is sure supposed to be one of the bigger emotional moments in the film
the film also makes it very easy to misread branagh’s character and that also doesn’t help
i didn't miss this but also
it's a payoff of their...banter? they aren't exactly butch and sundance.

tenet does a very odd thing where the movie is surrounded (suffocated?) by "negative space" around the story. Organizations, plots, characters, arcs, relationships, even ecological disasters are all.... orbiting off screen. you get the innuendo, the half-life, of all these ideas and resonances, without them ever manifesting in the actual narrative.

Neil and protagonist's relationship is part of that too. maybe it deepens on rewatches, who knows.

-Vader
yeah i think i even mentioned something like this back when i was initially talking about the film
the movie opens some interesting “could be” “might be” doors, but doesn’t actually go through them, so it’s like you can see the potential, but it’s also not really there, meaning ultimately not there at all?

similarly to sator - i guess i view him as an accurate representation of what toxic masculine abuse is to women, and he’s scary not because he’s trying to destroy the world, but also because of how his relationship with kat is presented. his motives for doing the things he does is not just a reflection because the script repeats the same line a few times but also the movie communicates a genuine similarity of the thought patterns male abusers go through. what i found to be a legitimately disturbing look into a possessive, narcissistic psyche of that man, others found to be a corny generic supervillain with abuse thrown on top bc it makes a villain extra bad. and what’s worse is that both takes could be equally right?

potential lies there, but it’s not very elaborated upon, so ultimately i’m left wondering if my thoughts are even correct or if i’m just projecting something that isn’t there
i still really really like this film, likely a lot more than other people, and more than my own words may reveal, and i love a lot of the things it did, but i just wish it did some of the other things more
I think you're not stretching at all.
I think indeed Branagh is all about toxic masculinity. Just hear how he screams when he beats up Kat, like he is some kind of champion for doing that, like he's proving his virility or some shit. It reminds me of Will Ferrell in the SNL sketch Evil Boss screaming "I'm a strong man!".
I have only watched the film twice, but I don't think I'll get tired of watching Branagh's performance (which is good because otherwise, the middle part in Italy kind of drags ?). To me he's like Gert Fröbe in Goldfinger more than any other Bond vilain, he underplays the horror of the character and suddenly let it burst.

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I'd give the film a 9/10.

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9/10 for me.

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8/10.

Overall solid, tight script with a cool concept and great action/shots. However, the characters here are flat and kept at a distance in a way people wrongfully accuse the characters in Dunkirk of being.

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Ruth wrote:
September 4th, 2020, 5:59 pm
Vader182 wrote:
September 4th, 2020, 5:41 pm
Ruth wrote:
September 4th, 2020, 5:37 pm
I think the emotional potential of this film is fumbled a lot by its 3rd act, or near ending, since I know some people missed a key thing that actually makes the film, well, more emotional
such as Neil having to die. the red tag is a giveaway, but the where/when/how of this is really messy and if you haven’t caught onto everything happening onscreen by the time his fate is revealed, it may confuse you further into not catching onto what is sure supposed to be one of the bigger emotional moments in the film
the film also makes it very easy to misread branagh’s character and that also doesn’t help
i didn't miss this but also
it's a payoff of their...banter? they aren't exactly butch and sundance.

tenet does a very odd thing where the movie is surrounded (suffocated?) by "negative space" around the story. Organizations, plots, characters, arcs, relationships, even ecological disasters are all.... orbiting off screen. you get the innuendo, the half-life, of all these ideas and resonances, without them ever manifesting in the actual narrative.

Neil and protagonist's relationship is part of that too. maybe it deepens on rewatches, who knows.

-Vader
yeah i think i even mentioned something like this back when i was initially talking about the film
the movie opens some interesting “could be” “might be” doors, but doesn’t actually go through them, so it’s like you can see the potential, but it’s also not really there, meaning ultimately not there at all?

similarly to sator - i guess i view him as an accurate representation of what toxic masculine abuse is to women, and he’s scary not because he’s trying to destroy the world, but also because of how his relationship with kat is presented. his motives for doing the things he does is not just a reflection because the script repeats the same line a few times but also the movie communicates a genuine similarity of the thought patterns male abusers go through. what i found to be a legitimately disturbing look into a possessive, narcissistic psyche of that man, others found to be a corny generic supervillain with abuse thrown on top bc it makes a villain extra bad. and what’s worse is that both takes could be equally right?

potential lies there, but it’s not very elaborated upon, so ultimately i’m left wondering if my thoughts are even correct or if i’m just projecting something that isn’t there
i still really really like this film, likely a lot more than other people, and more than my own words may reveal, and i love a lot of the things it did, but i just wish it did some of the other things more
I'm totally with you on Sator.

I felt also felt like he is much more interesting of a villain than what we get at face value.
Him being an abuser and his state of mind really holds the whole idea of destroying the world together on a much more personal level. That's why I found Kat's development to be the film's strongest emotional connection (followed by Neil but that only hits you after you watch the film and start analyzing it). Probably it's more personal for me since my wife used to be in a relationship with an abuser and Sator is exactly what I heard a person like that is. I found it scary that some people online believe that Kat would have been happy if she hadn't falsely accused her husband of cheating. Her overcoming the masculine toxicity is to me a very strong arc.

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Updated

I had to cancel my screening today. Unfortunately I'm not sure when I'll be able to see the film. It might be another 2-3 weeks at the earliest.

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ChristNolan wrote:
September 5th, 2020, 4:18 pm
Updated

I had to cancel my screening today. Unfortunately I'm not sure when I'll be able to see the film. It might be another 2-3 weeks at the earliest.
everything okay dude?


-Vader

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