Tenet Review: 4 Ups & 6 Downs

Downs

6. It Fundamentally Doesn't Work On First Viewing

Almost like a middle finger to casual audiences or the basics of filmmaking like narrative investment, character grounding or plot motivation, you're not given anything close to a reason to care about what's going down until well over the two hour mark.

Even then, we're talking lines of dialogue alluding to events and threats that are unquantifiable, rather than anything tangible.

Honestly, you have but the barest of access points to get invested.

Information comes thick and fast, with a mix of exposition-machines telling you not to care, while a main cast never gets fleshed out. I'll dive into character specifics in another point, as it's this brazen choice to force you into suspending disbelief so much, that eventually reaches a breaking point.

At some point in a 2.5 hour film, you need to know what's going on; need to recognise stakes and care about how situations may or may not unfold.

Retrospectively being given information you needed from the beginning can fill something out, but it actively cements that first-viewing experience as utterly confusing and simply annoying.