Tenet Reviews Hail Nolan's Latest as a Thrilling Spectacle Despite Being Cold, Confusing

Reviews have flooded in for Christopher Nolan's Tenet, which was released in many territories outside the U.S. on August 26 (and is slated to land stateside on September 3). Critics have praised the film, which currently holds an 80% on Rotten Tomatoes, as an exciting, but confusing, spy thriller, with our own review touting the project as "a thrilling addition to the Nolan canon, but is slightly held back by a sense of over-familiarity."

Tenet is a thrilling addition to the Christopher Nolan canon, but is slightly held back by a sense of over-familiarity.

Our review: https://t.co/HcVBYqQsb5 pic.twitter.com/tCBTLM80vO — IGN (@IGN) August 21, 2020

After ruminating on the major themes and ideas of Tenet for over a decade, Nolan spent five-years crafting the script. Did the endeavor pay off, or is the finished project to much of a thinker to resonate with a mass crowd? Variety's Guy Lodge hails Tenet as being a “big, brashly beautiful, grandiosely enjoyable” movie. Though Tenet is no "Holy Grail," Lodge says 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’ Review: Christopher Nolan’s Grandly Entertaining, Time-Slipping Spectacle Is a Futuristic Throwback https://t.co/q6cLARQimT

— Variety (@Variety) August 21, 2020

Tenet stars John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Michael Cain, and Kenneth Branagh in an time-bending espionage adventure film that, while captivating most critics, is leaving some cold. The Guardian's Catherine Shoard says the flick is a "pandemic dud" and that she's not even sure "in five years’ time, it’d be worth staying up to catch on telly."

Tenet review: Christopher Nolan's thriller is a palindromic dud https://t.co/O40xYfmiw7

— Guardian culture (@guardianculture) August 21, 2020

If critics do agree on one thing however, it's that Tenet's plot isn't the easiest to follow. The Independent's Clarisse Loughrey says Tenet is Nolan's most confusing film, but that it's also a "rare action film where the characters don’t just say the world will end if they fail in their mission - you feel it, too."

Tenet is Christopher Nolan's most confusing film, but the most thrilling to get lost in – review https://t.co/tGkJkMlrYL

— The Independent (@Independent) August 23, 2020

Meanwhile, GameSpot called the film a "mind-melting stunner" while THR said the movie was "rich in audacity and originality, but almost impossible to love, lacking as it is in a certain humanity."

Tenet is a mind-melting stunner.

Here's our review: https://t.co/oDNOFqNHjm pic.twitter.com/wjMt0M0BML — GameSpot (@GameSpot) August 21, 2020

In #Tenet, writer-director Christopher Nolan sends star John David Washington moving back and forth in every dimension in this sci-fi thriller costarring Robert Pattinson and Elizabeth Debicki. Read THR's review here: https://t.co/MiehbwjSs3 pic.twitter.com/k9VWGLdaEn

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) August 23, 2020

The New York Times' Jessica Kiang noted that the film was “undeniably enjoyable, but its giddy grandiosity only serves to highlight the brittleness of its purported braininess.”

Christopher Nolan's "Tenet" will be released outside the U.S. next week, and our review is in. We won't spoil the plot, partly because it's so convoluted. https://t.co/maaCoVCrip

— New York Times Arts (@nytimesarts) August 21, 2020

Both The Telegraph and Total Film both loved Tenet, calling out the movie's "heart-stopping grandeur" and saying "one viewing just won't be enough."

"Christopher Nolan's time-bending action spectacular is the perfect film to get us back in cinemas – one viewing just won't be enough," writes @robbiereviews.

'Tenet' review: https://t.co/xR8QE9pwHL — The Telegraph (@Telegraph) August 21, 2020

"A monumental big-screen spectacle, Tenet is a film that perfectly exemplifies what makes the cinema experience – in all its heart-stopping grandeur – quite so special." Read @JordanFarley's review https://t.co/NrQs0ymyY9 pic.twitter.com/Pqgco3qCyx

— Total Film (@totalfilm) August 21, 2020

Empire's Alex Godfrey writes that Tenet "proves Nolan’s undying commitment to big-screen thrills and spills."

“It has its cake, eats it, then goes back in time and eats it again.” Read the official Empire review of Christopher Nolan’s #Tenet. https://t.co/ulLb1BQF1h pic.twitter.com/2Yp1XIxuwu

— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) August 21, 2020

Check out IGN's Tenet review here... [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/08/21/tenet-review"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

from IGN News https://ift.tt/2YoErOv
via IFTTT