First Take: Tenet- inversion is a crazy concept

Spoiler free as usual. Because America.

SYNOPSIS: Armed with only one word, Tenet, and fighting for the survival of the entire world, a Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time.

Well, here we go then. It is a long awaited film, delayed three times, pushed back for our American friends, but it is finally here. The Vue cinema in Preston welcomed me back this afternoon, elbow bumps and all, to review Nolan’s latest, and while it is good as expected, there are elements that feel a little too bold for the first properly big studio movie since the shutdown.

Nolan writes and directs this one well, with the script using a lot of science fiction related elements (to reveal the specifics would ruin parts of the film), but all is not as it seems in this 2 and a half hour epic. It does get confusing, more so than Inception, but if you bring your thinking caps, you can understand the nature of what we have here - the topic of ‘inversion’ - and that’s the main issue of this film. Nobody will really get it unless they know Nolan’s style of filmmaking. On cinematography duties once again is Hoyte van Hoytema, who nails it, and for the first time since The Prestige, Nolan has enlisted a new composer. As Mr Zimmer works on Dune, Ludwig Goransson is on scoring duties, and while it is a different style of music for any Nolan film, it just about does the job.

Now, the performances. One of the staples of a Christopher Nolan movie. And as usual, they are brilliant. You have John David Washington doing his father proud, and continuing his stellar run of work that a lot of audiences were introduced to in BlackKkKlansman two years ago, you have Robert Pattinson proving his worth as a great actor ahead of his run as Batman next year, you have Kenneth Branagh being Kenneth Branagh, and you have an incredible supporting cast that includes Elizabeth Debicki, Himesh Patel, Dimple Kapadia, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Clemence Poesy and of course, Sir Michael Caine. It’s a great film, but seriously, avoid the soft drinks and go for a cup of tea- it’s one of those kinds of big screen experiences.

THE VERDICT

Two and a half hours of pure sensory overload is what audiences wanted to return to cinema, and Nolan delivers it in bucketloads- people who seen the Prologue back in December will know what to expect. But for the casual cinemagoer, is this Nolan’s greatest? Not quite, Inception still holds that honour. But Tenet is the word - and the film - that will safely and proudly say to the world this simple message: cinema is back.

RATING: 5/5