Tenet 4K Review (Warner Bros)
Tenet is a 2020 science fiction thriller film written, produced, & directed by Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Memento, & Inception). It was produced by Emma Thomas (Justice League, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Man of Steel, The Dark Knight Trilogy, & Dunkirk). It was originally written in 2014. It was the first Hollywood tent-pole to open in theaters after the pandemic shutdown. The budget was $200 million & it grossed $361.4 million worldwide at the box office.
A CIA agent, the “Protagonist” (played by: John David Washington from Ballers, BlacKkKlansman, Monsters and Men, & Love Beats Rhymes) participates in an undercover operation at a Kyiv opera house. After seizing an artifact, the Protagonist is captured by mercenaries. His team has been killed & the artifact lost after he wakes up from the attack. The Protagonist joins a secret organization called Tenet. A scientist shows him bullets with “inverted” entropy which allows them to move backwards through time. She believes they are manufactured in the future & a weapon exists that can wipe out the past. Aided by a local contact named Neil (played by: Robert Pattinson from The Batman, The Devil All the Time, Good Time, & The Lighthouse), the Protagonist traces the bullets to arms dealer Priya Singh (played by: Dimple Kapadia from Fearless & Bobby).
She is a member of Tenet; her cartridges were purchased & inverted by Russian oligarch Andrei Sator (played by: Kenneth Branagh from Dunkirk, Valkyrie, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, & Hamlet). The Protagonist approaches Sator’s estranged wife Kat (played by: Elizabeth Debicki from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, The Cloverfield Paradox, Widows, & The Man from U.N.C.L.E.), an art appraiser. Kat introduces the Protagonist to Sator but learns the drawing that he tried to get is intact. The Protagonist offers to help Sator retrieve a case he says contains Plutonium-241. He works with Ives (played by: Aaron Taylor-Johnson from Kick-Ass 1/2, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Godzilla, & Nocturnal Animals) for help with this dangerous mission. Can he outsmart his enemies to pull off this ambitious job????
Tenet is one of the best looking & sounding movies of 2020. The visual fx, action, production design, & music are all top notch for this thriller. Director Christopher Nolan never disappoints, he has his own unique style & you know when you are watching one of his films. The script here kinda plays with your mind a little bit. It’s one of those movies, if you lose track for just for a few minutes then you might end up lost & confused soon after. It’s a very complex production that honestly should be viewed more than one time to fully appreciate it. I respect that they didn’t hold this one back & actually released it in 2020 instead of delaying it like everything else. The cinematography had some real creative shots especially during some of the more intense scenes in this. Tenet keeps your eyes glued to the screen during the whole experience & it has your mind sharp. I personally thought someone else would have made this better as the lead but John David Washington held his own here & he keeps getting better with each performance that I seen him in. I just think he was miscast in Tenet & some of the material doesn’t really fit him as a performer. Robert Pattinson knows how to pick roles & he was great as the mysterious contact. You never knew what he was going to do next. Kenneth Branagh may be more known as a director in his later years but he can still act with the best of them. I haven’t seen him play a villain that much in career but he pulled it off in Tenet. Elizabeth Debicki is beautiful & she always gives a high class vibe in her work that I’ve seen so far. The supporting cast for this was very impressive which included Michael Caine, Martin Donovan, Fiona Dourif, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, & Dimple Kapadia. This is one of the better spy & thriller sub-genre entries in recent years. My biggest complaint is that it tries too hard to mess with the viewer’s mind than rather than being straight forward so it can be confusing at times & I think it’s one that needs repeat viewings to fully understand it. RECOMMENDED!!!!
Let’s talk about the high definition presentation from Warner Bros! This 2160p (1.78:1, 2.20:1) transfer with HDR10 shows off the best looking feature of 2020. Tenet stands on it’s own when it comes to it’s visuals. The fx & action scenes look amazing in 4k, this is reference quality. If you only bought one 4K release this year, this should be it because nothing else compares when it comes to brand new movies in 2020. It’s loaded with a variety of audio options which includes English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1, French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, German: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Italian: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, Czech: Dolby Digital 5.1, Hindi: Dolby Digital 5.1, Polish: Dolby Digital 5.1, Thai: Dolby Digital 5.1, & Japanese: Dolby Digital 5.1 on this UHD. Tenet is also the best sounding 2020 when it comes to audio. If you ever wanted to test out your home system, this is a great one to try it on. All of the dialogue is crystal clear, the action has a killer boost to it, & the music is elevated in this. Tenet gives you that theater experience no matter where you watch it. It also has English SDH, French, German SDH, Italian SDH, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Cantonese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Hungarian, Korean, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Polish, Swedish, & Thai when it comes to subtitles. This is the highest quality & greatest technical home video release of the year!!!!
Let’s discuss the special features from Warner Bros! This home video release has 3 different discs & all the extras on it’s own blu ray. “Looking At The World In A New Way” is a little over 76 minutes & it’s broken down into 13 different segments. Tenet is explored on The Principle of Belief, Mobilizing the Troupe, The Approach, The Proving Window, The Roadmap, Entropy in Action, Traversing the Globe, How Big a Plane?, The Dress Code, Constructing the Twilight World, The Final Battle, Cohesion, & Doesn’t Us Being Here Now Mean It Never Happened? It has interviews with director Christopher Nolan, actors John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Kenneth Branagh, & various members of the production. They chat about the project’s early development. They go over the influence of James Bond for this. They talk about the script, concept, & story for Tenet. They bring up the cast, action, editing, fx, locations, production design & so much more. You learn a lot about this feature here with all kinds of information. They shot 1.5M feet of 65mm film for this project! It also has a variety of promotional material like a “Teaser Trailer” & 3 different “Theatrical Trailers” for the film. It also includes a slipcover, a digital code, & a blu ray copy of the movie. It’s available right now in every possible format including exclusives, CHECK IT OUT!!!!
