Rent Tenet (2020)

3.0 of 5 from 1208 ratings
2h 24min
Rent Tenet (aka Merry-Go-Round) Online DVD & Blu-ray Rental
  • General info
  • Available formats
Synopsis:
Armed with only one word - Tenet - and fighting for the survival of the entire world, the Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time.
Actors:
, , , , , , , , Sander Rebane, , , , , , , , , , ,
Directors:
Producers:
Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas
Voiced By:
Josh Stewart
Writers:
Christopher Nolan
Others:
Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley, Scott Fisher, Nathan Crowley, Kathy Lucas
Aka:
Merry-Go-Round
Studio:
Warner
Genres:
Action & Adventure, Thrillers
Collections:
2021, A Brief History of Cinema Afloat: Part 3, CinemaParadiso.co.uk Through Time, Getting to Know..., Getting to Know: Kenneth Branagh, A Brief History of Film...
Awards:

2021 Oscar Best Visual Effects

BBFC:
Release Date:
14/12/2020
Run Time:
144 minutes
Languages:
English Audio Description Dolby Digital 5.1, English Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles:
English, English Hard of Hearing
DVD Regions:
Region 2
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Variable
Colour:
Colour
BBFC:
Release Date:
14/12/2020
Run Time:
150 minutes
Languages:
English Audio Description Dolby Digital 5.1, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Subtitles:
English Hard of Hearing
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen 2.20:1
Colour:
Colour
BLU-RAY Regions:
B
Bonus:
  • Looking at the World in a New Way: The Making Of 'Tenet' - Over an hour of bonus features that explore casting, continuity, sets, cinematography, locations, costumes, music, how they created some of the film's epic sequences and more
BBFC:
Release Date:
14/12/2020
Run Time:
150 minutes
Languages:
English Audio Description Dolby Digital 5.1, English Dolby Digital 5.1, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Subtitles:
English Hard of Hearing
DVD Regions:
Region 2
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen 2.20:1
Colour:
Colour
BLU-RAY Regions:
B

More like Tenet

Found in these customers lists

Reviews (39) of Tenet

PALINDROME - Tenet review by Frank TALKER™

Spoiler Alert
06/12/2020

Christopher NOLAN has run out of ideas. He now has to resuscitate concepts that are twenty years' old in order to keep his career going, rather than retire from being a creative himself and then to produce the works of the next generation of film directors.

The rampant egomania and intellectual arrogance here is emotionally depressing and distinctly un-entertaining as we witness an above-average talent reduced to hack work.

The characterisation is poor, the ideas ridiculous and the cast not always well-chosen. But the biggest problem is a script which gives little for the actors to do to enable them to breathe life into their characters. This lack of any possibility for audience identification leaves us with a psychologically-barren spectacle which occurs for no really-valid reason.

A waste of time.

22 out of 29 members found this review helpful.

A waste of time - Tenet review by SH

Spoiler Alert
30/01/2021

Over hyped rubbish. For a start the background noise is too overbearing so it's difficult to hear the actual talking making a very confused film even harder to follow. The best way I can describe this movie is like watching a war movie where you start half way through and your not told who's fighting or why.

Acting is pretty weak, no stand out characters, no powerful displays of acting talent, just people on a screen that look like they don't really know what's happening either, just reading their lines and standing on their marks.

Worst film I've seen in a long time

19 out of 20 members found this review helpful.

Like some of his other films, it is a work that only becomes whole in retrospect... - Tenet review by Schrödinger's Cake

Spoiler Alert
07/09/2020

I have to confess that a handful of Christopher Nolan’s films feature prominently on my list of favourites, so it was with high expectations that I booked my cinema seat for his latest film, Tenet.

This is a film that opens immediately into the thick of the action: no explanation, no backstory. And so it continues for the next few hours of my life.

Like some of his other films, it is a work that only becomes whole in retrospect: where the story only makes sense once you have reached the end of the film, and all the twists and turns have been laid bare. I also think that like many films I have enjoyed, it’ll benefit from multiple watchings: with each revealing subtle details that alter the way you see the characters.

I would say that I found it less immediately-accessible than some of his other films, but at the same time I didn’t feel that detracted from my enjoyment of the film. In fact, I am booked to see it for a second time at the cinema already.

4 out of 14 members found this review helpful.

Critic review

Tenet (aka Merry-Go-Round) review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso

Christopher Nolan always seems to have big ideas for his films that sometimes overshadow everything else, to the point where characters become mere ciphers and themes are diminished. Tenet is sadly that film where the set-pieces and scene design take precedence over everything. The result is a picture that seems elaborate on its basis but ultimately becomes rather predictable and lacking the extra writing to carry that mind-bending effects.

The idea is at least a unique one. John David Washington plays a CIA agent who makes a discovery of something strange. He’s starting to see things in reverse. After some hints, he’s sent on his way for a rundown of mysterious items that travel backward through time. A gun of future tech fires bullets in reverse, not shooting them but catching them after they’ve already hit their target. This strange occurrence is explained as the temporal effect of inverted radiation but also given a bizarre construction of how something going in reserve can be directed by our actions. Free will is called into question as to whether we can decide the future when something is already traveling backward with reverse actions.

Thankfully, the film doesn’t spend too much time focussing on this aspect that is sure to melt some minds with paradoxes. In its place, however, is a lot of secret mission banter far too intricate to bombard an audience with after they’re already expected to contemplate reverse actions (especially when Washington is told he can affect the future by “feeling it”). Washington meets with Robert Pattinson who will tag along in a snazzy suit while they trace back where the inverted materials came from. This leads an art vault heist where a plane is crashed into a hangar and causes an explosion.

Their mission eventually leads them to the mysterious and wealthy Russian oligarch of Andrei (Kenneth Branagh). Andrei can apparently communicate with the future to figure out where he needs to go to get the inverted material he requires for...well, his villain intentions are pretty bland. Without revealing too much, it involves him being extra bitter at his divorced wife (Elizabeth Debicki) who he had a child with. His actions are greatly elaborate but his ultimate intention is a snooze of a typical villain who just wants to see the world burn, monologuing in boring babble about being God as the climax looms.

There’s plenty of atmosphere to Tenet that it can be easy to be swept up in its splendor. The mechanics of bending time are exciting, though they become woefully predictable by the time the palindromic twist is revealed midway through. The music by Ludwig Göransson is brilliantly intense and adds to the thrill and serious tone. The action pieces are complex enough with the visual effects of shifting time and the high-speed car chases. It’s all presented with so much flair I almost wanted to get swept up in its pacing to not be as underwhelmed by the lack of character. Washington’s character is such a blank slate that he’s never given a name, referred to constantly as the protagonist. We do get some arcs from Branagh and Debicki but only just enough to get the action moving. And I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t some cleverness to the convergence of past and future within the action-packed finale with guns blazing and buildings crumbling, both forward and in reverse.

But the major problem with Tenet is that it’s relying on much of the bewilderment to carry it through, as though you’ll be too overwhelmed with keeping track of characters and time-bending you’ll just give up understanding anything and enjoy the noise. Even the dialogue becomes noise as a lackluster mix leaves much of the talk indecipherable, especially when characters spend a lot of time behind gas and oxygen masks. There’s some thrills to Tenet and some genuine action most immaculate but anything more than that doesn’t seem present, where Nolan penchant for intelligent scenes is present when everything else seems so strangely underwhelming.

Unlimited films sent to your door, starting at £15.99 a month.