Our Protagonist (John David Washington) is a spy given the word Tenet as his key into unlocking doors for his next mission where he must save the world from Russian oligarch Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh) who is able to receive messages from the future.

Christopher Nolan’s eleventh feature film is finally here after three postponements as a result of the global pandemic and the wait has been worth it. Delivering another perfectly orchestrated action blockbuster with mind bending plotting it is very much a companion piece to Inception. Also, just like Inception it presents Nolan as a perfect match for a Bond film as we have an international spy globe trotting around the world as he attempts to foil a megalomanic set on destroying it, all the time maintaining a cool demeanour and perfect tailoring.

As with Nolan’s other films the less you know about the plot the better. It is simple enough to present the fact that this is a film where the action is very much impacted by the films central plot device of time inversion. Where objects and people are acted upon so that it appears to us as though they are going backwards in time. As with other Nolan films, his obsession with time and the overlapping of events is paramount and multiple watches are guaranteed to unlock a better understanding and a whole plethora of details that if you have already seen it will become obvious. In that regard it is similar to Memento and Dunkirk where subsequent views give greater context to each scene.

Our protagonist who is never named in the film is ably portrayed by John David Washington. All we know of him is that he is a dedicated agent who believes his job makes a difference to global safety. Washington (son of Denzel and star of BlacKkKlansman) gives a charismatic performance that keeps us rooting for him. Joining him as his Felix Leiter and giving a fantastic performance is Robert Pattinson (soon to be Batman and star of Good Time, The Lighthouse and High Life). The similarities here to Inception’s Cobb and Eames are rife with Pattinson’s line about doing something dramatic reminding me of Eames saying “You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling”. Kenneth Branagh (in his second Nolan movie) gives a similar performance to the one he gave in Jack Ryan as the Russian big bad and Elizabeth Debicki (Widows) gives a similar performance as the one she gave in BBC’s The Night Manager.

Elsewhere in the cast we have excellent smaller roles for Nolan newcomers Himesh Patel and Aaron Taylor-Johnson as well as Nolan returnees Michael Caine and Martin Donovan.

Most importantly for an action movie the visuals, sound and stunt work are stunning as is now expected for a Nolan film. Returning cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema gives the film a lavish sheen and newcomer to Nolan films composer Ludwig Goransson provides a thunderous score that represents the uncomfortable nature of time inversion whilst propelling us through the action scenes. Speaking of which we get to see reverse bungee jumping, a shoot out at the opera, a car chase, a plane crash and an all out ground assault.

Will your head hurt thinking about it afterwards? Probably. But that just means you get to enjoy it again as you start to piece together the intricate puzzle that Nolan has laid out for us.

If you want to know what I think of other Nolan films check out my feature where I have reviewed them all… Christopher Nolan Retrospective