Yes, I know. The film was released a long time ago. However, Tenet is still being screened at theaters, as COVID fades out. So this overall review is relevant for some moviegoers that seek to watch it on the big screen. What you will get is a 65mm super clean and impressive imagery shot by IMAX Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema. As for the story – forget it. You will not catch up, because it’s long, complicated, and grueling unless you own a Master’s degree in Quantum mechanics. 

Cinematography: 65mm film with all its glory

Tenet was shot almost entirely on IMAX cameras (which is crazy) by cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema ASC, FSF, NSC. Tenet is Hoyte and Nolan’s (director Christopher Nolan) third mutual project, after blockbusters like Interstellar and Dunkirk, which have shot on IMAX as well.  What special about IMAX, that it runs 65mm film horizontally which leads to a huge picture, with all the positive side effects, like precise colors, an ultra-large field of view, and super shallow depth of field. Furthermore, the film plane is so big, that to maintain it perfectly flat, IMAX cameras have a vacuum behind the gate. The size of the photograms forces the camera to run faster than a classic camera, to be able to print twenty-four frames per second. This makes the camera very noisy and forbids the shooting of quiet scenes. Nevertheless, Nolan insisted that the dialog scenes were shot on IMAX as well which is pretty rare. That led to beautiful dialog scenes which look very impressive when screened on the big canvas. The cinematography is precise, beautiful skin tones, accurate colors. There’s no extreme grading involved, nor teal and orange formula. It’s just this mighty film stock that does most of the work. It’s just a sight for sore eyes.

There’s no music theme in Tenet, just loud dissonance chords to emphasize and elevate tension.

Minimization of CGI: Get it in the camera

Christopher Nolan is known for his passion for reality, as opposed to CGI and green screen maneuvers. What the camera sees is what you get. That’s his mantra. Minimization of special effects, and green/blue screens implementations, in order to elevate realism, and to make it look more authentic, so the audience will believe that the action is real. Of course, Nolan pays a heavy price for that. For instance, the initial action scene, which involved a real crowd of hundreds of extras was extremely challenging to execute. It’s an impressive action scene though. Also, the final action sequence, which involved real explosions (again, no CGI), is truly jaw-dropping, especially when seen in an IMAX theater. To sum it up, the action looks very much Nolan-ish. You can easily recognize this methodology of actioning in the Dark Night Rises. Indeed, Hoyte admitted that Nolan is an extremely well-prepared director, with a vast overview and a producer mind. The creative process is technology-based. Sometimes the crew R&D-ing special lenses and rigs to execute the precise imagery, especially when CGI is minimized. According to Hoyte, the relationship between him and Nolan is based on intuition, because Nolan has a significant filmmaking intuition, which is essential to accomplish that kind of action scene. 

The action looks very much Nolan-ish. You can easily recognize this methodology of actioning in the Dark Night Rises.

Sound and music

Tenet is the first Christopher Nolan film since The Prestige (2006) not to be scored by Hans Zimmer. The composer turned Nolan down for the first time in over a decade to score his longtime passion project Dune (2021). He was replaced by newcomer Ludwig Göransson, who had recently won an Oscar for his work on Black Panther (2018). There’s no music theme in Tenet, just loud dissonance chords to emphasize and elevate tension. In my opinion, the music is annoying, and also are some sounds effects. So there’s a big miss here.

The cinematography is precise, beautiful skin tones, accurate colors. There’s no extreme grading involved, nor teal and orange formula. It’s just this mighty film stock that does most of the work. It’s just a sight for sore eyes.

Final thoughts

The imagery is gorgeous. Action is more than solid. Music is annoying. However, the story is very complicated. You’ll not understand it at first time, nor in the second or third time. It involves complex physics. However, if you have a Master’s degree in Quantum mechanics, it could be an advantage. In order to understand the story, you should acquire some knowledge regarding the Grandfather paradox, time loops, and reversibility. That’s the minimum requirement to see (and understand) Tenet. So go do your homework on time-reversed processes…

Have you watched Tenet? Did you like it? Did you understand it? Feel free to comment below.