Tenet was good. Made by Ben Chinapen Writing help by CJ The X: / @cjthex Edit assist: / @laurenceonyt Patreon: / benfromcanada Twitter: / benchinapen Instagram: / benchinapen
Great analysis!!! But you forgot to mention the subtext: Just like Inception is about filmaking, Tenet is about film watching. The Pincer manouver is just like when you watch a movie for the second time and you already know what's going to happen, and you still feel the same way... This is the underapreciatted genius of Nolan...
Nolan has faith in his audience. I remember the first time I watched this film I knew I wouldn't understand it and I just enjoyed what I could which was still a lot! Films like Tenet and Memento are the best because the more you watch them, the more you appreciate them. The people that get annoyed at Nolan's films because they are too confusing don't understand what makes a good film. If I'm going to pay money to own a movie, it better be worth watching countless times unlike a simple Marvel movie.
you shouldnt have to watch a movie multiple times to understand it. Appreciate yes, but understand? no it costs money and time to watch a movie. If a person has to watch a movie 3 times to understand it, its not a good movie. Shit is expensive. But if people rewatch a movie to appreciate it, then the director did a good job of conveying their vision the first time Also I love Nolans works, but think Tenet is his weakest. And no, it doesnt make someone "intellectual" if they "understand" Tenet. No one will be impressed by it. It wont get you a job lol
It's funny because I'm black and I never thought about the fact that JDW was "black" as the protagonist because it was never brought up or focused on. It literally had nothing to do with the plot and I love that. Let an artist just be an artist.
@@sheeplastname430 Here's the thing ,there were certain dialog (as the one you mentioned) that would suggest it was there , however because of the scenes in which those dialog were written it leaves room for other interpretations .
I finally saw Tenet yesterday and this is the first video to accurately capture how electrified I felt by watching this movie, and helped me articulate how and why it did. Thank you!!
@@randomdude189, monstrosity would be accurate. But, then again, that is to be expected from someone that is trying to convince the world that this film is some sort of sophisticated puzzle. The selling point of this film and a lot of Nolan films is the gimmick. If you see past the gimmick there is a very simple story. Having said that, he deserves respect for making spectacular blockbuster films that aim for profundity.
The final moment with Neil and the Protagonist hit my emotions like a truck. Especially the line about "for me, this is the end of a great friendship. For you, it's only the beginning."
The more you think about Neil, the more emotional the movie becomes, reaching its full emotional climax when you think about Ives saying, "We end our lives. It's the only way to be sure. But as to *when*... maybe that's every man's decision to make for himself." Neil's decision is to die for his friend. When a gun is pointed at his head, Neil's decision is to step in front of the bullet. That's how he chooses to die. "For me, this is the end of a beautiful friendship."
@@bullpup1337 It's also 'stolen' from the story of King Arthur, given that Merlyn lives backwards through time. It even has its own TVtropes page - 'Merlin Sickness'
I just don't get the enjoyment of trying to make sense of something that doesn't make sense... All with dialogue that sounds like the actors are under water. Because you know... art.
@austridge31 For some people the enjoyment is in figuring something out. People don't always want to just see or hear an interesting idea, they want to engage with it like a conversation. The sound thing is becoming a problem though.
The version of time travel that is used in this movie, the whole "what's happened happens", the whole thing that seems to have turned off a lot of viewers because it brings up the question of free will and a whole "what's the point" perspective on the whole movie, can very easily be explained by one of the most important lines of the movie. When Adam (that's what I call him) talks to the scientist, and she describes how the inverted bullet can jump in your hand, she specifies: "you need to have dropped it". This is crucial. Even if you see the effects before the cause, that cause is inherently free willed. Yeah, you wouldn't see those effects if you didn't do it, but the fact is you did do it, of your own volition, which is why you see the effects. It's not any more complicated than that: you have free will, and you can do things to impact the world. Usually, the effects of those choices are only seen after you make the choice. Nothing changes if the effects come before, you still made the choice. It was still up to you, up to your free will. Because you need to have dropped it.
Nah. What it highlights is that if there is free will, it's limited to specific moments. The dropping of the bullet might be "free will", but the catching of it, while it's going backwards in time, at that particular moment there is no free will. And I've seen this taken to an extreme in Latin and Southern European cultures. They'll argue most all of the things we go through are fated, but there's little exceptions , that enforces religious devotion, that maybe through the mercy of the Virgin Mary, you may escape your fate, by some miracle, once in a while. It's a sort of psychological survival strategy for people with hard, miserable life, who are often drawn into immoral decisions for the sake of feeding your family. To counter that, in sharp contrast, is the American belief not only in free will, but free will all the time. Every crime is a free choice to be punished, every buck earned is reward for making so many good decisions. Your comment is insightful as far as how audiencesmight feel their belief in free will is threatened, but then you make excuses, explaining that free will can be shoehorned in. And certainly the film invites viewers to think about such question. But basically the pincer manoever itself suggests free will is at least constrained quite a bit, and I'm suggesting audiences are not just threatened, mostly subconsciously, because it goes against mainstream philosophy, but because it might be the truth. Everything is fated, we're just in this for the ride, kinda living behind our eyes in mobile prisons where we might be horrified by what we ourselves do.
That's not what it highlights at all. It's just about going through the motion of having dropped it, basically matching the bullet's reversed arrow of time.
@@tahunuva4254 no, it does both and free will is explicitly addressed here. that scene literally has the protagonist immediately ask "what about free will?" after he "uncatches" the bullet, and the scientist responds "that bullet wouldn't have moved if you hadn't put your hand there. Either way we run the tape, you made it happen". It happens so fast and its like 3 lines but I think most people miss that free will is still apparent even with time inversion
@@3htthexy Oh, that's a good point. But that's going by a very non-standard version of free will (and a kinda based one, as it implies any agent has it, even "inanimate" objects). When most people use the term, they're talking about it as a kind of uncoupling from the causal chain. Like, "I'm not subject to my environment, I'm a free thinker" kind of bs. But "you made it happen" is almost the opposite of that, because it's completely ignoring the question of the protagonist's sovereignty in favour of fitting him into the chain. If the bullet jumped, and he _didn't_ catch it, *that* would be proof of his unfettered will.
There is also the fact that the film itself fundamentally requires a temporal pincer movement for it to actually make sense. You have to watch the film and then go back and rewatch it knowing everything you already know from the first viewing in order to piece together a coherent story. Only after having carried out the temporal pincer movement yourself will you have witnessed a coherent plot and movie. Watching it without rewatching it is as good as watching a series of nonsensical and unrelated pictures on a screen because watching it once through is only half of the pincer movement.
@@sankrut02 Whoah. I didn't realise people had seen this comment. But anyway, I forgot to add that this is why the film is so unpopular. People watched it for the first time and hated it because they only saw half a film but to them it was a full film that simply didn't make sense and was all over the place. And then because they hated it, most people didn't bother to watch it a second time and thus they missed out on genuinely great movie. Such a massive shame.
No amount of explaining this movie as “you just don’t get it” ever outweighs the fact the movie does not make sense, linear or otherwise. Its “smart people cope.” It’s a dumb movie meant to confuse ppl of avg intelligence and draw smart ppl into explaining it away as “too smart.” It’s dumb temporal schlock.
@@ferrarriohh Mate if you think the film still doesn't make sense after it being explained, you're the only one who's dumb enough not to get it😂. It just sounds like you're insecure about not getting the film and now you're taking it out on everyone else that does get it. What's wrong with people enjoying a complex film? Nolan was being ambitious for sure, maybe overly ambitious, but what makes it wrong for him to make intelligent films that make people think? That's his passion and that's just who he is. And people enjoy his films and enjoying it is the whole point. What the hell is wrong with ye?
My absolute favorite detail and trick nolan plays on us is with neil. The knowledge he’s privvy to really makes it seem like hes a double agent, and the film naturally leads you to believe that. What a marvel of a film
One of the really interesting things about the movie is that we never find out who the people from the future who want to use the algorithm are. It could easily be the characters in the film, if they changed their minds later on!
The most interesting way I like to watch it is from Pattinson's character viewpoint. Because if you follow his dialogue closely, you realize he is moving in a different direction than our protagonist.
Blacks are always the criminals, poor, in the background, asking questions and subordinate in Hollywood movies. Its an agenda. The China film administration is better than Hollywood.
Sorry to disagree, but It's not that he's moving in a different direction, it's that he inverted after years (maybe TEN years?) to meet PT back at the beginning so he already knows everything, his entire life is a pincer. Once he un-inverts though that version of Neil is going in the same direction as PT for the duration of the movie except for the pincer battle. We only see the original Neil once, and it's in the opera house in Kiev when he saves PT's life while inverted. One could assume that this is the Neil that went back 10 years (or however long) and that this was the end of that part of his journey backwards, then he un-inverted and a week later met PT in Mumbai (from PT's perspective, for the first time), then continued with him in the same direction(s) for the whole movie. For example, he follows him through the turnstyle both of the next two times, until the battle when they separate. Sorry to be pedantic, it's just that the Neil we're with in the movie is for sure moving in the same direction as the protagonist. FWIW I'm also of the Max=Neil school, it's just too perfect not to fit.
If it was possible, I would just sit and watch this movie on a continuous loop. Two years later, prepping for Oppenheimer, I have found myself deep diving into Tenet analyses like this one once again. I saw it 3 times in the cinema and countless time since. If it was possible I would just sit and watch this movie on a continuous loop.
It was interesting to rewatch and notice the scene where they talk about Oppenheimer in Tenet, and how "the woman" who created "the algorithm" is essentially her generation's Oppenheimer. It's as if we saw the seed of Nolan's own idea to make his latest film without realising. And it's also like Oppenheimer is a prequel to tenet!
Awesome job on this. One of the ways I've rewatched is looking for the red vs. blue clues. There is SO much of it all over the movie- another level of genius filmmaking and production/costume design. In this scene specifically, as the timelines merge you can visually see the red and blue vehicles merge onto the same timeline (and street) as well. I hope other people find this moment as SWEET as I do.
You guys are really not that smart, and call "genius' anything that is thrown at you, in red vs blue team do you even know who or what they are fighting? no, you never see them, they are never on the screen, never explained or introduced, u just see things blowing and unblowing without knowing who, why or what the red or blue team is fighting in two different direction of time, whole thing doesn't make sense.
Tenet is an extremely emotional movie, people just don't get invested enough in Neil and PT's relationship on first viewing so they miss it. It's gotta be the only movie in existence where someone has to say goodbye to their best friend that is going to die *before they even become best friends.* Once you make this emotional connection, it's honestly really hard not to cry at the end when PT realizes who Neil truly is.
I'm glad that I'm not the only one who thinks this. Tenet hit me in the feels harder than I think any other movie has. Not only because of what you mentioned (which was already incredibly effective on me personally due to the uniqueness), but also because: 1. We realize Neil had to spend the last (months?) he had with his best friend acting as though they were complete strangers. "The end of a beautiful friendship" indeed. 2. PT now has to go hire and befriend Neil *knowing* that doing so has already gotten Neil killed. Especially since Neil got killed *saving PT,* I can't imagine what kind of guilt one would have to harbor the entire time they're friends. Not to mention the dread that would come from knowing exactly when Neil dies.
I think I’ve watched this film 30 times this year alone. I absolutely love it so much. One of the greatest realizations I had is that we are experiencing everything for the first time, just as the protagonist is. I appreciated JDW’s performance so much more when I realized every conversation, situation, experience, everything, he was experiencing it for the first time as the protagonist. I mean, the movie starts with him having just enough knowledge at the opera house. He later just gets in a car and hits go on the gps. It’s throughout the whole film and he did such a great job acting like his character is just trying to put the pieces together, LIKE US!
I was emotionally unfulfilled after my first viewing of tenet because there was no pulling of my heart strings that Inception has with Cob’s wife. On my second viewing I realized the emotion is subliminal between Washington and Pattinson’s friendship. Imagine finding out that your friend is really a future friend that you mentor and he will eventually mentor you again in this constant overlapping of time like the Dalai lama and Panchen Lama. I think that’s why Pattinson is drunk at their first meeting, he’s emotionally preparing for seeing his old mentor for the “first” time.
I realised on my second viewing how affecting was the last talk between these two. Pattinson knows he must return an die, Washington just realises it too, and he knows that he can't do (and MUSTN'T DO) anything about it and it almost brings tears to his eyes (and to my eyes as well).
I can't be the only one thinking that the kid at the end is a younger version of Neil. (Somebody came up with the idea that "Max" was short for "Maximillien" and if so, "Neil" is the last four letter's of Max's name backwards.)
One of my favorite things about the temporal pincer is how the protagonist doesn't know really anything in the beginning, but as it turns out he's the temporal pincer head honcho and the reason the plot is happening
Well what’s cool about it is that he experiences the events. Commits himself to ensuring that the events continue to unfold that way. Then sends a team to move backwards in time with all of the information he has. Sends another team to ensure that he himself is committed to the mission so that a loop is created to preserve time as it is.
Just watched this in the imax rerelease. So fun. I actually love how the protagonist doesnt have a back story. To me it like a POV almost like playable character in a video game.
Ben: This movie is just Christopher Nolan going ‘THE TEMPORAL PINCER MANOEUVRE! That’s fucked up, wouldn’t that be fucked up?!’ Me: *instant subscribe*
Blacks are always the criminals, poor, in the background, asking questions and subordinate in Hollywood movies. Its an agenda. The China film administration is better than Hollywood. Hollwood really Hates Black on Blacks Love.
i loved how the entire film can be fractally grouped in forward-backward pairs first half is forward, second half is backwards (while moving the story forwards). then of the second half the first half of that is forward, and the second half backward and so it goes smaller and smaller until we reach the raid scene which again works forward to the midpoint and then backwards from there. all the while returning to the very beginning of the whole movie. to have this type of temporal structure and be able to follow it is extremely exciting. i noticed the fractal temporal structure about 2/3 into the movie, and while i understood it, it was still a pleasure to watch it unfold. like a virtuoso violinist performing before your eyes.
I've always noted this about Tenet and JDWs performance. JDW actually feels AGGRESSIVE. When he moves he moves with purpose, he does everything as efficiently and as best as he can and it was the first movie I've ever seen that actually drew me to the leads MOVEMENT more than anything, he's just a beast.
He really is a brilliant fucking actor. I am finding myself drawn more and more to films with less dialogue and more non-dialogue based acting. I saw JDW in Black Klansman, and, although his approach feels similar (that "aggression" as you call it), he certainly picks his moments, so to speak, very well. I am stoked to see him in more traditional movie roles (I could not get through the writing in that one he did with Zendaya.)
Damn dude well put! I definitely had a similar thought; a lot of JDW’s action has an ‘explosive’ quality - especially the kitchen fight - where you can tell he’s sizing everything up and then he goes HAM for maximum effect
True, but - unfortunately - his facial expressions don't reflect that. He often comes off as a wide-eyed, fish-out-of-water protagonist, even when it doesn't suit the scene.
Just rewatched Tenet for the fourth time, this time in IMAX and this video is perfect. I watched this after the last time I watched Tenet and you made all the pieces come together for the first time. Having that knowledge going into this viewing truly made me realize that this movie is a MASTERPIECE. Great video.
@@dorianjareth9198 a predictable fairytale movie but is a feel good one. If you're having a bad day, go for it. I also watch weird movies but they make me feel good, like garden state on a gloomy monsoon day
I loved the part where the protagonist fights himself for the second time, and the lead up to all of that is awesome. I may not have all of the pieces in place with the whole timeline, but this movie is my favorite because it was a mindfuck and I love it for that.
When I watched it the first time, I was expecting the inverted soldier to be one of Sator’s henchman as I was still wrapping my head around the mechanics of inversion. When he got blown through the shutter door and right into the hands of his past self, it was the biggest jaw drop I’d ever gotten from a movie.
@@richos07when i watched it, by that point i barely even understood the existence of sator. i actually assumed itd be the protagonist because that would be the most fun way to take the story!
A pure masterpiece... about something mind bending... time travel. Imagine Nolan making a film about the quantum mechanics or holographic universe ...man.
I Loved this film, but then again I watched it on HBO Max with subtitles on and the ability to rewind whenever something was too wtf to grasp in real time. The ability to go back in time and rewind the movie was clutch, as I did a temporal pincer maneuver of my own in trying to understand this film.
Yeah I really hated the film because I watched it in the cinema and the sound mixing was soo god awful I couldn't understand what they were saying enough to only understand what was going on a very superficial level.
@@impyrobot I've seen some analysis of the film on here talking the sound mixing and after seeing that, it's understandable and it actually fit in well when you see it at that perspective
I like the mention you made about puzzles early on, because it suddenly clicked in my brain: Nolan basically made a film that frustrates people because it's not like most movies, which are essentially puzzle that show the solution on the box; Tenet is a puzzle that you only understand as it's put together, and our stand-in (JDW) is a self-aware puzzle piece that spends the journey discovering where he fits, and the broader picture along with us. Maybe that's not what Nolan intended, but I think it's very cool; I watch enough movies that I don't often rewatch them, and I appreciate Nolan's craftmanship in making films absolutely worth returning to.
Since Nolan gained traction, there has been a very noticeable nudge in his very excellent work. Always excited about his next engagement... Brilliant essay!
Calling this movie a masterpiece is silly. It makes no sense at all. Why would a person need to watch a movie 50 times to catch meanings? Meanings that probably have nothing to even do with the movie. If you don't understsnd what on earth a film is showing you, and all you see and hear are images and noise, then it has failed in its mission to tell a story. This means it is a bad film. A movie that can't fulfil that simple criteria, of communucating what it is showing you, means the director lacks the descriptive skill to present what he wants to say. I think Chris Nolan just couldn't translate his vision. That is all. And so it is a bad movie. Simple..
This was an INCREDIBLE analysis. For what it's worth, the sweeping fades that are played during the truck heist are created by reversing a note into itself. The synths are played backward, then forward. The soundtrack is a temporal paradox.
This does not make it a good movie. The story is bullshit, the characters and their motivations is bullshit. Therefore, the whole movie is bullhit. It's easy.
The video was awesome!!! One of the best video essays I have ever seen. I have watched tenet now a couple times and although I already liked the movie, your essay gave me a new insight that makes me appreciate it even more! Thanks man!
Personally think that the final Neil/Protagonist scene is one of the more emotionally engaging and interesting scenes in his career along with interstellar and the cillian murphy scene in inception
I remember being super hyped for this movie when I watched it, the first half was generally disappointing to me but the second half was phenomenal. Then I rewatched it and it became one of my favorites from start to finish. At this point, I think I have seen it 7 times and it never gets old
@@Sujay95 That's a bit hard to achieve here I think. Perhaps the plot might've been a bit too long for the movie, and it's already 2 and a half hours long. I've watched it 5 times I think, needed to watch the second time to actually connect all the dots.
I believe it to be a deliberate act by Christoper Nolan that the film needs be watched multiple times in order to observe, and absorb all the layers of pardox happening. Almost like red and blue team, your brain is required to already know what's going to happen, in order to see what you missed last time.
@@stonedvillain79 honestly that's not a good thing. If you're required to watch a movie several times just to understand the basic plot, then that's a major flaw in my eyes. Especially since people were saying (at the time this was coming to theaters) that this movie would need to be good to keep theaters alive. Thankfully this movies plot didnt kill off theater because of other easily understood movies coming out lol.
@@thetechsite9619 Never learn from other people kiddo. Never change your opinion, doesn't matter how much the new details make sense. Stay ignorant. /s
Watched for the second time recently, and my current favorite moment is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot. When they go back to Oslo later in the film and they are leaving with Kat in the ambulance, you can also see them wheeling her in on the gurney
The greatest thing about this movie to me is realizing that in the end, the protagonist probably realized he’ll have an ally in the future of whom he *KNOWS* he can trust him because he already knows him and he already knows that he’ll be saved by him. Because let’s face it, how intensely reassuring would it be to know, with 100% certainty, you can trust a *”stranger”* you’ve only just met? To have someone you’ve only known for a couple of weeks making you feel like you’ve known him for more than a decade…
That is really interesting when you compare it to a series like Counterpart. In counterpart, which deals with parallel dimensions instead of time travel, the central tenet (heh) seems to be that multiple versions of the same person would inevitably go to war if their timelines didn't progress equally (ie a man's wife dies, but he knows she is alive and well in another dimension with his counterpart. So, rather than accepting her death, he attempts to go to the other world and replace his doppelganger).
It makes the point that the hype-o-meter is cranked up to 1000 amidst the whole time-reversal mindfuckery and that conveys a genuine feeling of excitement about the movie that contributes to how the movie worked for him and a lot of other people
This was such a witty movie essay, but also done so very well 😂😂 I am a big Tenet fan and still working to understand it to the fullest so I love hearing other perspectives on the film and have it describe in different ways, very well done!
It's crazy how many times ive rewatched Tenet now, even though after the first viewing I was like 'not nolans best movie'. It's truly a new type of movie experience and gets better after every rewatch. Nolan's ahead of the cinema game, he's doing mind blowing sci fi on a large scale that's based on modern theoretical scientific concepts and problems that have no real answers. Can't wait to see what he does next. p.s really glad someone else was so taken with that specific shot / music. I'm listening to that song in the OST over and over.
That shot hit so hard in the theatre, particularly IMAX. It's a favourite of mine for that reason as well, it's so damn good. And man, it's a bummer how many people write the movie off after one viewing, you literally can't appreciate it only having watched it once, I was so insanely confused after my first go but in a way that made me want to understand. I didn't even start really understanding the mechanics until the fifth watch, and I only figured out the interrogation room and how that worked on like the 8th watch. But it's so damn worth it to rewatch until you understand, then once you do you wonder how you didn't get it. I wish I could wipe my memory and watch it again for the first time.
The first time you watch it you're seeing it through the eyes of the Protagonist, the second time you're seeing it through Neils eyes. The Protagonist doesn't know what's going to happen in his future, he doesn't know if the bomb is gonna go off and neither do we, its a new experience to us and we're just as confused as the Protagonist. But when we watch it the second time we know how the movie plays out and so does Niel, he knows the bomb isn't going to go off or he wouldn't be there to stop it, and we know the bomb won't go off because we've seen the end of the film before, in a way Niel has seen the end of the film and he's experiencing it exactly as we are, he's an actor playing a role as you say. We might feel like this movie has no stakes when we understand it, but isn't that true of every movie? Once you've finished a movie you know how it ends, but you still rewatch it because of the ride. In Tenets case there were never any stakes in the first place, but as we're watching we feel that there are, until in the end its revieled that there were never any stakes in the first place. You might feel kinda cheated, but the point of the movie is how you see it in your perspective.
You hit the mail on the head with this one. Tenet absolutely has to be watched twice to fully appreciate what’s going on. The first time I watched it I was ambivalent towards it, the second time I watched, I was riveted. This is an excellent film, I wish more people gave it that much needed second viewing.
@@danilejai7801 It’s a bit like The Prestige, once you know how the trick works you see the movie completely differently. You realize you weren’t watching closely, like you were told to in the beginning. Nolan is the GOAT.
This movie is like a visual rubics cube. The sound of one hand clapping. A 5th dimensional depiction on a 2D piece of paper. A future's past presenting presently. A known unknown. The answer to an oxymoron. Etc. Etc.
Then watch Primer. When I finally thought "wait a second, this is starting to make sense" the end credits began to roll. 😂 It's the best movie about time travel I've seen (not counting Tenet), and it had a ridiculously low budget. And the acting was also great for a bunch of amateurs. Don't worry if you understand very little on your first watch, this is normal, do some research online before watching it again if you want, download a timeline chart, whatever you might think will help you.
An interesting detail of that scene Ben loves: the Protagonist is on the red fire truck as it merges into traffic that has a couple of blue trucks on it. I’m probably reading too much into it but it’s like the two teams coming together as part of the overall temporal pincer movie
Also women in red coat before the meeting 14:33 - its intentional The whole movie has this blue red color coding clues On the second movie watch it is very noticeable from the very beginning For small example bag with artefact in Opera is Blue balaclava mask on "terrorists leader" is clearly Red - and if it seems random - look at all colors and objects in each scene all colors dimmed but some specific things sometime has color accent
The synthesizer being pushed down in audio by the kick drum is an actual mixing technique known as sidechaining, it's often used in dance music or electronic music. Great work as always Ben!
It’s actually one of the technics that made Daft Punk so inspiring for a whole generation of producers (electronic music or not). The Robots didn’t invent Sidechaining, but they did it so freaking well and so on point that it made the brains of actual connoisseurs implode all over the world. It takes a lot of music (and branding) knowledge to understand how much care and perfectionism these guys have put into every single detail of their craft. To the point of not looking like sane human beings. A bit like Fincher or Nolan: everyone can tell they’re good and enjoy their pieces, but one needs technical knowledge about the craft to understand how good they actually are. It’s funny because besides being worldwide famous and globally recognized beyond their music genre and even beyond their art form (having worked with or for some great movie directors, photographers, Haute Couture brands, etc) Daft Punk are still kind of underrated by the masses.
It’s fun the way a Borges story is fun - it concretizes a bizarre what-if idea and brings it to life. Like 2001: A Space Odyssey, it’s not about a human drama, but the cinematic visualization of a fantasy metaphysics, as if living in a different universe. The ideas then analogously bleed metaphorically into different parts of our life, becoming one intellectually beautiful fractal of symmetry, rhythm, and completeness.
"Tenet almost refuses to make sense or generate the tension that we might expect and we might need. It's designed for us to observe the temporal pincer maneuver and watch all of it's parts perform and feed into each other" It's an MC Escher drawing made into a movie.
@@mr8883 no, they were obviously hired by two competing siblings in a gravel mining empire to duke it out between themselves perpetually using clones, weird teleportation devices and rockets
Absolutely loved this film from the first time I watched it. I love JDW and his understated, yet powerful presence and acting. I hope to see his future work. I loved the score and was kind of pleased that Hans Zimmer was busy with another project. I like that the film breaks all kinds of rules and doesn't adhere to expectations. And I hope to see your work, Ben!
Blacks are always the criminals, poor, in the background, asking questions and subordinate in Hollywood movies. Its an agenda. The China film administration is better than Hollywood.
Thank you for making this because I love this movie and it frustrates me that people ask so many questions and don't just watch and enjoy it for what it is. Like it was so crazy that I had to watch it at least 2 3 times. It's a dope movie just stop overthinking it and watch it
Actually you don't at all, TENNET's concept is different from the (in my opinion) overused, just as unbelievable and nonsensical concept that is parallel universes. It's all bs time only goes in one direction.
I've lost count because I would literally watch it going to sleep, keep it on in the background, listen to the score while working out. Tenet is more for me then other movies it's not something I've been able to put into words but this video calling it a game seems appropriate. I hope more people interact with this movie the way I have and there can be more high budget interactive movie mind puzels in the future.
"I've seen it 10 times now" Obviously, that's how many times you've gotta watch it to understand whats going on! Joking...I liked it too, but I had to watch it twice to pick up what I missed the first time, where as Interstellar and Inception I got instantly. Its the only thing that bummed me out a little.
This video is the craziest, funniest and unbelievably the most helpful guide to understand Tenet, my friend you are one of a kind, from the bottom of my heart THANK YOU! 😭😂😂🖤
Such an epic film you put in words SO well how this movie should be enjoyed! Just the exploration of a crazy cool scifi concept! With cool characters to carry it
I like to think that the audience experience of watching Tenet was also kind of a temporal pincer maneuver. On your first watch you move forwards through time, confused by everything happening and just gathering information. Then, on your second watch, you already know what's happened and you're just piecing together the pregathered info from the film. You move from past to future on your first watch then become inverted on the rewatch. Of course it can't really be paradoxical because you can't tell your first watch self what's going to happen, but I like to imagine that Nolan planned for the film to be watched like the characters lived it. Playing with time as a concept at every level.
Calling this movie a masterpiece is silly. It makes no sense at all. Why would a person need to watch a movie 50 times to catch meanings? Meanings that probably have nothing to even do with the movie. If you don't understsnd what on earth a film is showing you, and all you see and hear are images and noise, then it has failed in its mission to tell a story. This means it is a bad film. A movie that can't fulfil that simple criteria, of communucating what it is showing you, means the director lacks the descriptive skill to present what he wants to say. I think Chris Nolan just couldn't translate his vision. That is all. And so it is a bad movie. Simple
@@stactionsmedia3318 ok you're entitled to that opinion but in mine the film does accomplish telling a story by the end, and that story (which is very complex) becomes clearer on a second watch for the reasons I said. If you're going to argue that good films shouldn't need to be re watched for a deeper understanding then I don't know what to say because that's pretty much untrue. It's not as simple as it seems, you just didn't enjoy it and that's perfectly fine. Maybe don't click on a video praising it then
@@chanceseverson Ahhhh I must disagree with you my buddy. A good film needn't be watched twice to understand it. A good film conveys its message, with accuracy and definitive direction the moment you finish it. That is why people get goosebumps. That is why audiences cry, or make gestures of amazement, or gasp at a thrill, or are outraged when the hero dies, or fall in love with the characters. You can watch it a second time, to catch things you missed, yes, but to say you didn't understand it at all, and still give it a pass, in hopes that subsequent viewings might unravel what you just witnessed? Isn't what I think a directors intention is my friend. I think it is somewhat unfair to the audience. It's like you are putting them through an obstacle course, when really they want to be on a roller coaster ride, and be taken along on an interesting, compelling journey. That is the beauty of cinema. It can make the most complex theories....Inceptions dream within a dream, Mementos short term amnesia, Jokers parrallel joke regarding Bruce Wayne, Back to the Futures time travel.....and make them all FUN. Emotionally relatable. That is the magic Tenet is lacking. I don't think it was fun at all. It was like a project you were tasked to solve, with one catch......you aren't told what THE QUESTION TO THE RIDDLE IS...... If you don't know what they are asking of you, how on earth can you solve it, let alone have fun even if you tried.
@@stactionsmedia3318 yeah, you have no idea what you're talking about. If you "understand" a film after seeing it once, it's garbage. This doesn't even have anything to do with Tenet, it's just a fact. Every good film requires investigation, any director would tell you that. Sorry, your opinion is objectively wrong and childishly silly.
@@DetectiveTrupo203 If your.... theory....had anything to go by, this would suggest that the majority of all the good movies that were created since the inception of the movie business; Gone with the wind The sound of music The Godfather Rocky Scarface Goodfellas Jerry McGuire Shindlers list ....all these good movies suffer the same fate of incomprehension, that this mess of a film Tenet has lol. So in your mind, Jerry Mguire, an Oscar nominated movie, that everyone knows is good, about a sports agent played by Tom Cruise, needs to be watched a second, third, and fourth time, for audiences to comprehend what is going on or they will be confused? Hahahaha if you believe this, then you must be a "class A" fool.
9:58 speaking about baggage! Robert Pattinson also did an amaaaazing job considering my baggage with him is the entire Twilight series, Harry Potter, and The Batman (I watched Tenet after Batman). Maybe because his hair was blond and he was tan, but I didn't see him as Edward Cullen or Bruce Wayne at all. And those characters were huge main characters! It didn't even cross my mind while I was watching the movie. He really sinks into his roles.🍿💯
Tbf he was larping Christopher Hitchens which helps. look him up, hes....got a way of speaking thats very very distinct Pattinson clearly took inspiration
I've watched it 4 times and it was one of my favourite movies when I first watched it. Ngl, I understood it more the 3rd time I watched it than the 4th. Its just so much more than other movies normally are
my favorite moment/easter egg, and it's not until you watch it a second time, was when Neil and the protagonist first meet in the hotel lobby in Mumbai. Neil orders another vodka tonic and orders a diet coke for the protagonist. The protagonist tells Neil, "FYI i prefer soda water" then Neil smirks and says "No, you don't"
I also love how the music in that scene feels kinda ‘nostalgic’ if thats the right word. It doesnt seem to match the idea of their first meeting, but of course its because this is a reunion
@@watchdominion00 YES!!! It's the Neil's theme music in the movie, it is nostalgic all the time whenever his scenes come and it only makes sense because for him everything is just revisiting old times! :'D
Did you notice when they “met” in the theater opening scene? During the raid and ensuing gun battle, an unknown agent shoots one of the immediate threats to the protagonist and promptly turns and walks away, like he had just shown up to shoot that one guy. Notice his backpack as he turns to leave.
@@ReadABookAndLearn That was actually the last guy he shot. On a third watch, I realized Neil was the one picking key shooters off in the background. He shoots 2+ people chasing Protag, so he can successfully collect the bombs.