That line was spoken twice by the protagonist of Tenet. Well, he's not wrong. His name is Protagonist. I mean, why not just name him John Everyman?
Yeah, I let Tenet seep in my brain overnight and it didn't bode well.
It's sad that I think that this is the first movie that I've particularly negatively reviewed since The Rise of Skywalker. It's the first Nolan movie that I didn't like.
The "I'm the protagonist" problem with this movie is actually telling of the films greatest flaw and the pitfall that Nolan sometimes falls into which sometimes holds him back - he tends to, at times, value concepts over story and character.
Not knowing who the guy is, what his backstory is, what precisely his motivations are, all worked with the Joker. That just made him an unstoppable force of evil. Applying the same to your protagonist doesn't work. I was actively trying to give a shit about what happens to him and I failed to find my self giving a shit.
Yes, one of my favorite Nolan movies should at face value get the same criticism from me. Really, I defended Dunkirk from a lot of people who attacked it for not having that one character with whom you connect and experience the film with.
The thing is, Dunkirk worked because England was the character. I said when the film came out that Dunkirk is basically a Soviet film. Tenet doesn't work because we are supposed to experience the film with Protagonist. We are supposed to have that character to provide a certain visceral and vicarious core; but, he's as dull as a sack of bricks.
I think that Robert Pattinson gave the only great performance; but, he also had the only well written character.
Kenneth Branagh has been one of my favorite actors for years and he's fine in this movie. But, basically his motivation is power and the threat that he poses is something that he's unaware of.
Also, yes, I had no idea what I just watched or why I just watched it.
I'd like to think that this isn't a problem with my movie watching IQ. I've seen thousands of movies. I've been on hundreds of film sets. Part of my job is to be analytical about this stuff. Cinematographers need to be storytellers, too. We shouldn't just show up on set and make everything look as pretty as possible without taking context and character into consideration.
The thing is, I take joy in movies that make my brain work. I've probably seen 2001: A Space Odyssey twenty times and I still wouldn't claim to be able to tell you what the fuck was going on at the end. It doesn't matter though. The journey is incredible. It's something that pushes you to analyze and imagine and discuss every image. I don't know exactly what I'm watching with films like 2001 or The Tree of Life; but, I understand why I'm watching them.
At some point, movies manage to become so poetic that they're not supposed to be fully understood.
Tenet was not that nor was it attempting to be that.
This is Inception on acid. Tenet lacks the sympathetic protagonist with clear (although simplistic) goals and backstory. It's contrived and convoluted to the point of distracting from any substance that might actually exist in the film. It lacks the okay music of Inception. It lacks the brilliance of the bended-gravity hallway fight scene. It kept all of the confusion and contrivance and plot holes of Inception while ejecting anything human.
I don't want to dump on Nolan. What he did right - which he has been doing right for years - is not cater to the lowest common denominator. I'll always give people points for trying to push the envelope, take risks, do something original. Nolan is doing that. I'll always love him for that. I hope he never stops pushing. I hope he never decides to direct a damn Marvel movie just for the hell of it. I want to see more big movies from him that are original and daring and bold.
This just happened to be the movie on which he crossed a line of allowing the glitches in his craft take over the entire film. Nolan is infinitely better than this.
