TENET

A palindrome that redolently focuses on “the present being attacked by the future”; monumentally taxing, I suggest not trying to decipher the convoluted, premise of inversion; just enjoy the fecundity of director Christopher Nolan’s imaginative display of endogenous variables; pandering to brainiacs, those, whose wired acuities, grasp the dynamics of the ancient Sator square, a four-directional palindrome. Or do as I did, relax and allow the beautiful, bludgeoning, topsy-turvy, backward and forward, inverted, extroverted ocean of improbability, delightfully numb one’s senses, allowing waves of wonderment to drown sensibilities, celebrate the fantasy and doff prescient reasoning.

Sublime casting infuses the scenario with a legitimacy that seals the believability factor: John David Washington soars as “The Protagonist” a CIA operative, pledged to save the world; Robert Pattinson (“Twilight” image erased by his insightful character interpretations) “Neil” enigmatically ardent; Elizabeth Debicki, at 6’3 is toweringly impressive, even though minimally defined, art expert “Kat”, married to the bestial bad-guy, perpetrator of the world’s demise, “Andrei Sator” (Sator square), played to pernicious perfection by Kenneth Branagh.

It is the filmmaking, hair-raising chases, explosions, packed in a landscape of staggering stupefaction: Italy, England, Oslo, India, Estonia (opening scene features Linnahall, Tallinn), that transcend the elaborate, impenetrable labyrinthine of Nolan’s creation. “Tenet”, with a subtle creepiness, in today’s pandemic environment, resonates with the aura of doom: things can get worse, much worse.

THREE & ½ STARS!!!

Peneflix