Tenet was largely seen as one of Christopher Nolan’s rare missteps, but it wasn’t the movie’s confusing time travel plot that was the problem. Nolan’s career took off with his striking mystery Memento and his underrated crime thriller Insomnia. However, it was his venture into the world of Batman that made him a fan-favorite filmmaker.

By the time Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy had wrapped, he was established as the most popular director in Hollywood and a filmmaker whose name alone made a movie a must-see. This also led to Nolan’s blockbusters getting more ambitious, like Interstellar and Inception.

The trend of big and bold concepts gradually led to Nolan making Tenet, a movie that is seen by many as his most disappointing feature. Nolan rebounded with the Oscar-winning Oppenheimer, but looking back on Tenet, there is a lot of misinterpretation about just what went wrong.

Tenet’s Confusing Nature Was Blamed For Its Struggles

Tenet’s Time Travel Ideas Are Not Easy To Follow

Along with a 70% on Rotten Tomatoes, Tenet simply does not have the same adoration from Nolan’s die-hard fans as his other modern classics. Its less enthusiastic reception caused many to quickly blame the complicated sci-fi plot for turning audiences off.

The movie stars John David Washington as the mysterious Protagonist, a CIA operative who is tasked with infiltrating the inner circle of an arms dealer in possession of weapons that are being sent back and forth in time, leading to an attack on the present coming from the future.

Even the short explanation of the plot is complicated, and the movie only gets more confusing as it introduces new time travel elements and rules. Tenet‘s complex timeline also includes instances of the audience seeing moments they’ve already seen but from a new perspective.

Certainly, it is a confusing sci-fi adventure that requires the audience to pay close attention and maybe even watch it twice to really get a grasp on what’s happening. However, what is preventing the audience from connecting with the movie goes much deeper than Nolan having ambitious ideas.

The Real Problem With Tenet Was The Characters

Christopher Nolan Leaned On Cliché And Shallow Characters To Carry The Complicated Plot

The reality is that Tenet features the least compelling and least developed characters in Christopher Nolan’s career. Instead of carrying the complex plot, these characters drag it down as the audience is unable to engage with them or care about what their outcome is in the story.

The major issue is John David Washington’s Protagonist. While the character’s name is meant to be intriguing and mysterious, it’s reflective of his lack of personality. He is a tool to move the plot rather than a character we are supposed to be rooting for. Washington has moments of charisma, but they are fleeting without having much to work with.

Other characters are similarly shallow and retreads of clichéd characterizations seen in many movies. Kenneth Branagh’s villainous Sator is simply an evil man who threatens and snarls his way through the movie as an obstacle to overcome. Elizabeth Debecki is wasted as Kat, Nolan’s misguided damsel in distress character.

It is as if Nolan didn’t want to distract audiences from the complex plot, and therefore, gave them simplistic characters to focus on. Robert Pattinson’s Neil is the only character who stands out, mostly thanks to the performance, but the plot still requires him to be kept at a distance to maintain the mystery.

Given the plot, it was essential that Nolan had strong characters to guide the audience. Whenever the exposition got too complex, they could have leaned on the characters to keep interest in the story. It is not that the plot is too confusing, but that, without good characters, all that remains is confusion with no emotional anchor.

If The Characters Are Good, Nolan Fans Will Excuse Confusion

Inception And Interstellar Successfully Blended Complex Ideas And Emotional Depth

It may be true that some fans found Tenet to be overly confusing, but it is certain that it would not have been so detrimental to their enjoyment if there were stronger characters. This is hardly the first time Nolan has challenged audiences with confusing plots, but that makes the absence of good characters in Tenet all the more noticeable.

Inception‘s multi-leveled dreamscape is the kind of concept audiences need a diagram to really understand, yet it was Cobb’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) determination to see his family again, the emotional journey of Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy), and the charisma of Eames (Tom Hardy) that make the movie so enjoyable.

Interstellar explores the complexities of theoretical physics, hardly an accessible subject, but tells a central story about a man feeling grief over leaving his daughter behind. Within this bold sci-fi movie are some of Nolan’s most human and emotional moments. He has the ability to mix both aspects, but he doesn’t pull it off in Tenet.

Where Tenet Ranks In Christopher Nolan’s Filmography

Tenet Is Not A Bad Movie, But A Bad Christopher Nolan Movie

Even with the lack of emotional connection and strong characters, Tenet still has the spectacle of a Christopher Nolan movie. As frustrating as its shortcomings are, it is far from a bad movie. It is only when considering Nolan’s entire filmography that it becomes a disappointment, as it ranks close to the bottom.

Tenet is perhaps a more rewatchable and entertaining movie than his debut feature, Following, but that movie was a microbudget indie that served as Nolan’s admirable first attempt. The Dark Knight Rises is another ambitious Nolan project that is filled with issues, but the scale and the characters are more effective.

Tenet has terrific moments and thrilling set pieces, but when looking at grand masterpieces like Oppenheimer, Dunkirk, and The Dark Knight, it feels like a lesser movie. Nolan’s upcoming The Odyssey will certainly have the ambition typical in a Nolan movie, reported to be his most expensive to date, and hopefully, he remembers why audiences love his stories.