A bombastic opening at an opera sees agent John David Washington (known only as The Protagonist) steal a mystery object which then gets taken from him by a shady Russian cartel. Washington then joins a secret organisation who proceed to explain the discovery of a future technology that allows objects (and people) to move backwards through time.

Washington recruits Neil (a posh-speaking Robert “next Batman” Pattinson) and together they uncover how Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh) is dealing in reversed time bullets on the black market as well as the dangerous object taken at the start. Their best bet to infiltrate the Russian’s circle is through Sator’s wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki) who is currently being blackmailed into continuing their loveless marriage.

The set up is typically Nolan-esque with espionage and fanciful time escapades thrown in from the outset. It moves at a fast pace, but character development is jettisoned to give time to rather dull explanations of its complex plot. I hate to say it but I even smirked when some “lofty” dialogue began to echo the god-awful Architect in Matrix Reloaded, whose overtly ridiculous delivery of the intricate storyline stopped that film dead in the water.

But there’s plenty of time made for exciting action set pieces which is where Tenet’s flair shines. From sling-shotting themselves up skyscrapers, crashing a jumbo jet and high-speed car crashes, the action is visually stunning – with some of the sequences later run again but this time with fantastic reverse photography.

A huge plus though is the score from composer Ludwig Göransson. His already impressive work for Creed, Black Panther and TV’s The Mandalorian will be bolstered with this phenomenal soundtrack of pulsing beats, rhythmic thumps and huge aural booms that shook the cinema I watched it in. This is one film where the sound really does need to be turned up to be enjoyed.

With this great sound and the aforementioned great visuals, it’s a shame then that there is a lack of real feeling in Tenet. Nolan has a history as a “cold” director in the mould of Kubrick but none more so starkly than here. With little context of characters’ backgrounds (intentionally so at times, to be fair) and worse, their motivations, disengaged me from the pumping time-flipping chases contained within. 

The ticking clock of a doomsday device was as bland as a bad Mission Impossible flick and the stakes became significantly lowered as my connection to these underwritten characters faded. The end of the world never felt so safe. 

And although the time-twisting final battle sees exploding buildings being re-built as fast as they are destroyed, the face-less bunch of soldiers taking part exacerbated the lack of empathy with its bunch of unidentifiable nobodies. 

The acting was suitably excellent across the board however – especially Debicki who gets the meatiest role and character arc – and the sound editing and visual editing are all top notch as we’ve become accustomed to from the director.

Manipulating time, the 150 minutes in length felt just about right but even as an average Nolan film in his career, Tenet is far better than most films in the genre. Nolan never fails to shy away from complicated ideas and structure. But too convoluted this time? Possibly.

But I am sure the film is exactly as he envisioned it. The codes, secret cyphers and encrypted puzzles are all present and his innovative take on standard Bond-esque adventures is a pleasure to watch unfold. Yet for me, with its focus on the film’s narrative protocols over emotional substance, Tenet ends up as food for the brain but not for the soul.