I went to the movies last week post-quarantine. It went mostly as expected, but I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
When I drove up to the establishment, as you could imagine, there were very few cars and no one walking around or waiting in line for a ticket. Honestly, I preferred it that way. The only unfortunate thing was that they were only accepting cash, and being that we are moving towards contactless payment, it kind of threw me off. Not to mention, the workers were awfully kind to me, which I don’t usually experience when I go to the movies. So far, so good.
Walking into the theater was a bit surprising as well being that I assumed I would be the only one there. Granted, there were probably only two people sitting behind me at the very top, but I did plan to be alone. Overall, the experience was basically like a regular day but with empty seats.
The movie I went to see was absolutely amazing. “Tenet” was created by Christopher Nolan, who also created the movie “Inception.” Hopefully that gives an idea of how this movie played out. I went in without knowing anything about the movie except that it was apparently “very good.” It had been months since I had seen a really good movie, so I was open.
The movie started out very confusing. I felt like I was watching a personal documentary of a Rubik’s Cube. Literally, nothing made sense and there seemed to be no plot, only great imagery which I still can appreciate. Maybe an hour into the movie something finally switched and every question I had was finally being answered.
The movie was playing backwards the entire time. I have no way to explain that without telling the entire movie, and there just isn’t enough time for that. Christopher Nolan wrote this movie so perfectly that not only were the characters in the movie confused, but the audience was confused with them, which made the revelations so much more intense. I felt like I was being tricked and I loved it.
John David Washington played the main character, “Protagonist,” who was supposed to be dead after taking a fake suicide pill. Hence, why he never gets a name. He gets pulled into the outside of time where he learns about time traveling in the sense of making events that are supposed to happen, happen. Typically, time travelling is thought of as going back and forth through time, but Nolan’s idea is that people just sit on the outside of it. They do not live as regular people or travel back and forth through time, they have just lived through the event already unknowingly, so when the time comes, they know exactly what to do.
I have to say that Washington’s performance was surprisingly very well done. I know it makes sense that he’s such a great actor being that his father is Denzel Washington, but from his slightly comedic background I did not expect anything serious from him. There were moments that seemed a little forced and did not come naturally, but his acting didn’t take away from the plot. Not to mention his co-star, Robert Pattinson, who acted as his support throughout the movie and enhanced each scene he was in.
I don’t mean to sound ignorant, but I did not notice Pattinson in the movie until the end because of how great his acting was. I’ve only ever seen him in the “Twilight” series, and I did not expect his career to progress much past that, but I was quite impressed.
This movie, especially during COVID-19, was immaculate to say the least. Since the outbreak, I had low expectations for the film industry and actually feared that I would never see great content ever again. “Tenet” restored my faith and I can honestly say that if they can pull a movie off that well during these times, life might actually be going in the right direction.
