Kyle Kizu from The Hollywood Reporter and several others have had to dig a little bit to really find out what Christopher Nolan’s new film, Tenet, is all about, but there are a few things that have been discovered so far. What’s known at this point is that it will have a great deal to do with the world of espionage and that it will be coming to theaters in 2020. Apart from that Nolan is keeping things close to the vest as the saying goes, as usual. Some people might bristle a little at that but quite honestly it’s the best way for any filmmaker to keep the secrets they don’t want the public knowing before the movie makes its debut. Too many movies have been ruined or otherwise compromised by ‘leaked’ news and footage that has given people a better idea of what’s going on and what they can expect. So far it would seem that Nolan and his cast and crew have been keeping the secret without any noticeable leaks.
According to Kieran Fisher of Film School Rejects, Nolan has admitted to a very Bond-like influence to Tenet as the world espionage seems to draw heavily from the James Bond films at times and will be no different in this regard. Unlike the Bond films however this one will no doubt cling a little more tenaciously to reality and not go so over the top as some folks are thinking. Nolan has shown in the past that he has a great eye for taking on a story that is capable of being grounded more in reality than fantasy and is a gritty version of something we’ve seen a hundred times before. In this manner he’s become the kind of director we truly want since he doesn’t ascribe to the over the top madness at all times unless it’s warranted for the film he’s shooting at the moment. Even his Batman trilogy went darker and more down to earth than we’re used to and in some cases people loved it since it brought a very realistic touch to something that had been given over too much to fantasy in the past. Yes his ideas still seemed fantastical and beyond the realm of reality, but given that Batman is a fictional story it still managed to be brought back down to ground level where parts of it could at least be seen as realistic and easy to believe.
One thing that is getting people excited about this is the cast that’s already been revealed since Nolan has managed to pull some very notable names such as Robert Pattinson, Kenneth Branagh, Elizabeth Debicki, Michael Caine, and several other noteworthy individuals. While the cast doesn’t always make the movie what it is, the names that have been added to the list are still impressive enough thanks to the fact that they’ve been seen as leaders in the acting world at one point and time and are considered to be some of the best. In terms of a spy movie it’s going to be interesting to see how a few of them perform since Pattinson is still the type of character that many figure to see in a drama or romance story. The fact that he’s up for the role of Batman still hasn’t really changed the minds of many people since Twilight, despite being in the rear view, is still how many people look at the actor and gauge his performance. In many ways it would seem that he might begrudge his time with the series but at the very least it did give him a serious boost to his career. Now if he could prove that he’s worth more to Hollywood than to be remembered as a glittering vampire with teenage angst problems he’d be the superstar that a lot of people believe him to be. This movie seems to be set to make that happen since with a cast the size and caliber as the one that Nolan has compiled there doesn’t seem to be a lot of belief that Twilight will be what people are still talking about when all is said and done.
As a director Nolan has proven himself many times over by now even with movies that people have thought were less than his best. The awards and acclaim that have come as a result of his vision are nothing short of inspiring since it seems like not that long ago that a lot of people didn’t know all that much about him. These days even the mention of his name makes a lot of people light up since they realize that he’s done some very spectacular things on screen and has the skill to keep bringing us the type of entertainment we tend to crave so often.
