Tenet Review & Covid visit to the CinemaIt’s been so long this thread has dust on it.. So it’s been a pretty bleak 6 months for the cinema industry and if I’m honest I haven’t fancied venturing out to the local Cineplex in that time.
However the advent of the new Chris Nolan (has he ever made a bad film?) film Tenet has brought me out of my Hertfordshire bunker. Sci-fi action thriller with time travel.. Did someone just make my ultimate movie?
As well as reviewing the film I thought I would give a TR of the experience of going to the cinema during these strange times.
The Galleria Hatfield Hertfordshire is a smallish shopping centre that houses a rather nice Odeon multiplex as well as a plethora of the usual suspect food chains.. Nandos,Harvester,Mcdonalds etc.
Entering the site at peak time on a Friday night (7Pm) the first thing that strikes is the emptiness of the large car park. Usually it’s filled to the brim and the large overspill area would also have lots of custom. Tonight however it’s not even half full.
Enter the building; it’s like a ghost town. Four or five people populate the main drag, even the big McDonalds (first premises as you enter) is nearly empty. Although the drive through has a queue longer than a cake sale at a weight watchers fete.
As I and my eldest daughter walk through we notice the large Frankie & Benny’s is all boarded up.. Chiquitos Burger King all virtually empty.
We go upstairs where they have a row of restaurants. There is a queue for Nandos,good to see something never changes and that people still get excited over chicken with three different sauces
Our destination is Pizza Express, booked in advance for some basic pre show fare.
Our masked server shows us to our booth but says we have to sit next to each other not opposite as we would be too close to the people in the next booth. It’s the first step of tilt. I hate sitting next to someone if it’s just the two of you especially as my eldest is blessed with the family shoulders. There are perhaps 20 patrons, not too bad. Despite the low numbers we don’t get a server for fifteen minutes. No real menus though, have to scan a code and look on our phone. The young girl server is hard to understand as she tries to talk through her surgeons mask. I understand all the precautions etc, however it doesn’t change the fact the whole experience feels uncomfortable. Food takes forever to arrive.. Pretty sure Pizza cooking time is not 35 minutes and we have to speed eat for fear of missing the start of the film which would just bring about a Hulk like rage.
I still tip the poor girl. It’s not her fault. I just hope she still has a job in four weeks time because if this is peak footfall on a Friday night there may be trouble ahead for the Hatfield Pizza Express.
Get the pre paid tickets from the machine don our masks for the cinema foyer and enter. I have visited this place many times for Fajita Fridays, it’s always bustling with people, they have a Costa inside too.Theres is always a queue, as there are at the cinema refreshment stands. Tonight there are four people in the foyer. The silver lining?..We get our big box of popcorn with little wait. I feel a little deflated. A busy foyer always adds to the experience for me.. Happy faces eager in anticipation of what’s to come, all usually buried in their phones oblivious to any social convention.
No one to check our tickets.. We plonk ourselves down.. no one ever checks our tickets. I’m beginning to wish I was more of a rascal. I think the total count of viewers is ten. Tenet is the biggest film of the moment and although released for a little while I would still expect more people here.
So to the film...
The film is 2 1/2 hours long which flies by. Seriously it does not let up from the very first scene. We like our hero continuously move forward at a pace from one set piece to another... through well planned heists to shootouts to full on major platoon assaults.
Much has been said about the complexity of the plot and how it will leave you scratching your head. An hour in and it feels formulaic..I’m understanding quite well what is going on and wondering what all the fuss is about. Sure there were a couple of weird bits but for the whole I’m feeling comfortable. and smug. Then it drops off a cliff into a land where you’re thinking to understand what’s going on has to become abstract and a degree in physics becomes a handy tool. Best advice, don’t think about it too much let this movie flow over you, revel in the excellent set pieces, fights and gunplay and hope your mind hangs on to enough for it to make some kind of sense. The time travel element when thought about (usually three hours later whilst laying in bed) is some of the most logical and well presented I have seen, but when I tell you in the same instance you have some people moving forward in time and some moving back, you can understand why your mind starts getting bent out of shape.
It’s a movie you probably need to see a few times and a you tube video that explains it. I know I must have missed so much in the detail because this thing gallops on unrelenting.
The cast is excellent.. The little known John David Washington was very good as CIA agent at the centre of this maelstrom of craziness. He was well supported by Robert Pattinson showing us his range is far more than teenage girl dreamboat vampire. Kenneth Branagh gave his best Ukrainian madman impression, a little over the top, coming across as a rather excited Teddy KGB. Elizabeth Debicki, the main Female lead, is a tall willowy blonde. So tall I had to look her height up.. Six two and she was wearing monster heels. Christ id come up to her knee cap ! She was ok..A touch wooden but such was the pace of the film this was soon forgotten as we enjoyed the ride.
So overall.. 8/10 fajitas.. To be fair its right up my street.. It may not be to some peoples taste due to the complex and confusing storyline, but it’s almost one of those movies you just have to see despite that. I enjoyed it immensely and no doubt will view it many times in the future.
As a whole though the whole Covid times experience was rather deflating. Coming out of the complex at 11PM, my vehicle was the only one in the car park like an unpopular child at playtime. The McDonalds drive in queue still stretched round the block though so looks like Ronald’s safe in these strange times. Seeing this reality is quite thought provoking and the need for us to come out of the other side more urgent than I thought.
I hope you guys also muster the energy to visit your local Cineplex in the near future..It needs you ..It really does.
8/10 Pizza Express Dough Balls
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