After Months of Delays, the First Round of ‘Tenet’ Reviews Are Finally Here

Tenet will hit theaters worldwide starting August 26.

After months of delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Christopher Nolan‘s long-awaited movie Tenet will arrive in some American cities on September 3. Preview screenings, however, will take place this weekend.

Little by little, reviews streamed in on social media. The consensus? It’s an objectively beautiful film that may be just a little conceptually ambitious.

“Does your head hurt yet?” writes Kevin Maher of The Times. “That line is delivered late into the twisty-turny proceedings of this globetrotting, jaw-dropping, and delightfully convoluted big-screen blockbuster. My head, however, was hurting long before that.”

Despite the confusion, Maher gives the film five stars out of five. Robbie Collin of Telegraph does the same. “Don’t try to understand it,” the review advises. “Just rewind and enjoy the ride.”

Writer/director Ben Mekler gave Tenet and Nolan heavy praise. “I was truly floored by this film,” Mekler wrote. “Nolan is operating at a different level here, with intelligence permeating every aspect–the action, the music, even John David Washington and Robert Pattinson’s performances…another remarkable masterpiece by Christopher Nolan, in every sense of the word.”

The film will be the first movie released in American theaters since the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was shot on 70 millimeter film and IMAX. The film currently has an 88% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Critics familiar with Nolan’s past work say Tenet trumps them. “The spinning top of Inception and the endless void of Interstellar have nothing on the grand intrigue that is Tenet,” writes Canadian film critic Peter Howell. “Christopher Nolan’s most challenging film, and also his most satisfying.”