This review is tough for me to do. I am a Christopher Nolan fan. I am also a grandson of Hugo Gernsback the Father of Science Fiction for whom the Hugo Award was named. I am a sci fi fan.
Nolan received one for Inception. The Award was well deserved...and then some. Inception, Memento, and Dunkirk are my favorite Nolan films.
I was really looking forward to Tenet. Unfortunately, the film did not live up to my expectations. Nolan attempts to draw us in with a wild sci fi concept involving time travel. However, his failure to give any depth to any of the characters, especially to the main one who is literally the Protagonist makes the film appear flat. We have nothing invested in any of the characters. There is no pathos. No tension.
Nolan gets away with this in Dunkirk because it is not necessary. We know the history. In Memento and Inception we do get to know the characters. We are invested in them. It is really a shame because Tenet could have been much better had Nolan done just a bit more with his character development.
Should you see the movie. Perhaps the best way to answer that is to say that I don't regret having gone to see it. Why? I guess when it comes to Nolan, his productions, even this one, are so spectacular, the concepts so interesting, that I would be hard pressed not to give him a pass, even with the flaw I described.
Besides, it is hard to hit one out of the park every time.