Whatcha Got For Me – 3/13/2025 – Tenet, RED, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Tenet – Dir. Christopher Nolan (2020)

Since the first trailers for Tenet came out back in 2020, I assumed that it would be an “emperor’s new clothes” moment for writer-director Christopher Nolan. Maybe this time, Nolan’s style has run its course. After all, his previous films Inception, Interstellar, and Dunkirk all had reputations for being mind-bending and confusing films that blend intense action with sincere melodrama. Not only that, but Nolan and Warner Brothers pioneered Tenet as the film to get people back in movie theaters in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, once the film came out, Tenet garnered a reputation for being overly complex nonsense combined with an audio mix that, to this day, many viewers cannot understand and require subtitles. Tenet does indeed follow Nolan’s formula to a tee. However, I cannot stop watching and thinking about it.

Given the complexity of the in-universe rules, Tenet does require surrendering yourself to what is happening instead of asking why things are happening. Once the flow clicks, Tenet proves to be a hypnotic experience where you see things that few films have shown before. 

At its core, Tenet is a buddy-cop spy story starring John David Washington and Robert Pattinson as members of an organization called Tenet that is tasked with preventing the end of the world via an irreparable reversal in time. Many scenes feature the two sharing the most baffling of techno-babble that is unseen since the heyday of Star Trek on TV and then the most visually pleasing of cinematic spectacles. What makes this pattern work is the efficiency of how the characters’ immediate needs are communicated. Near the middle of the film, our spy duo needs to steal a piece of a weapon from an armored truck while it drives on the highway. Now, the specifics of the plan, such as the weapon, organizing the heist, who is on whose side, and the motivations of the bad guys are all spelled out in detail, but it’s easy to get lost. Once the scene starts though, it’s easy to break down the scene into a simple logline: good guys take a weapon from bad guys on a train.

The film truly clicked for me during one of the final scenes in which (spoilers) our Protagonist and Robert Pattinson’s character Neil part ways, knowing that Neil is a time traveler and is going to die in the past to protect the future due to … reasons. For Neil, their friendship is over. For the Protagonist, the friendship has yet to start. In this moment, Tenet tells us that it (and presumably Christopher Nolan) believe that the future is something worth fighting for, even if it requires sacrifice.

RED & RED 2 – Dir. Robert Schwentke / Dean Parisot (2010 – 2013)

OK, so I’ll try to make this one brief since I do not have a ton to say about either one of these films. The premise for this series is pretty great: get some classy but old and washed-up actors and put them in an action movie. The problem with both films, but especially the first one, is that they play everything so safe and eventually the action and plot feel incredibly sterile. Since most of the cast for these movies are so family-friendly, it feels as though there is always a tight leash on the whole affair. The ‘bad guys’ can’t be so bad to the point of unlikability and the ‘good guys’ can’t be too over-the-top to the degree of being unrelatable to a mass audience. 

What we are ultimately left with are two movies that are fine. Back in the 90’s and 2000’s, these would be the perfect TV movies. Just something to hop into in the middle of and still have a decent time. By modern standards, these are mostly forgettable, but if you still want to watch them, you might get a few chuckles. 

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – Bethesda Softworks (2024) – Xbox and PC

I’ve been a major fan of the Indiana Jones films ever since my mother showed them to me when I was about ten years old. I also have very fond memories of playing Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb on my original Xbox back in the day. Needless to say, I was very excited for this to come out and even though I’m still early on, I am not disappointed.

What came as a pleasant surprise to me is that The Great Circle is mostly a puzzle solving adventure game with only a few moments of actual gunslinging spectacle. You will often find yourself sneaking around Nazi-occupied towns and talking to people. Games based on both Indiana Jones and James Bond have historically fell into the trap of being focused on combat and yet, with The Great Circle, you really feel like how the Indiana Jones character acts during the films.

Even though hit plays second fiddle, the combat is fairly satisfying. This is thanks, in part, to the sound design copying the films, but it also holds up mechanically. Swinging your fists involves tight timing while evading enemy attacks and improvised melee weapons have the right amount of heftiness.

I may end up reviewing the game once I have finished it, but for now, I can still give it a hearty recommendation for Game Pass subscribers and anyone else who is looking for a change of pace and a solid story.