It's taken a long time to get here--and for many people, it's not even here yet. But Christopher Nolan's hugely anticipated movie Tenet is now screening in theaters around the world, and is set to arrive in selected US cinemas next week. Reviews for the film are now out, giving us an idea of what critics think of Nolan's new mind-bender.

　　In any other year, Tenet would have been one of many big Hollywood movies hitting theaters this summer. Nolan is one of the few directors who can command a huge budget for an entirely original movie--the only films that usually cost more than $200 million to make are sequels or those based on existing, popular properties. But Nolan's hugely successful track record, from the Batman movies to the likes of Inception and Dunkirk, has ensured that Warner is seemingly happy to give the filmmaker what he needs to get his extravagant vision on the screen.

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　　Now Playing: Tenet Stars Robert Pattinson and Elizabeth Debicki Discuss Their Mysterious Characters & Favorite Games Ever

　　Of course, this isn't any other year. Tenet was moved back from its initial July release date, but while many of the year's biggest movies have been pushed to the end of the year or into 2021, Warner stayed firm with its commitment to a summer release. When it became clear that many American theaters would not be open in time, the studio announced that Tenet would first roll out internationally, and then come to the theaters and drive-ins in the US that were open in early September.

　　As for the film itself, it stars John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, and Kenneth Branagh. While the storyline has been wrapped in secrecy, the first trailer, released back in December, suggested that it would be a spy thriller with huge action set-pieces and a time-travelling plot. The second trailer revealed more of the film's massive globe-trotting scale. The movie currently has 71% on GameSpot's sister site, the review aggregator Metacritic. So what did the critics think about Tenet?

　　TenetDirected By: Christopher NolanWritten By: Christopher NolanStarring: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki , Kenneth Branagh, Dimple Kapadia, Aaron Taylor JohnsonRelease Date: September 2 (US)

　　

GameSpot - 9/10

"Tenet is a mind-bender of a movie that has action galore, characters you can for the most part connect with and understand, and a time travel story that doesn't get bogged down in the details and just lets you enjoy the spectacle. It all climaxes with a final action scene that ties together loose ends, intelligently uses the 'inversion' mechanics, and delivers a big, Inception-style twist that connects the dots and provides a level of clarity that feels eye-opening."-- Eddie Makuch [Full Review]

　　

Entertainment Weekly - B+

"Because as much as Tenet succeeds at being visually and technologically dazzling, it is more often than not almost unbearably draining. Like most Nolan movies, it refuses to come up for air."--Nicholas Fonseca [Full Review]

　　

Vulture - No Score

"Complexity for complexity's sake is seemingly at the heart of Tenet. It is mostly entertaining but undeniably baffling: Many will return to its intricacies in order to make sense of it. It is ready-made for endless Youtube explanations and theories. Near the close of the film, The Protagonist tells Branagh's super-villain that what's wrong with him is that he 'doesn't believe in anything outside himself.' Funny enough, Nolan is committed to a similar rationale: He is enraptured by his own cleverness, ready to pummel and dazzle his audience into abject submission. Anything to distract from the fact that that Tenet is a locked puzzle box with nothing inside."--Christina Newland [Full Review]

　　

The Guardian - 5/5

"Perhaps Tenet is not finally as challenging as his other temporal disruptor, the early masterpiece Memento from 2000, but there are such amazing moments in it--symmetrically recurring fist-fight scenes, revisited from different viewpoints, in which the combatants are apparently governed by different time-flows: one forward, one backward. It shouldn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. What it makes is amazing cinema."--Peter Bradshaw [Full Review]

　　

The New York Times

"The kind of hugely expensive, blissfully empty spectacle it is difficult to imagine getting made in the near-to-medium future, now a fascinating artifact of a lovably clueless civilization unaware of the disaster lurking around the corner. Seek it out, if only to marvel at the entertainingly inane glory of what we once had and are in danger of never having again. Well, that and the suits."--Jessica Kiang [Full Review]

　　

IGN - 8/10

"Tenet is not Christopher Nolan's masterpiece, but it is another thrilling entry into his canon. But while it does tread new ground, Tenet is the 'safest' film from Christopher Nolan in some years. Following two recent ambitious movies from the filmmaker, Tenet feels a little conservative, as if Nolan’s style is a franchise rather than a framework. Despite this, it remains more interesting than most other tentpole movies and acts as a beacon for the director's strengths."--Matt Purslow [Full Review]

　　

The Hollywood Reporter - No Score

"Altogether, it makes for a chilly, cerebral film--easy to admire, especially since it's so rich in audacity and originality, but almost impossible to love, lacking as it is in a certain humanity."--Leslie Felperin [Full Review]