Tenet 4K Blu-ray Review & Comments

Casimir Harlow

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Thanks for the review @Casimir Harlow. I got this on Blu-ray and for those wondering the picture is also superb in 1080p/SDR. As you say the bass is sensational too! I have to profess though that I had to up my centre channel level for the first time in ages by about 3dBs as I was struggling to make out the dialogue before. After that it was fine and you really need to pay attention to the dialogue as it goes past you very fast!
 
If you ignore the science and all the dialogue (as its very muffled and mumbled in places) and just watch it for what is, a couple of amazing visual set pieces then its great.

9/10

But if you actually try and understand the science and listen to whats said then its really just flashy garbage.

5/10
 
Not that I particularly enjoy seeing women getting kicked to the floor, but the cut status means I'll be importing :(
 
Watched this last night and really struggled to love it and I'm a big Nolan fan,just didn't care about the characters or their motivations.
Sound and picture absolutely sensational though and had to turn my amp down at least 12 notches from reference it was that loud!
 
Indeed, all the bass, all the time :D

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I watched the disc last week. My comments below are a summary of my scattered thoughts and comments from the movie thread.

This is one of the most astonishing feats of film making I have ever seen. How does someone even come up with the concept, never mind write it, plan it then execute it. The story is about as far out as I've ever seen without psychedelic colours.

The story is about the manipulation of time (obvs) which leads to the manipulation of entropy.
Having knowledge of events to come and using it to your advantage changes the natural order of things. The reversal of entropy being one of those things. The film itself has its own villainous mission where people in the future are carrying out a real time experiment to test the hypothesis of the Grandfather paradox. This is why the protagonist insisted on nothing being written down or stored anywhere for their final mission. That's why none of them could survive with the knowledge they have. If the events are not recorded and no-one is around to describe them, then it is like they didn't happen. Of course the events did happen, but the information effectively dies.

I've only watched it once so far but I found answers to many of the questions in the film. I'm a Quantum Physics wannabe so I did follow along most of the plot (maybe if I was a real scientist I wouldn't lol). But there is also so much here that I'm sure I've missed some clues which will likely reveal themselves on a second watch. The story gives you as much information as the Protagonist has, no more, no less. By the end of the film he knows a little more than us, but not that much, Whatever loose ends are left hanging for us, is more or less the same for him and that is also a deliberate part of the story.

The very first thing you notice when watching this film is the sound. It hits you instantly, the LFE, the balance, everything. We complain about Nolan not accepting Atmos/DTS-x mixes, but an up-mixed Nolan DTS-HD track sounds as good as many proper DTS-x mixes. The dialogue is fine for the most part. Where it isn't, it's deliberate and if you watch the film you will see why.

The picture quality is typical Nolan, filmic and full screen. If you've seen a Nolan film there really isn't much else to say.

Nolan is one of very few directors who would or could even attempt to do something like this. What he was attempting here is nothing short of amazing. I'm going to go a little arty-farty and say that the concept, story, visuals and audio make this a film making tour de force.
 
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The very first thing you notice when watching this film is the sound.

The first thing I noticed was the main character's beard - I spent most of the film just wishing he'd get a shave, it looked ridiculous and doesn't suit the character. It became such a pet peeve of mine that I really didn't care for the character at all - which, since he is the main man of the film was a bit of a shame!

The next thing is the muffled dialogue, or rather the overbearance of all the other sound, neutering the dialogue.

Oh, and the story isn't that good!

B- Mr Nolan. Could do better!
 
The next thing is the muffled dialogue, or rather the overbearance of all the other sound, neutering the dialogue.

Oh, and the story isn't that good!

B- Mr Nolan. Could do better!
Beard aside lol, I had absolutely zero issues with the dialogue except where it was deliberate. Later on in the film you get to hear what was actually said. But that was the disc on my half decent sounding system. This mix makes my "budget" system sound like the main Cineworld Atmos theatre. Your average local cinema has crappy audio, so....
Some movies you can watch several times or more. This is one of them.
Definitely in terms of discovering more of the story. But the only issue I have is if I will ever get around to it lol.
 
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I watched the iTunes 4K stream on a 1080p tv and this film looks and sounds immense, the film itself is outstanding. Brilliant.
 
Psst, it's 2.20:1 and 1.78:1 :)

Dammit, I actually knew that whilst watching it, but was too busy cribbing up on tech specs from the cameras they used and multiple aspect ratios at the cinema for the tech specs tab on the review that I didn't go back and change the text. Have to say, I didn't really find it distracting at all in watching..

Any chance you could confirm the exact running time? I believe the international version is 02:30:10
The UK version got 9 seconds cut off?

Yup, I'll try and pop it on later and check.

Indeed, all the bass, all the time :D

Wow, those are some crazy graphs. I don't think I've come across another disc quite this bass-expressive.
 
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Nice review Cas.....

Still even though the quality of the disc is excellent the movie is not and therefore an easy pass for me......saves me money to buy another disc say Blade :D
 
errm?

Do you really want me to throw up the graphs for those as well ;)

Hah, you're right but I think I found this somehow even more intense.

Only real way to be sure is for me too... watch them all again over Christmas.

There goes the neighbourhood. Literally.
 
Thanks for the revie Cas. - this is top of my Disk rental list. Need to find time to watch Whiplash & get the last discs back & will get it! :)
 
Watched this last night and whilst i enjoyed it for the most part it just didn't grab me the way Nolan's other movies have. I just didn't really care for any of the main characters, with the possible exception of Robert Pattinson.
The dialogue muffled/over powered just gets on my t*ts. Even more so for such a complex subject matter.
I will re-watch at some point but for now I'm not in any rush to.

Inception/Interstellar on the other hand, i need no excuse to re-watch those :D
 
We complain about Nolan not accepting Atmos/DTS-x mixes, but an up-mixed Nolan DTS-HD track sounds as good as many proper DTS-x mixes.
I completely agree. For me, Dunkirk upmixed is nigh on a perfect Audio track.

Speaking of beards, I couldn't stop staring at Kenneth Branagh's face. It was the most perfectly shaped and consistently even beard I've ever seen :laugh:
"A Branagh's beard is never too long, nor is it too short, it is precisely the length he means it to be"

Do you really want me to throw up the graphs for those as well ;)
Careful throwing up those graphs, please; some may have sharp edges!

By the way, A Very Merry Christmas to you! :thumbsup: 🍾🎄
 

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