- "All I have for you is a gesture in combination with a word: "Tenet." It'll open the right doors, some of the wrong ones too."
- ―Fay to The Protagonist
Tenet is a 2020 film that is directed by Christopher Nolan.
The film stars John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh, Martin Donovan, Fiona Dourif, Yuri Kolokolnikov, Himesh Patel, Clémence Poésy, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
The film was released on September 3, 2020.
Synopsis[]
Armed with only one word, Tenet, and fighting for the survival of the entire world, a Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time.
Plot[]
The Protagonist assists in a Central Intelligence Agency operation to foil an opera siege and retrieve a stolen cache of plutonium in Kiev. During the operation, the plutonium is found to be fake, but the Protagonist is saved by a masked gunman with a red string on his backpack. The Protagonist is then abducted and threatened with torture, but he bites on an apparent suicide pill before revealing any information. Upon waking, The Protagonist learns the pill was a test of his loyalty. He is recruited into a secret organisation, given only the information that the word "TENET" and a cross-fingered gesture will "open many doors" for him.
The Protagonist infiltrates a facility where he learns that in the future, technology has been developed that allows objects to have their entropy reversed and move backwards through time. The Protagonist is shown an inverted bullet that 'returns' to the gun it is fired from.
Tracking the metal from which the reversed bullets are made, The Protagonist infiltrates the compound of an Indian billionaire, with the aid of Neil. He learns that it is in fact the billionaire's wife, Priya, who knows what is happening. Priya tells the Protagonist that the time-reversing technology is under the control of an arms dealer named Andrei Sator, who is in communication with an unknown agency in the future.
In order to get to Sator, The Protagonist approaches Sator's estranged wife Kat. Kat tells The Protagonist that Sator has her under his control due to a forged painting that she gave to Sator. The Protagonist tries to win Kat's trust by retrieving the painting from Oslo Airport Freeport. To do this The Protagonist's associates (including Mo) crash an airplane into the freeport as a diversion. Unfortunately the painting is not in the freeport, and The Protagonist and Neil are attacked by a regular masked man and 'inverted' masked man (both of whom escape). It is later revealed that these are the same man using a turnstile (see below) located within the freeport.
The Protagonist returns to Kat and pretends the painting is "taken care of"; Kat introduces him to Sator at a dinner party. The Protagonist offers to steal weapons-grade plutonium for Sator. The next day, Sator reveals to Kat he still has the painting, which leads to her attempting to take his life, which The Protagonist prevents since he needs Sator alive. Sator attempts to abuse Kat in retaliation but she rebuffs him with her gun.
The Protagonist and Neil prepare and execute the first phase of stealing the plutonium. They successfully remove the plutonium from a government convoy, but are then interrupted by an inverted vehicle and several regular ones. Sator's plot gradually becomes clear: he is operating a "temporal pincer movement" - the regular vehicles watch what is happening, and then relay the information to the inverted vehicle to act on with the benefit of knowing what will happen (and vice versa).
Sator captures The Protagonist and takes him to the nearby "temporal junction" (where inversion occurs). Sator interrogates the Protagonist and shoots Kat (who is with him) in the abdomen via inverted bullet, before leaving in the inverted vehicle (Sator himself now inverted). Special Forces arrive and secure the scene. The Protagonist inverts himself via the "temporal stile" or "turnstile" located within the temporal junction, follows the inverted Sator, and rescues Kat but at the expense of the plutonium.
The Protagonist returns to the temporal junction (still inverted) and confronts Neil, who admits he is a member of Tenet as are the Special Forces unit. They reveal that the plutonium is actually one of nine pieces of The Device. In the far future, a scientist creates the ability to invert the entire world, as a desparate way to escape the effects of climate change by inverting to move backwards in time (and overwrite the past in the process, creating the Grandfather Paradox). The scientist however sees sense and splits the Device into nine pieces before it can be used, inverts each piece so that it can (temporally) travel far away from those in the future who want to use it, and suicides.
Meanwhile, Kat is dying from Sator's inverted bullet. Special Forces confirm it will take about a week of Kat living inverted to stabilize the infection, which fortunately is the amount of time that has passed since the Protagonist and Neil robbed the freeport (which has a turnstile they can use to reverse the inversion). The three - the Protagonist, Neil and Kat - therefore travel backwards in time to the freeport, and use the airplane crash to get inside and to the turnstile. It is revealed that the masked man the Protagonist fought earlier is actually the future inverted version of himself, clearing the way for inverted Neil and Kat. All three un-invert successfully.
The Protagonist visits Priya and urges her to tell his earlier self not to visit Sator (since at this point the future Protagonist is visiting Priya before the earlier Protagonist). Priya reveals that she intended The Protagonist to lose the plutonium/Device piece to Sator, since it was the last one he was looking for, and therefore will now bring all the pieces together in one place for Tenet to remove by force.
Priya reveals that the place Sator brings the Device together is a Soviet-era city, on the same day as the Kiev operation at the start of the movie. The Protagonist, Neil, Kat and Special Forces therefore invert (through off-screen means) and travel back to that day. Kat reveals that Sator is dying from inoperable pancreatic cancer and so has turned omnicidal, believing that if he is to die he would prefer to spread death to all humanity. The Future is therefore using Sator as their way of setting off the Device, for their own aim of inverting the world (see above).
Special Forces operate a temporal pincer movement in the Soviet-era city. The official aim is to prevent a bomb going off, which is used to seal the Device away so it can be safely launched. The unofficial aim is to fail to prevent the bomb going off, but cause enough of a distraction to allow splinter group to achieve their objective. The "splinter group" aim (which comprises of SF leader Ives and The Protagonist) is to disarm the Device, and then allow the bomb to go off, which means Sator will believe the Device is secured. Since Sator has tied the Device activation to his death, he would then suicide but in vain. Kat is sent to be with Sator (pretending she is an earlier version of herself) to make sure he doesn't set off the Device before splinter group have achieved their objective.
The official and unofficial aims succeed. However, The Protagonist and Ives are held off by Sator's men. A soldier appears to rise from the dead and kills Sator's men - it becomes apparent that this is an inverted SF soldier who is (from their perspective) killed saving the splinter group. Kat kills Sator to prevent him the satisfaction of believing he died succeeding, and splinter group deactivate the Device just in time.
Neil catches up with The Protagonist and Ives at the end of the battle. Neil says he will invert to save the splinter group, meaning he will become the SF soldier who dies. The Protagonist also realizes that Neil was the masked gunman at the Kiev opera siege who saved his life back then. Neil mentions that the entire Tenet operation is a temporal pincer movement - "I'll see you at the beginning".
The Protagonist and SF leader Ives divide the Device between themselves to bury away. The Protagonist inverts and prevents Kat being killed by Priya (who was attempting to tie up loose ends) by killing Priya. The Protagonist reveals his revelation - "you thought I was working for you but we've both been working for me" - he is the founder of Tenet.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- John David Washington as The Protagonist
- Robert Pattinson as Neil
- Elizabeth Debicki as Katherine Barton
- Dimple Kapadia as Priya
- Michael Caine as Crosby
- Kenneth Branagh as Sator
- Adam Cropper as Young Sator
- Martin Donovan as Fay
- Fiona Dourif as Wheeler
- Yuri Kolokolnikov as Volkov
- Himesh Patel as Mahir
- Clémence Poésy as Barbara
- Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Ives
Supporting Cast[]
- Juhan Ulfsak as Passenger
- Jefferson Hall as Well-Dressed Man
- Ivo Uukkivi as Uniformed Official
- Andrew Howard as Driver
- Rich Ceraulo Ko as SWAT/Target
- Jonathan Camp as SWAT 2
- Wes Chatham as SWAT 3
- Sander Rebane as Ukrainian SWAT
- Josh Stewart as Male Voice (Voice)
- Denzil Smith as Sanjay
- Jeremy Theobald as Steward
- Tom Nolan as Shipley's Representative
- Laurie Shepherd as Max
- Marcel Sabat as Gaunt Russian
- Julia-Maria Arnolds as Nanny
- Jack Cutmore-Scott as Klaus
- Anthony Molinari as Rohan
- Tony Christian as Gold Bar Thief
- Jan Uuspõld as Blue Co-Pilot
- Kaspar Velberg as Police Operator
- Sergo Vares as Police Supervisor
- Rain Tolk as Policeman Passenger
- Henrik Kalmet as Medic
- Sean Avery as Red Soldier 1
Gallery[]
Posters[]
Photos[]
Clips[]
Trailers[]
Soundtrack[]
Trivia[]
To be added.
External links[]
Tenet at Wikipedia- Tenet at the Internet Movie Database
