Christopher Nolan’s 2020 action thriller, “Tenet” isn’t the easiest movie to explain. Since its release, “Tenet” has gained a cult following among science fiction enthusiasts and Nolan’s fanbase. Furthermore, the film received positive reviews from critics and won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. However, as Entertainment Weekly noted, “Tenet” cuts both ways: it welcomes viewers into Nolan’s time-bending world while daring them to come out without a headache. The visual and technological brilliance can be both awe-inspiring and draining. Further, IMDb user reviews praise the movie for its solid performances, great action scenes, and an extremely complex and mind-blowing plot. If you’re watching it for the first time, be prepared to engage your sixth sense, as “Tenet” will challenge your brain cells.
In summary, “Tenet” demands active engagement and rewards those who enjoy unraveling complex narratives. Whether it’s hard to understand depends on your appetite for intellectual puzzles and willingness to dive into Nolan’s intricate storytelling.
Now, in 2024, as Tenet prepares to be rereleased to theaters on Friday February 23, Nolan gives a Tenet primer. In an intimate cinema sit down with TikTok’s “guywithamoviecamera”, Nolan explains how the physics of Tenet.
The film follows a former CIA agent who is recruited into a secret organization called “Tenet”. His mission is to trace the origin of objects that are traveling backwards through time and uncover their connection to an attack from the future on the present.
Well, this is the fun thing about TENET for me. It’s harder to talk about than it is just to watch it.
Christopher Nolan, February 19, 2024 with @guywwithamoviecamera
Nolan says its film about the direction of time, not time travel. And the direction of time is defined by entropy. There’s debate whether is physics about whether entropy defines the direction of time or just shows it. Machines in the film can change the direction of time for an object or person. Therefore, you’re mixing the two directions of time in the same scene or frame in the film.
You need to watch the TikTok above to see Nolan use a popcorn kernel to explain entropy. It also mirrors a scene in “Tenet” where the Protagonist holds his hand over over an inverted bullet that jumps into his hand.
Tenet 2024 Reissue
Riding high on the popularity and critical acclaim of Nolan’s 2023 historical epic “Oppenheimer”, “Tenet” is back in theaters this weekend. Tickets are on sale now on AMC IMAX screens. Looking at showtimes at AMC’s Tysons Corner 16 IMAX, the main 7PM showings Friday and Saturday night only have scattered seats left as of Tuesday evening. Other Washington, DC area AMC IMAX theaters show a similar scarcity of tickets.
“Tenet” originally opened on September 3, 2020. Further, it made history as the first Hollywood tent-pole to open in theaters during the pandemic.
Nolan is a major supporter of the movie theater experience. The “Dark Knight” director was among the first moviegoers to screen a movie on the first day Los Angeles movie theaters reopened on March 15, 2021.
