It has been a long time coming, but the latest film from master auteur Christopher Nolan is finally here, and Tenet seems to be proving to be the daring director's most complicated, and arguably most divisive to date. It is a thrilling and entertaining sci-fi epic, as well as an insanely impressive feat, but it is also emotionally cold, and a film that may prove too confusing for some to enjoy.
One aspect of the film that falls into both the positive and negative outlook on the film, depending on how you view it, is the twists and turns the plot takes along the way. Some were spoiled by the trailer or predictable overall, but some did shock us.
Twist - Tenet Is An Organization
It is hard to say that this is the universally biggest twist ever, as there were a few fans who believed Tenet was some kind of organization. Still, the majority did not have a firm theory, with so many seeming plausible.
It is not confirmed until the very end of the movie that Tenet is an organization, some theorized that it would be a codeword of some sort, or something totally different, but that final reveal both makes sense and would be a good jumping-off point for a sequel.
Seen Coming - Rocky Relationship Between Sator & Kat
Many Nolan-isms exist in his filmography, such as intercuts, time being a factor on the narrative or the narrative structure, and a central male character who is struggling with one issue or another, a wife/partner in some distress is another.
Whether it be that they had issues of their own, or if the relationship between them is strained, the 'ism' appears again here, with Kat's life pretty much reduced to pining for an everyday life away from the abusive, controlling Sator and back to her son who is getting kept from her. This relationship is something most fans could see coming, and it got established early.
Twist - The Protagonist Is The Founder Of The Organization
Going hand in hand with the Tenet organization reveal is the fact that it was the Protagonist who founded the organization, in turn pretty much creating the events of the film.
This is another twist some would have saw coming, but considering how late in the movie it came, literally right at the end, and how few people could confidently proclaim they knew how this confusing movie would go down, it was a pretty good twist which once again points to a potential sequel.
Seen Coming - The Protagonist Hired Neil
This is a bizarre situation, and one that points to both how complicated, yet masterfully crafted the film is despite its flaws. But, thanks to the trailer, many, many people predicted the Protagonist hiring Neil.
Some thought it would get seen in the movie, with the Protagonist finding and hiring Neilbased on a recommendation or knowledge of the future/past, and some thought it would be a Neil died, and the Protagonist had to go back to hire him type of situation. Nevertheless, a lot of people predicted this.
Twist - Neil Lied
This twist is why the previous one is a bit strange. While many predicted the Protagonist hired Neil, it was still surprising when, in the film, Neil revealed he had been lying and was in on what was going on.
Numerous times it was presented to audiences that Neil was not in the know of the time inversion/potential WW3 stuff, despite one or two hints that he did. Neil explicitly states that the time stuff was something he shouldn't know; he was lying to the Protagonist, with this getting revealed when he bursts in with troops to save the Protagonist.
Seen Coming - The Protagonist Captured & 'Killed'
Part of this could get considered a twist as the Protagonist never actually died; however, everything else was so obvious and so widely predicted that the idea itself is not a twist.
The trailer pretty much reveals that the Protagonist gets caught and, at the very least, nearly died. Most were not sure if it was by suicide or by murder, but most knew he got captured, and the trailer makes clear he is in a hospital/coma of some sort, which it turns out he was.
Twist - Kenneth Branagh's Intention & Motivation
The trailers and promotional material for Tenet numbed fans to a lot of things as well as revealed quite a lot of things, but one big thing it switched was the threat in the film.
It seemed clear the massive threat of the film from the antagonist would be World War 3, a cold war. Branagh's Sator presents a far more plain, sick threat, the instantaneous wiping out of the world by way of the algorithm with a dead man's switch. He is dying of inoperable pancreatic cancer and wants to take the world with him.
Seen Coming - The Protagonist Fights The Protagonist
One of the very best scenes in the movie - or rather two of the best, one moving forward and one inverted - is the fight in the hallways of the airport in which the Protagonist fights and Neil chases, a masked figure, before unmasking him and running back to save his life.
It gets revealed later during the inverted version of the scene that the masked figure is actually the Protagonist, something that becomes very obvious at the moment where Neil sees who it is and runs to stop the Protagonist from shooting him.
Twist - Neil's Role
A lot of the twists, both obvious and shocking, have to do with Neil, who is incidentally played brilliantly by Robert Pattinson, despite him not being the main protagonist. He is crucial to the events of the narrative.
At the climax of the movie, many things are revealed, including Neil's role in the events of the film. He was the man who saved the Protagonist in the opera house as confirmed by the red string on his bag, this same string showing us that Neil is the man who died so that Ives and the Protagonist could get the algorithm. Neil gives his piece of the algorithm to the Protagonist and goes on to complete his loop, knowing that version of the Protagonist will hire him, and the two will go on many adventures.
Seen Coming - Pathway Between Forwards & Backward Moving Timeline
The time inversion aspect of the film was by far the most intriguing thing going into it, and many fans were speculating the details of how it worked and what its purpose was, etc. From the trailers, and various hints and shots, many fans deduced a pathway between two timelines would be the key.
That turned out to be exactly right, with the color symbolism of red and blue everybody pointed out showing two different timelines, one where time moves forward, and one where the entropy of objects and people is inverted, and the door between the two is a turnstile.