Here's everything the special Tenet theatrical preview - which is playing in theaters with 10th anniversary screenings of Inception - reveals about Christopher Nolan's new sci-fi movie. As hard as it may be to believe, it's now been (or is that only been?) a decade since Nolan's mind-bending tentpole Inception premiered in theaters, ushering in a new age of smart mainstream sci-fi cinema. The plan was originally for his new sci-fi offering, Tenet, to bow almost exactly ten years to the day after the former opened back in mid-July. Of course, due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, that ultimately wasn't possible.
Instead, Inception's 10th anniversary screenings kicked off in select countries (including the UK) on Wednesday, August 12, ahead of their domestic launch a week and a half later on August 21. It's all part of the build-up to Warner Bros. unconventional staggered rollout for Tenet in select international markets towards the end of this month, following by a planned release stateside in areas where movie theaters have reopened over the Labor Day holiday frame. Obviously, that's assuming WB doesn't change its plans, what with theaters in New York and Los Angeles still closed (and unlikely to reopen anytime soon), and the COVID-19 numbers continuing to rise substantially across the U.S.
Those who attend Inception's re-release screenings will also get a special sneak peek at Tenet as part of the event. Here's a breakdown of every major detail the preview has to offer (as confirmed by those who've already seen it).
John David Washington is The Protagonist (Literally)
BlacKkKlansman's John David Washington stars in Tenet as The Protagonist, a character who undertakes a mission into a "twilight world of international espionage", as the film's official synopsis puts it. His role is similarly listed as "The Protagonist" in the Inception preview for the film, raising the question of whether the real name of Washington's character is a spoiler or simply unimportant to the movie's plot.
The trailers for Tenet show Washington as The Protagonist undergoing what appears to some kind of test or initiation ritual that allows him to a secret organization that specializes in dealing with unprecedented threats. This sequence is already being compared to the "Blue Pill/Red Pill" scene from The Matrix, in the sense that it takes the main character away from the mundane existence they once knew and into a much wilder world of possibilities. As such, it's possible The Protagonist's former life and true identity no longer matter after this happens (presumably) early on in the film - something that, in turn, would explain why Tenet doesn't bother to give him a proper name either before or after he becomes a time-inverting spy. And on that subject...
Tenet is About Time Inversion, NOT Time Travel
Something the cast, crew, and marketing for Tenet have been keen to emphasize is that Nolan's movie is about time reversal or inversion, not travel. Audiences will probably have to wait until they see the film to get a deeper explanation of how this process works in the Tenet universe, but the trailers (the Inception preview included) offer some hints. For example, as seen in the movie's Chinese trailer, Washington's character "is inverted, but the world is not," (as the voice of an off-screen character is heard saying), causing a puddle to react differently than normal to him when he steps in it. Likewise, in another scene, Clémence Poésy's scientist (?) Laura teaches The Protagonist how to use his newfound abilities to catch bullets with his gun, as opposed to shooting them.
Thankfully, if Nolan's previous sci-fi movies are anything to go by, Tenet will thoroughly explain the rules of how time inversion works in this universe through expository dialogue, allowing The Protagonist to serve as a conduit for the audience (similar to how Ellen Page's character Ariadne functions in Inception). The Inception preview also confirms Tenet is, at its heart, a personal story about family, much like Inception and Interstellar before it. This is very much a recurring theme in Nolan's filmography, even outside of the sci-fi genre (see also: Batman Begins): for all their tricky plotting and big spectacle, his films usually have a simple, yet touching and meaningful, message about parents and children at their core.
Scenes Were Shot Both Forwards & Backwards
Since the movie's very premise involves reversing or inverting time, it's no surprise the Tenet marketing has been full of footage showing things happening in reverse motion (be it a car crash or a gunfight). According to the Inception preview, Nolan accomplished this by shooting several scenes in the film two separate ways: once in regular forward motion, then with all the actors doing everything backwards. He's far from the first director to employ a trick like this; famously, for example, the weirdness of the Black Lodge scenes in Twin Peaks was achieved by having the TV show's actors perform all their lines and movements backwards. Still, it'll be interesting to see what this kind of practical effects work looks like when done on a big-budget scale, which also brings us to our final point...
No Green Screen Was Used, Only Practical Effects
Nolan is already well-known for preferring to use practical effects as much as possible on his films, but he's apparently gone to new extremes with Tenet. According to the Inception preview, the movie doesn't feature any green screen at all, with the various effects having been accomplished through practical means instead. Bear in mind, that doesn't necessarily mean Tenet avoids using CGI to touch up or enhance certain visual elements. If nothing else, it's a testament to the fact the film was photographed on location in multiple countries around the world, including places like the UK, India, Norway, Italy, and Denmark. This also seems to be a nod to the movie's biggest set pieces, which includes wrecking a real-life airplane (as costar Himesh Patel confirmed in a previous interview).
On the flip side, Nolan's devotion to practical techniques over CGI has been validly criticized as a form of snobbery that reinforces the belief that practical effects are always superior to digitally-rendered ones. In truth, practical effects can look just as phony as computer-generated ones, and a lot of CGI shots are integrated so seamlessly into films nowadays that viewers never even notice them (see: the surprising amount of green screen in recent movies ranging from Best Picture Oscar-winner Parasite to even Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again). With that being said, a lot of effort has clearly gone into making Tenet this way, so hopefully the final result will be as impressive as the marketing has propped it up to be.
