Last night, Warner Bros. releaseda brand new trailerforChristopher Nolan’s upcoming original filmTenet. It was exciting and explosive and hella confusing. If you can succinctly explain the plot ofTenetto me right now, I have no choice but to assume you are an astrophysicist.
But the trailer wasn’t the onlyTenet-related thing that was released last night. Warner Bros. also dropped a new official synopsis for the movie, and if you thought that trailer was confusing, wait until you read this. Here’s what the official plot ofTenetis, as described by WB:
John David Washington is the new Protagonist in Christopher Nolan’s original sci-fi action spectacle “Tenet.”
Armed with only one word—Tenet—and fighting for the survival of the entire world, the Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time.
Not time travel.Inversion.
What. The. Hell.
Okay first of all, there’s the fact thatJohn David Washington’s character is named Protagonist, as evidenced by the capitalization of the word. This synopsis uses the world Protagonist as a proper noun, which could be hinting towards some meta-textual layers baked into the DNA ofTenet’s story. Is this a time-related movie about storytelling?
Second of all, whileRobert Pattinsonrecently broke the news thatTenetisnotabout time travel, that trailer feltverymuch like some sort of time travel was involved. This synopsis doubles down on the “well, actually” of Nolan’s time travel rules, noting that they’re not traveling through time inTenet. They’re inverting it.
There were references in that trailer to slowing or stopping the flow of time to change the future. I’m pretty sure onlyDan HarmonandJustin Roilandunderstand what that means, so I’m not even gonna attempt to venture a guess. But, much like the trailer, this synopsis intrigues more than it explains.
And I’m fine with that! I enjoy not knowing exactly what movie I’m going to see. It’s rare to be genuinely surprised these days, and leave it to Christopher Nolan to make a movie that literally cannot be understood in its marketing.
I’m tickled by the idea that Nolan made a spy movie on his own terms. He didn’t just craft a James Bond ripoff, he layered an international espionage tale with time-bending mechanics and possibly even a fourth-wall-breaking narrative.
In short, this newTenetsynopsis only makes the movie that much more confusing, and I am here for it.
As for when we’ll seeTenet, Warner Bros. hasn’t officially moved the film off of its July 17th release date just yet, but the trailer conspicuously left out an exact release date, only noting that the film will be coming to theaters. So don’t expectTenetto surprise drop onHBO Max.
For a deeper dive into Christopher Nolan’s madness, check outeverything we know aboutTenetso farandour ranking of all his previous films.
