What is Tenet About? Nolan’s Tenet Movie Plot Explained

This assignment leads him to a secretive facility in which The Protagonist learns about the threat they face — inversion.

What is inversion? As we experience reality, we see objects and their entropy as they move forward in time. However, objects have been found in which their material has been inverted, causing them to move backward through time.

While this is demonstrated in the scene with a bullet, the real threat appears to be inverted nuclear weapons. Scratching your head yet?

The Protagonist teams up with Neil, played by a witty Robert Pattinson. The duo tracks down the source of these inverted objects to a Russian arms dealer named Andrei (Kenneth Branagh). To get closer to the ultra-wealthy and acutely suspicious Andrei, The Protagonist enlists the help of Andrei’s wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki). Kat loathes her abusive husband because of his threat to take her son away if she disobeys him.

Without diving into specifics and ending spoilers, what ensues is The Protagonist’s persistent attempt to prevent Andrei’s malicious plan of using inversion technology to end the world. All of which is framed by and achieved through inverted action scenes that have never been seen on the big screen.

Check out the extent of Tenet’s practical effects and Nolan’s unique storytelling in the exclusive behind the scenes video below.

The secrecy around the release of the film and the Tenet movie plot was thought to prevent any spoilers. Even with an early release of what seemed to be a Tenet prologue, many Nolan fans were left with more questions than answers.

To many critics, it appears that the secrecy may have had to do with the complexity of the film rather than mystery. Even the Tenet cast has had a difficult time answering the question, “What is Tenet about?”

The confusion, however, should not distract from the wildly entertaining scenes in the film. From reverse hand-to-hand combat sequences to epic gun fights to mind bending car chase sequences, Tenet demands your attention. The stunts, the effects, and the ambition of the film cannot be mistaken for any filmmaker other than Christopher Nolan.

Inversion itself is a difficult concept to wrap your head around. Objects and people being able to move backward in time through a forward moving reality? Got it… I think.

The film uses dialogue to extensively explain the concept and the plot (often to a fault). However, it is most entertaining when we are able to simply watch inversion play out on the big screen. The bizarre action sequences and car chases reminds us of the scale of film that drives us to the movie theatre. To quote the scientist that explains inversion to The Protagonist, “Don’t try to understand it. Feel it.”

There are undoubtedly flaws in Tenet that we have seen in Nolan’s past work. Overly expository dialogue, thin characters, and glaring plot complexity, the Tenet movie plot can become exhausting to some. Nonetheless, it still encompasses much of what audiences love about Nolan’s best films.

How does the movie Tenet stand against Nolan’s best films? Take a look at our analysis of Nolan’s best movies before watching Tenet to see if it ranks among his best or worst.

Tenet takes risks, pushes boundaries and allows us to escape through film during a time where reality seems to be stranger than fiction. While it’s reception may depend entirely on the viewer, one cannot deny the grip Nolan has on his craft and the passion he has for telling a completely unique story.