The next big film coming out that I really want to see is Tenet. I am looking forward to getting that Nolan experience in Tenet. I’ll explain what I mean by that in this article. Tenet is finally released in cinemas in the U.K. on August 26th after all the delays. The U.S. will have to wait a little longer until September 3rd to see Tenet, but that’s not too long to wait. The question is, will fans actually brave the theater to go see Tenet or not? Will some fans instead choose to stay at home and wait for Tenet to be released digitally.

One thing is for sure. If fans don’t turn up in droves to see Tenet, it will probably be released digitally far quicker. Whereas if Tenet does well at the box office, It could be a while before fans can catch it at home. So, with Tenet almost upon us, I thought what better week to talk about this movie in my weekly column full of fan expectations? It was also a bit of a challenge to write about Tenet, even a week before release. The reason for that challenge is that we fans know so little about Tenet it’s really hard to say what I want from the experience.

However, perhaps experience is the right word, and way to navigate around what I, and maybe some other fans are looking for in Tenet. Let’s find out.

The Nolan Experience

My geek friends group and myself are all big fans of Nolan’s work. The Prestige, Interstellar, Inception, and The Dark Knight Trilogy are all top films for us all. There is just something compelling about the Nolan experience and the way he draws you into a movie. Right now, I’d say there is no other director out there making movies like Nolan right now.

So for me, one of the things I look forward to with a Nolan movie is the discussion and debate after we’ve seen it. There are always different messages that individuals take away, and quite often I’ve seen a scene from another angle by listening to the way a friend processed a moment differently than I did. A Nolan movie should be the kind of movie that when the end credits roll, you want to go straight back and watch it again. Not necessarily because it was the greatest movie of all time, though for some of my friends, Interstellar was the best movie of the decade. But because there is always information held until the last act which makes you look at the beginning of the movie in a different way.

I genuinely look forward to watching a Nolan movie more the second time at home, once the veil has been lifted. That’s also usually after a lengthy debates about that first watch we had at theaters. But just what is Tenet even about?

Tenet

Here is the trailer for Tenet, I’ve watched it a few times as perhaps you have as well. I still have no idea what I’m looking at, but whatever it is I love it. Inception was bonkers, Interstellar more bonkers still, but Tenet looks bonkers enough to take the title.

“All I have for you is a word, Tenet. It’ll open some of the right doors, but some of the wrong ones too.” What does that mean? Well tenet is of course a palindrome, does this indicate (considering the time manipulation) that the movie also works as a palindrome? I.e. Is the movie the same both forwards and in reverse? There’s no doubt Tenet is going to twist our minds, but just how would you even go about making a movie that works as a palindrome? Perhaps rather than the entire movie working as a palindrome, it’s the fact that the time manipulation sequences do instead? For example, the car chase we see in the trailer kind of works both ways.

As for the word tenet itself? Apart from being perhaps the most famous palindrome tenet also means a principle or belief. Normally we would associate this word with a religion or an organization. Well, it appears like star John David Washington is recruited into an organization by committing suicide. This appears to pass a test the character didn’t know he was taking and time is somehow reversed to bring him back to life. Whatever organization this is, seems to have a way to manipulate time itself in a localized environment. However, I’m guessing so do the antagonists. I feel like the whole movie may have an important section in the middle where the tables are turned on the protagonists, using their own tech. Yeah, that would kind of make the whole movie a sort of palindrome as well, curious?

Less Is More

When you break down everything shown in the various trailers, it appears to reveals a lot at first glance. In reality though, there is nothing there. We could be seeing scenes that do not make sense in the order we are shown within the trailer. There are some shots that look to be from the same scene that I’m not sure really are. Is it therefore possible this movie could at times show us the same sequences twice, once going one way through time and once more going back? Where would we end up at the end? Why would anyone invent this technology and why would its use be so secretive. Who decides when to use the time manipulation and why? Do they investigate crime scenes looking for information, and then let the event play out? Or, do they attempt to actually prevent certain events from happening, if so, why?

So many questions and there are no answers unless they lie in your imagination. I consider myself someone with a good imagination, so I can kinda picture how this could all work. Not with enough clarity, however, to even confidently predict I am correct. Less is more, it’s the intrigue and mystique of Tenet which draws us in. Fans want that mystique because that is part of what makes Nolan movies special, this is part of the Nolan experience in Tenet that I want.

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When you watch Tenet, after you leave the theater you want to feel like you are one of the few who finally understand what this all means. That usually for me means waiting for my colleagues here at LRM, or my friends to watch it so we can geek out about the movie. Tenet shouts out that you are going to get the Nolan experience in this movie. Nolan almost teases the audiences into submission with this trailer. No one knows if this is a movie you would normally enjoy. All we know is, it’s Nolan, it has action, looks fantastic, and bat-sh** crazy to boot. Frankly, that’s enough

Wrap it up, Fanboy

The only worry for me with Tenet is Coronavirus. Do I really want to see Tenet so badly I would risk going to a theater to see it? If this was last year, I wouldn’t even have blinked, my tickets would have been ordered and I would be there opening weekend. Now though, I’m not so sure? There are only two movies on the horizon this year I would even consider a theater visit for and that’s Tenet and Black Widow. However, will Black Widow even happen in November? I could see that getting delayed again, though that’s pure speculation on my part. Is Tenet then going to be the taste test that all the other studios are waiting for? If fans won’t turn up to see Tenet, then they won’t turn up to see other movies either possibly?

So do I go see Tenet, for fear of missing out when everyone else is discussing it afterward? Or, do I gamble on low box office forcing the movie very quickly onto digital and just rent it? I don’t yet have an answer to that question. I want that Nolan experience in Tenet, I want to see it. Do I want it enough to go and sit in a movie theater by myself during this time? I guess we will find out in a week’s time.

What do you want to see from Tenet? Are you going to see it in theaters or wait to see it at home? Are you looking for that Nolan experience in Tenet like me? Leave your thoughts below as always.

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