TENET

[TheVileOne]

Kat is not inverted in the yacht scene. She just travelled back to a moment shortly before the events on the yacht (because future Sator travelled back there as well to kill himself), then got re-inverted (off-screen). The events on the yacht flow forward, not backward.

I can't wrap my head around it.

Spoiler

So does Sator ever meet with himself when he's inverted and than reverts to normal? I'm just confused why he would invert himself to move back in time than revert to normal time and go where he'd likely interact or encounter himself which is apparently dangerous with this while inversion flow. I was so confused by that final act with the yacht. Like we clearly saw Katherine earlier in the movie diving away from what appeared to be Sator's murder. Like Katherine thought it was his mistress when the woman she saw was her right? So the one she murdered was the displaced inverted Sator from later in the movie? I still don't get why he's on the yacht and then another Sator is on the yacht? Or was this simply a matter of time being altered? I'm so confused.

I still have no idea why they needed an army at the end, who they were fighting, why they needed an inverted team. It all seemed very convoluted. The ****ty sound mix didn't help at all.

 

[Filmfan93]

I can't wrap my head around it.

Spoiler

So does Sator ever meet with himself when he's inverted and than reverts to normal? I'm just confused why he would invert himself to move back in time than revert to normal time and go where he'd likely interact or encounter himself which is apparently dangerous with this while inversion flow. I was so confused by that final act with the yacht. Like we clearly saw Katherine earlier in the movie diving away from what appeared to be Sator's murder. Like Katherine thought it was his mistress when the woman she saw was her right? So the one she murdered was the displaced inverted Sator from later in the movie? I still don't get why he's on the yacht and then another Sator is on the yacht? Or was this simply a matter of time being altered? I'm so confused.

I still have no idea why they needed an army at the end, who they were fighting, why they needed an inverted team. It all seemed very convoluted. The ****ty sound mix didn't help at all.

The Sator on the yacht is the future Sator (with whom we spend almost the whole movie with). He travelled to that moment in time on the yacht, because that's when he and Kat were the most happy. He wanted to kill himself while being in that peaceful moment. He was careful enough to not encounter his past self or past Kat (which sailed away on the small boat). When future Kat arrived, he didn't know it was that version of her, he simply thought it was the past version on the boat and that she had returned to the yacht for whatever reason. Kat was also careful enough not to get spotted by any past versions of either her or Sator.

Past Kat, however, saw a glimpse of future Kat jumping from the yacht, not knowing it was herself all along. That Kat will grow to be our Kat from the film, that will travel back to the yacht moment. It's all a closed loop.

As for the final battle, the blue team is inverted. They have already experienced everything that the red team will experience, hence why they can inform (visually) of everything that's going to happen. For example, Niel sees Volkov creating an ambush at the cave entrance (in reverse), which allows him to re-invert himself and warn TP and Yves upon entering the cave (which doesn't work, but still a simple example of how everything works).

 

[Mysteryman]

So,did Nolan get the concept of entropy right or, did he repurpose it for the film?

 

[Longshot777]

The Sator on the yacht is the future Sator (with whom we spend almost the whole movie with). He travelled to that moment in time on the yacht, because that's when he and Kat were the most happy. He wanted to kill himself while being in that peaceful moment. He was careful enough to not encounter his past self or past Kat (which sailed away on the small boat). When future Kat arrived, he didn't know it was that version of her, he simply thought it was the past version on the boat and that she had returned to the yacht for whatever reason. Kat was also careful enough not to get spotted by any past versions of either her or Sator.

Past Kat, however, saw a glimpse of future Kat jumping from the yacht, not knowing it was herself all along. That Kat will grow to be our Kat from the film, that will travel back to the yacht moment. It's all a closed loop.

As for the final battle, the blue team is inverted. They have already experienced everything that the red team will experience, hence why they can inform (visually) of everything that's going to happen. For example, Niel sees Volkov creating an ambush at the cave entrance (in reverse), which allows him to re-invert himself and warn TP and Yves upon entering the cave (which doesn't work, but still a simple example of how everything works).

Yup and PAST Sator is going to the Opera and will be gone for the day.

The only thing that bugs me is that IF you actually put time stamps on it then this whole INVERSION rule falls apart.

Example:
Let’s say during the Sator shooting Kat scene...Inverted Sator shoots her at 12:28 then both Sator goes to Turnstile at 12:30 ....Inverted Sator experience backward time and shoots her 12:28 like before BUT then Protagonist and Tenet goes to Turnstile to be inverted at 12:33 .....so couldn’t The Inverted Protagonist just wait in the same place 5 minutes to 12:28 to stop Inverted Sator in shooting Kat??????

 

[Schlosser85]

I haven't seen the movie yet but just reading you guys' posts like this is making my head hurt.

 

[Broseph44]

I haven't seen the movie yet but just reading you guys' posts like this is making my head hurt.

Same here

 

[TheVileOne]

The Sator on the yacht is the future Sator (with whom we spend almost the whole movie with). He travelled to that moment in time on the yacht, because that's when he and Kat were the most happy. He wanted to kill himself while being in that peaceful moment. He was careful enough to not encounter his past self or past Kat (which sailed away on the small boat). When future Kat arrived, he didn't know it was that version of her, he simply thought it was the past version on the boat and that she had returned to the yacht for whatever reason. Kat was also careful enough not to get spotted by any past versions of either her or Sator.

Past Kat, however, saw a glimpse of future Kat jumping from the yacht, not knowing it was herself all along. That Kat will grow to be our Kat from the film, that will travel back to the yacht moment. It's all a closed loop.

As for the final battle, the blue team is inverted. They have already experienced everything that the red team will experience, hence why they can inform (visually) of everything that's going to happen. For example, Niel sees Volkov creating an ambush at the cave entrance (in reverse), which allows him to re-invert himself and warn TP and Yves upon entering the cave (which doesn't work, but still a simple example of how everything works).

How would he know they were most happy in that moment when Katherine hates and despises him?

 

[TheVileOne]

I haven't seen the movie yet but just reading you guys' posts like this is making my head hurt.

If you think your head is hurting, how do you think mine feels? Imagine watching it with the film's terrible sound mix and character's just mumbling all their words, dialog being obscured, or sounding outright muffled.

 

[Filmfan93]

How would he know they were most happy in that moment when Katherine hates and despises him?

Sorry, he was - not her. My mistake.

 

[dark_b]

Finished the movie 10 minutes ago.

Spoiler

in the middle of the movie i was expexting the end twist that Pattinson is Debicki son. i guess not hehe

 

[TheVileOne]

Spoiler

I mean they did sort of create a method for time travel in the film.

 

[Mysteryman]

Spoiler

I mean they did sort of create a method for time travel in the film.

I Prefer to do that sort of thing in a Delorean.

 

[Gold Samurai]

How would he know they were most happy in that moment when Katherine hates and despises him?

That also brings up another point.

What if Sator traveled to their wedding day? What if that was his happiest day? It's entirely convenient that both husband and wife choose the day on the yacht.

 

[BatLobster]

Finished the movie 10 minutes ago.

Spoiler

in the middle of the movie i was expexting the end twist that Pattinson is Debicki son. i guess not hehe

It's probably the most popular and most debated theory on the film. I think Nolan definitely was aware people would think that, and purposefully didn't put in anything to directly confirm or contradict it. Definitely up to interpretation IMO, though there isn't much to support it other than a gut feeling.

 

[childeroland]

That also brings up another point.

What if Sator traveled to their wedding day? What if that was his happiest day? It's entirely convenient that both husband and wife choose the day on the yacht.

I think it's more that Kat knew he was most happy then and would choose that day to kill himself/trigger the algorithm.

 

[Doctor Jones]

I thought the same thing about Pattinson. I forgot to mention it. Did anyone else think that?

 

[TheVileOne]

I think it's more that Kat knew he was most happy then and would choose that day to kill himself/trigger the algorithm.

How does she know he felt most happy in that moment?

 

[childeroland]

The film never explains. I assume she just knows her husband that well, but she never says how she knows.

 

[Brother Jack]

A nice little write-up on Nolan's recent films including Tenet that makes the case for Nolan as an optimistic filmmaker, as opposed to the bleak/dark one he's often labeled as.

'Tenet' and the Past and Future of Christopher Nolan | Hollywood Reporter

I've never thought of Nolan as a pessimist. With a few possible exceptions I think every one of his films is imbued with emotional and narrative catharsis, each having happy (or bittersweet) endings more or less.

 

[Schlosser85]

I've never thought of Nolan as a pessimist. With a few possible exceptions I think every one of his films is imbued with emotional and narrative catharsis, each having happy (or bittersweet) endings more or less.

I’ve never thought of him as emotionless either. I mean, Interstellar is openly very emotional, and IMO there’s plenty of emotion in TDKR (however flawed it might be) and Inception.

 

[Stringer]

The film never explains. I assume she just knows her husband that well, but she never says how she knows.

For a controlling scumbag like Sator his happiest moment is also his wife's. Doesn't matter if she shares that feeling.

 

[Eddie Dean]

Finished the movie 10 minutes ago.

Spoiler

in the middle of the movie i was expexting the end twist that Pattinson is Debicki son. i guess not hehe

I don’t think time travel works like that in the film, though? If you where to invert yourself you would continue to age as you travel backwards in time, correct? So if spoiler where to go back to when he was a child at age 30 he would end up being 60 years old?

 

[Blade Hoarder]

You gotta appreciate the physical performance Washington gives in this movie. His running has and sprinting has an urgency you don’t see in most movies. I’ve only seen it done better by Tom Cruise.

 

[Gothamsknight]

Just bought the 4k release. My god, this movie is so gorgeous in 4k, just like Nolans other films. this is my 3rd time watching it, btw, and I still really enjoyed it. I did notice that i actually had a harder time understanding the dialogue on my soundbar than I did in the cinema, which surprised me.

 

[shauner111]

I finally saw a proper blu ray version. I was literally turning the volume up and down dozens of different times throughout the movie it was that loud. I still understood what ppl were saying but the music is waaaay too high. I’m convinced Nolan is going deaf.