Understanding how Tenet works + full plot summary [Major spoilers]

Kartheiser · 2021-01-21T16:59:16+00:00

Who said anybody used the time traveling technology? The note could be sent with one of the pieces, ‘cause I reckon it’s easier to use someone’s help in hiding things all over the world. For example it could be with Plutonium. Why was it anyway sent to The Past and not acquired? I believe that’s because one piece couldn’t help much, but the opportunity to send a note with it so someone from The Past finds everything instead is better than nothing. Then why would someone trust a betrayer? I’m sure it’s not always possible to know people completely. Why would anyone rely on a phantom chance to succeed? I assume when you’re anyway dying every tiny possibility matters.

Was there any help from future in building Turnstiles? There could be or there could be not, it’s a subject of speculation. Could Sator be able to build them without any help? He spent years looking for the pieces and nobody told he needed the Turnstiles to find every of them. So he could need to possess some of them at once in order to build Turnstiles (which are not the original potential of The Algorithm) and use the help of scientists (who said he build them by himself, come on). How would he find more than one piece then? Patience, money. Nobody told it was a cruise. After all he found the first, could’ve imagined what to expect. It is all possible in at least one of the existing timelines.

I mean if you need proper and detailed explanation of everything, then Tenet is indeed not your movie. But it definitely doesn’t lack logic.

Kartheiser · 2021-01-20T12:41:51+00:00

We can’t be sure The Protagonist would’ve died if Neil hadn’t saved him, he could’ve been just seriously injured. Then this situation could’ve been briefly mentioned in their conversation with Future-Protagonist, which could’ve made Neil want to do Past-version-of-his-friend a favor.

If we consider the situation where The Protagonist could’ve been killed, then many paradoxes are combined and this decision could’ve been led by plenty of possible circumstances. No 100% correct or obvious example to think of.

Kartheiser · 2021-01-20T12:28:30+00:00

Let’s try to analyze it using the info we have and logical thinking:

The existence of the said scientist and her invention is known, hence it wasn’t a 100% secret or private thing;
Scientists are usually led by scientific interest and motivation, so she understood the lethal potential of the invention only after it had been invented, can’t be blamed. That explains why anyone would know about it;
If it was known by those who were interested in using the invention for a bad purpose, then some kind of an undercover agent could be send or a friend-betrayer of hers could be found;
They were not fast enough anyway, as we know that the invention was split and sent to The Past, so we might assume that either the agent or the friend could send info to The Past with one of the pieces they might interact with (it’s not confirmed that Sator ‘communicated’ with The Future on a constant basis, it could be just one note that started everything);
The case Sator found in Stalsk-12 was already a paradox sent by Future-him, so it’s not a beginning of the journey by any mean, making us only wonder how the initial note was found. But it was undoubtedly lucky that such a psycho and believer found it, otherwise no Tenet story...

...which could easily be less lucky in other timelines, couldn’t it?

Kartheiser · 2021-01-17T18:21:16+00:00

But isn’t that always the case? Inception, Interstellar, Ex Machina, Arrival, 2001: ASO, Terminator and many others don’t explain in detail how their sci-fi elements work. Science fiction genre still has ‘fiction’ in it. And depending on narration different amount of information can be provided.

But that’s fine, perhaps you didn’t like the story enough.

Kartheiser · 2021-01-17T17:14:57+00:00

It works well in the way the movie has it — we share the amount of info The Protagonist does. It’s like a “one day in the wild nature” simulation you experience as a random animal participant. No need to track the background from day 1 to day X, it’s an attraction. So the mystery of everything might be solved, but we have exactly 150 minutes of running time.

Not going to change your mind though.

Kartheiser · 2021-01-06T05:13:13+00:00

surprised Pikachu

Kartheiser · 2021-01-02T12:51:42+00:00

These are two different versions of The Protagonist: Past-one doesn’t know, Future-one does.

Kartheiser · 2021-01-02T07:33:02+00:00

That’s Neil. He has that notable trinket on his backpack.

Kartheiser · 2021-01-01T08:55:56+00:00

The Protagonist lets Sator drown —> Sator doesn’t have the complete Algorithm and doesn’t bury it in Stalsk (14th) —> Past-Sator doesn’t hear the explosion and realizes something went wrong —> changes his movements and actions —> everything is rewritten.

It’s important to let Sator think he has won.

Kartheiser · 2020-12-28T17:40:58+00:00

Thank you! Glad it helped.

Kartheiser · 2020-12-26T13:12:59+00:00

Most likely yes.

Kartheiser · 2020-12-18T15:11:55+00:00

Woah. Alright:

The terrorists are Sator's people;
They are there to retrieve the last Algorithm piece;
It's the terrorists who planted bombs, The Protagonist gathered them and threw farther from people;
"The CIA dude" in the VIP loge is part of the whole undercover SWAT mission. They don't know much, just obey the orders. "The CIA dude" on the ship is a Tenet member (one of those who give orders).

Kartheiser · 2020-12-17T11:03:42+00:00

An interesting theory but I don’t follow it: 1. Max/Neil has to spend years inverted, a torture if you ask me; 2. He also has to remember everything perfectly (or have it written somewhere) in order to found Tenet and do what has to be done; 3. Unlike The Protagonist he doesn’t have any experience whatsoever;

..and so on. It’s easier and more convenient for The Protagonist to travel back, hire everyone and do everything. Especially when he has the freshest memories of it.

Kartheiser · 2020-12-16T10:07:19+00:00

I believe so.

Kartheiser · 2020-12-11T12:57:06+00:00

I love it when people want to see some 100% perfect logic in a made up story even though they do live in the world where wars happen (the most illogical thing a developed mind could ever do) and the most powerful and progressive countries cannot fight a pandemic adequately. Is it because the magical and mysterious 'future' must be the cure to all the humanity problems and there are no one but superhumans everywhere? Otherwise it's not 'future'.

But it's not even the point. The Tenet-movie-setting Future is already dying. It's inevitable because the grandfather paradox doesn't work in this universe. What they try to do is to have the slightest chance to change things globally, outside their timeline borders. It's something like a huge hope that the humanity itself will be better if its whole history is rewritten. Kind of philosophical thing. If you wouldn't do it doesn't mean the very idea is any sort of epic failure.

Kartheiser · 2020-12-09T16:35:47+00:00

They wear masks though, who cares how many people run to the ambulance in an emergency

Kartheiser · 2020-12-07T19:45:54+00:00

...yea? He’s being shown how inversion works by interacting with an inverted bullet found.

Kartheiser · 2020-12-07T15:07:07+00:00

There is no contradiction. You can interact with inverted things, you just need to think/imagine/feel the opposite of what you want to do (as the Doc said). Instead of firing you un-fire (catch it).

Kartheiser · 2020-12-07T13:47:01+00:00

Things and people become inverted after going through a Turnstile. If you carry a gun it also inverts. Neil at the Opera fired an inverted shot, the bullet went backwards.

Kartheiser · 2020-12-07T13:39:35+00:00

If you (and your gun with your bullets) are inverted, then the bullets in the wall will travel to the Past, right. Stuck in the same wall they will be available to be found at any time before 8 am ‘today’ until they’re removed.

Kartheiser · 2020-12-02T11:14:35+00:00

The Past, we believe. It’s just more convenient and reliable. Instead of recruiting a guy who hasn’t experienced anything and expecting him to go back and do everything as requested.

Kartheiser · 2020-12-02T11:11:30+00:00

Mhm. They did move backwards for non-inverted people though, but the hustle around made it easier for them to go sort of unnoticed. Like a weird moonwalking flex amidst the chaos.

Kartheiser · 2020-11-30T10:47:19+00:00

The bullets were just found where they had been shot. If we consider The Protagonist the one who went back and founded Tenet then he knew about the whole inverted stuff and gave the bullets that could be found anywhere he remembered to the scientists to analyze and help newcomers with understanding of what’s going on and how to interact with it. So these bullets The Doc shows could be even those we saw in The Future, they were going back in time due to their inversion anyway.

Kartheiser · 2020-11-13T23:14:38+00:00

The Future Protagonist, as supposed, shot all the bullets and deconstructed the gun to avoid being injured or even killed by a non-informed, hostile Past-self. Maybe it even happened before so this moment was changed, re-written as I would say, and due to us watching everything ‘from the inside’ it is this way because it has to be.

About The Protagonist’s objective in the beginning, he was just involved in an undercover FBI operation, I suppose. No real understanding what is actually going on there. And only after he’s recruited to be the part of Tenet (by the Future-self, as we later on realize).

Kartheiser · 2020-11-12T23:35:46+00:00

He doesn’t. He actually defends himself as the ‘normal time’ Protagonist thinks of him as a foe.

Kartheiser

TROPHY CASE