Tenet (2020): Time Inversion & Movie Concept Explained

Christopher Nolan's 'Tenet' is the most awaited movie of 2020. Beyond our thinking, 'Tenet' is taking sci-fi movies on another level. As a writer, producer, and director of remarkable movies like Inception, Interstellar, and The Dark Knight, it's hard to read Christopher Nolan's mind about 'Tenet'. Although here is my theory about Tenet and what time inversion is.

(This post was made before the release of the original film, so the story may not be the same as in the film.)

We have seen many movies about time travel, where people time travel in the past and future. 'Tenet' isn't about regular time travelling. When they launched the first trailer, everyone thought that 'Tenet' was about time travelling. After watching the second trailer, the concept is clear. It's about time inversion and time reversal. 

What is Time Inversion?

Inversion stands for changing the order/position of something to the opposite. We all know that time flows constantly and linearly forward. Time inversion is changing the flow of time to reverse. In 'Tenet' certain people can reverse the time for a certain period to fix things. If something wrong happens, then they reverse that time and fix the scenario. For example, in the car crash scene, they reverse the time to fix the crash along with the present timeline. Where the crashed car goes to the reverse timeline, while in the other car John David Washington and Robert Pattinson are in the present timeline. The time reversing is also confusing here because the time reversal is happening along with the present timeline. As long as I think they don't have to travel forward here! Maybe the time-reversal along with the present timeline is only possible for a short period because if they go far back in time, then there will be a bigger gap between the present & the reverse timeline. There's another paradox, for example, you have been shot and dead right now, but the bullets will be firing after an hour! I was wondering about it when I watched the bullet holes part in the trailer. (What happened here? Hasn't happened yet.)

(Note: Maybe spoilers ahead.)

Possible Tenet Story 

In 'Tenet' there are two timelines. The first timeline, where time flows normally (the present timeline), and the second timeline, where time flows reversely. The present timeline may count as a future timeline in the context of the reverse timeline. In the first timeline, John David Washington is shown as a newly recruited agent, and he is taking training of the time-reversal. In the second timeline, where Washington is shown as a well-trained agent, and he is recruiting Robert Pattinson. In the trailer, there's a scene where gunmen are pointing at a red chamber, maybe that's the machine where they reverse the time. 

Kenneth Branagh is the bad guy in Tenet. Maybe he knows about the invention of this time-reversal machine, and maybe he wants to use this invention to create chaos, maybe world war III. Kenneth has some connections with Elizabeth Debicki. Our special agents, John David Washington and Robert Pattinson, are recruited to stop him. So I think Washington and Pattinson are going to reverse the time to the moment where they can stop Kenneth from getting the time-reversal machine! This story is my assumption after watching the trailer. The original story can be different from my story.

The palindromic word 'Tenet' itself indicates time flows both ways forward and backward as well as its pronunciation. Maybe both timelines collide at some point. The interesting thing is how they are going to portray both timelines without the audience getting confused. The tentative release date of 'Tenet' is 17 July. Since theaters are closed because of the pandemic, the release of 'Tenet' might get delayed.