(Credit: Netflix)

People throw the word “confusing” around a lot, but Tenet is where that conversation goes to war. And you have to agree! Tenet isn’t just the most argued Christopher Nolan movie; it’s that Nolan movie that split even the most loyal fans.

While some called it genius, others resorted to gibberish. But one thing both parties did was stare at the wall and then watch it again anyway. Because that’s what Tenet does to you. It messes with your brain and makes you want to solve it like a Rubik’s Cube.

If you have already seen it, high chances are that you have already had the debate. Whether inversion makes sense or the timeline holds up. Whether the characters are characters or just chess pieces. And if you haven’t seen it yet, Netflix has just handed you the biggest cinematic dare of your weekend. Watch Tenet. Keep up if you can.

Now, for the plot, you follow this unnamed protagonist (John David Washington) who is recruited into a mission that isn’t about saving lives or nations, but time itself. There is a war coming, and it’s not between countries but between different directions of time. Yeah. People from the future are sending inverted objects back into our timeline, and it is wrecking reality in ways you don’t immediately notice.

Tenet plays with inversion, a kind of backward entropy that lets people move through time in reverse. It’s physics, but cooler.

And if that doesn’t make sense yet, that is the point. Tenet doesn’t pause to explain. It moves… very, very fast. One minute you are in a plane crash, the next you are in a fistfight running backwards. All of that with a sprinkle of action.

John David Washington is the protagonist and has a commanding presence. He doesn’t try to be Bond, but he isn’t very far off either. Robert Pattinson, as Neil, brings his uncanny charm to the film. His character often makes you wonder how much he knows and when he knew it. Their chemistry isn’t loud, but it builds, especially in the final act, when everything you thought was random suddenly loops back.

Now let’s talk, Nolan. He is one of the few directors who can convince a studio to spend $200 million on an original idea and then not explain half of it. But isn’t that the whole point? And probably the reason why Tenet matters. It doesn’t spoon-feed you. It does the kind of crazy stuff only Nolan would dare to attempt.

But yeah, it is not perfect. In fact, Tenet is the kind of film where the more you care about how things feel, the more you might struggle with how little it lets you feel. Still, it is bold, maddening, rewarding cinema that doesn’t come around often. It’s worth the argument. And the rewatch.