Christopher Nolan's new movie Tenet keeps getting pushed back and so we keep having to wait longer and just wonder what in the world it is all about. The trailers are certainly teasing us with something unusual, and knowing Christopher Nolan we'd expect nothing less, but now it seems like the director might just be trolling us, as he's now making a mystery out of things as seemingly simply as the name of Robert Pattinson's character.
In a recent interview with EW, Christopher Nolan reveals that Robert Pattinson's character is named Neil, except that maybe his name isn't actually Neil. Nolan himself acts like he's not entirely sure, which is, of course, just an act, but the fact that he acts like that detail is mysterious continues to make us wonder about the larger story. As Nolan explains...
We think he might be called Neil. You never really quite know what’s going on with these identities.
The trailers for Tenet show John David Washington apparently joining some sort of shadowy organization that may have required him to fake his own death. Robert Pattinson appears to become his partner as this organization attempts to stop World War III, whatever that means.
It's possible that Robert Pattinson's character goes by Neil, but that it's some sort of an alias, or at least it could be. If Pattinson's character is working for the same group, then he likely had to "die" as well, and as such, perhaps we can't assume that anything we're told is the truth. Apparently "Neil" is a character who "operates within what they refer to as this twilight world of operatives in different secret services." Whatever that means.
And of course, even everything that we see in Tenet is so odd that it's difficult to tell just what we'll be in for when the movie arrives. The film certainly plays with time, as we see time seemingly reversing itself in front of our eyes and things seem to be happening somewhat out of order. Christopher Nolan has stated plainly that time-travel is not part of Tenet, but it does seem that the manipulation of time is certainly part of what's going on here in some way.
But then, from Interstellar to Inception, going into a Christopher Nolan movie with only the vaguest idea what you're in for is part of the fun. Not every movie is necessarily a winner, but the discovery of what he has crafted is always an experience that one remembers.
Although, there may be more riding on this one than any previous Nolan movie since The Dark Knight Rises. We haven't been to the theater in months and the people who go are going to want to see something great. Tenet was originally set to be the big screen welcome back to the theaters with a July 17 release. The movie was pushed back recently, though only until July 31. This means we have just over a month more to wait, assuming of course that you'll be willing to brave the theaters to see the film in the first place.
