X
- 2020
- PG-13
- Warner Bros. Pictures
- 2 h 30 m
- 2020
- PG-13
- Warner Bros. Pictures
- 2 h 30 m
Summary Armed with only one word - Tenet - and fighting for the survival of the entire world, the Protagonist (John David Washington) journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time. Not time travel. Inversion.
Directed By: Christopher Nolan
Written By: Christopher Nolan
- 2020
- PG-13
- Warner Bros. Pictures
- 2 h 30 m
- 2020
- PG-13
- Warner Bros. Pictures
- 2 h 30 m
Tenet
69
7.2
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Summary Armed with only one word - Tenet - and fighting for the survival of the entire world, the Protagonist (John David Washington) journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time. Not time travel. Inversion.
Directed By: Christopher Nolan
Written By: Christopher Nolan
Where to Watch
Coming Soon
Not available in your country?
ExpressVPN
Get 3 Extra months free
$6.67/mth
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 50 Critic Reviews
69
66% Positive
33 Reviews
33 Reviews
34% Mixed
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 50 Critic Reviews
69
66% Positive
33 Reviews
33 Reviews
34% Mixed
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Aug 25, 2020
For me, Tenet is preposterous in the tradition of Boorman’s Point Blank, or even Antonioni’s Zabriskie Point, a deadpan jeu d’esprit, a cerebral cadenza, a deadpan flourish of crazy implausibility – but supercharged with steroidal energy and imagination.
Sep 2, 2020
It’s breathtaking to watch the director work on such a grand scale, but the humans within his film do sometimes get lost. For all Nolan’s metaphysical mastery, there’s an undeniable coldness to his twilight world.
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 1,586 User Ratings
7.2
71% Positive
1125 Ratings
1125 Ratings
16% Mixed
250 Ratings
250 Ratings
13% Negative
211 Ratings
211 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 1,586 User Ratings
7.2
71% Positive
1125 Ratings
1125 Ratings
16% Mixed
250 Ratings
250 Ratings
13% Negative
211 Ratings
211 Ratings
Jul 7, 2025
Only one filmmaker alive who can do this for real. Enjoyed this a bit more on the rewatch.
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Sep 1, 2024
Very very and I mean very underrated Nolan movie. I think in like 5 years timeo people will look back on this movie and like it more and change their opinion
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Dec 19, 2020
It’s slam-bang action adventure that pretty much answers the question, “What if Christopher Nolan made a James Bond film?”
Aug 21, 2020
It’s basically espionage adventure, but with a science fiction backbone: Nolan ups the ante on “Mission: Impossible” by making the impossibility not just physical but quantum physical. And he goes about it expertly, bullishly and with giddily perverse intent to bewilder.
Sep 9, 2020
There’s a chilliness to Tenet that I haven’t felt in his previous work. The stakes, presumably, couldn’t be higher — both onscreen and offscreen — but after watching the movie, I don’t understand why I was meant to care. As an intellectual exercise, Tenet is very interesting, if not entirely successful. As a movie, I’m not so sure.
Dec 19, 2020
This is a bad film by a good filmmaker. It has the veneer of substantiality, but it’s unsubstantial. It is the product of sincere conviction and artistic confidence, but both were misguided. Every filmmaker needs to take the occasional chance, as Christopher Nolan did with “Tenet.” Not all chances pay off.
Aug 21, 2020
There’s something grating about a film which insists on detailing its pseudo-science while also conceding you probably won’t have followed a thing. We’re clobbered with plot then comforted with tea-towel homilies about how what’s happened has happened.
Aug 31, 2024
The most underrated Christopher Nolan movie. It is sure confusing but a few rewatches is needed to understand this great movie
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Nov 15, 2025
Greetings from Lithuania.
I just came back from a premiere of "Tenet" (2020), a hugely anticipated new movie by Mr. Christopher Nolan - my favorite director. I'm a huge Nolan's fan, saw all his movie in a theater and they all left me speechless and i even consider "Interstellar" as my favorite film of this millennium - I'm a real Nolan's fan boy. And with my broken heart i can only say after seeing "Tenet" that it was a first real disappointment by this brilliant director. This time Mr. Nolan has outdone himself, and not in a good way. Story and plot were a mess. Its not "Inception" by any means - that movie had a very simple idea and plot which was put into this intriguing world and concept - it wasn't difficult to follow because you always knew exactly what was the goal, who is who and etc. "Tenet" does not had any of that. While i enjoyed the plot for a around first 40% of its run time, later its just become so convoluted that farther it went the more i was scratching my head and eventually started to rolling my eyes when Robert Pattinson's and John David Washington's characters were describing the plot to each other, jumping for and between, reading between the lines and etc - it was simply way to complicated and eventually convoluted. By the end of this movie i really didn't care what was going on nor did i tried to understand - the movie's plot and storytelling lost me completely. Its not Nolan "the director" who wasn't good here, but its Noland "the screenwriter" who i think overdone himself this time, and not in a good way. The good things in this movie were for me performance by Kenneth Branagh who was excellent villain, cinematography and basically all the production values in this movie - they are first rate. Unfortunately plot and storytelling were below average - they just didn't for me at all.Overall, unfortunately the year 2020 was a terrible year not only because of the virus, but also it was a year when we got a first flop from Mr. Nolan. Its not that its a bad movie, like i said production values are first rate but other then that you will be scratching your head in disbelieve of how convoluted and cold this movie is. For his next feature Mr. Nolan should slow it down with plot and maybe take his brother as writer to help - together they can put plots and screenplays like no other. "Tenet" unfortunately is not the case.
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Dec 15, 2024
There’s a lot to talk about with Tenet. On one hand, the visuals and action sequences are top notch and entertaining. The concept is unique and the performances and score were solid. On the other hand, the story and characters left me feeling mixed on this film as a whole. The story is all over the place and convoluted, which left me confused while watching and many of the characters felt underdeveloped. Maybe a rewatch could bring my score up but overall, while there is certainly a lot to like about Tenet, there’s also a lot that will likely leave some viewers feeling disappointed with the film
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Dec 16, 2023
So much potential! Probably too much potential, actually. The plot is much too full of over-thought nonsense, but the action is interesting to watch. Overall, this is a high-budget, low-quality film. The sound mix is truly terrible, and the lead actor has almost no charisma. The final ten minutes of the movie introduce a much more interesting movie that could have happened, but didn't.
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Jul 25, 2022
I watched this movie to cool off my head while programming. I'm glad Nolan doesn't work in the software industry.
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Production Company
- Warner Bros.
- Syncopy
Release Date Sep 3, 2020
Duration 2 h 30 m
Rating PG-13
Tagline Time Runs Out
Website www.tenetfilm.com
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Nomination
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
• 1 Win & 9 Nominations
