Prologue

Christopher Nolan's time inverting spy film that follows a protagonist fighting for the survival of the entire world.
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How exactly does the reverse shot in the prologue work?

The bullet was already shot. But it was that reverse movement that caused it to go through the guy that was holding the gun to JDW.

So was the guy that already shot it knew JDW would be there? Did he shoot it at the wall, knowing there would be someone in front of it in the normal flow of time?

Just a bit confused on how the inversion works.

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Nolanfan93 wrote:
May 23rd, 2020, 1:12 pm
How exactly does the reverse shot in the prologue work?

The bullet was already shot. But it was that reverse movement that caused it to go through the guy that was holding the gun to JDW.

So was the guy that already shot it knew JDW would be there? Did he shoot it at the wall, knowing there would be someone in front of it in the normal flow of time?

Just a bit confused on how the inversion works.
I don't think he shot the gun before hand. I guess that bullet hole was always there ready to be recovered.

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Nolanfan93 wrote:
May 23rd, 2020, 1:12 pm
How exactly does the reverse shot in the prologue work?

The bullet was already shot. But it was that reverse movement that caused it to go through the guy that was holding the gun to JDW.

So was the guy that already shot it knew JDW would be there? Did he shoot it at the wall, knowing there would be someone in front of it in the normal flow of time?

Just a bit confused on how the inversion works.
Did anyone notice the difference in action scenes in Prologue and Trailer 2? That is because
the opera SWAT operation scene happens twice!
Vader182 wrote:
May 22nd, 2020, 6:05 pm
The Tenet prologue is incomprehensible. I haven't followed this discussion too closely, but I've always assumed it's an edited down version of a longer sequence.

I also doubt it's the opening of the movie.


-Vader
Prologue won't be the very first scene. Tenet will start with a scene that happens at end with dialogue or a monologue and then it starts to prologue scene just like Inception started with old Cobb meeting Satio in Limbo & then the first 2 dream level inception scene starts!!
Last edited by Ruth on May 23rd, 2020, 3:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: please refrain from unnecessary double posting

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CakeLessEgg wrote:
May 23rd, 2020, 3:44 pm
Nolanfan93 wrote:
May 23rd, 2020, 1:12 pm
How exactly does the reverse shot in the prologue work?

The bullet was already shot. But it was that reverse movement that caused it to go through the guy that was holding the gun to JDW.

So was the guy that already shot it knew JDW would be there? Did he shoot it at the wall, knowing there would be someone in front of it in the normal flow of time?

Just a bit confused on how the inversion works.
Did anyone notice the difference in action scenes in Prologue and Trailer 2? That is because
the opera SWAT operation scene happens twice!
We had a discussion about it. There's no evidence that the prologue happens twice, there's only evidence that some of the footages didn't appear in the prologue. Most of Nolan-movies have deleted footages that were present in their trailers. And I still don't believe there's need to go back to this scene, the mission seemed to be succesful.

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quervo wrote:
May 23rd, 2020, 4:01 pm
We had a discussion about it. There's no evidence that the prologue happens twice, there's only evidence that some of the footages didn't appear in the prologue. Most of Nolan-movies have deleted footages that were present in their trailers. And I still don't believe there's need to go back to this scene, the mission seemed to be succesful.
There is one plot point that they will 100% have to reveal:
JDW's savior
In Nolan fashion, I'm guessing just a normal flashback to that point (maybe from a different character's perspective). So in a sense, the opera scene will be revisited later in the movie, but I agree it's not to re-do the mission.

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hotsauce32 wrote:
May 23rd, 2020, 5:16 pm
quervo wrote:
May 23rd, 2020, 4:01 pm
We had a discussion about it. There's no evidence that the prologue happens twice, there's only evidence that some of the footages didn't appear in the prologue. Most of Nolan-movies have deleted footages that were present in their trailers. And I still don't believe there's need to go back to this scene, the mission seemed to be succesful.
There is one plot point that they will 100% have to reveal:
JDW's savior
In Nolan fashion, I'm guessing just a normal flashback to that point (maybe from a different character's perspective). So in a sense, the opera scene will be revisited later in the movie, but I agree it's not to re-do the mission.
I think that can be revealed right after the prologue. So I can imagine we see JDW's capture in the van, then we see the escaping VIP in the service tunnel, where the mysterious savior catches him and the rest of the team.
I can't be sure, but I would bet the whole siege really is like the bank robbery in TDK and the plane crash in TDKR, a little push to the story, a great, action pumped introduction and nothing more. The last day of JDW's normal life.

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hotsauce32 wrote:
May 23rd, 2020, 5:16 pm
quervo wrote:
May 23rd, 2020, 4:01 pm
We had a discussion about it. There's no evidence that the prologue happens twice, there's only evidence that some of the footages didn't appear in the prologue. Most of Nolan-movies have deleted footages that were present in their trailers. And I still don't believe there's need to go back to this scene, the mission seemed to be succesful.
There is one plot point that they will 100% have to reveal:
JDW's savior
In Nolan fashion, I'm guessing just a normal flashback to that point (maybe from a different character's perspective). So in a sense, the opera scene will be revisited later in the movie, but I agree it's not to re-do the mission.
We've already been over this. it is highly unlikely that this scene will happen twice in the movie. check the earlier posts for more info.

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quervo wrote:
May 23rd, 2020, 5:26 pm
hotsauce32 wrote:
May 23rd, 2020, 5:16 pm
quervo wrote:
May 23rd, 2020, 4:01 pm
We had a discussion about it. There's no evidence that the prologue happens twice, there's only evidence that some of the footages didn't appear in the prologue. Most of Nolan-movies have deleted footages that were present in their trailers. And I still don't believe there's need to go back to this scene, the mission seemed to be succesful.
There is one plot point that they will 100% have to reveal:
JDW's savior
In Nolan fashion, I'm guessing just a normal flashback to that point (maybe from a different character's perspective). So in a sense, the opera scene will be revisited later in the movie, but I agree it's not to re-do the mission.
I think that can be revealed right after the prologue. So I can imagine we see JDW's capture in the van, then we see the escaping VIP in the service tunnel, where the mysterious savior catches him and the rest of the team.
I can't be sure, but I would bet the whole siege really is like the bank robbery in TDK and the plane crash in TDKR, a little push to the story, a great, action pumped introduction and nothing more. The last day of JDW's normal life.
Even like the first heist against Saito in Inception. Narrative-wise, that mission serves to:


(1) Introduce the protagonist (Cobb in Inception, JDW in Tenet)

(2) Ease the audience into what weirdness can happen in the movie, mechanics-wise (Inception: we see dreams within dreams / Tenet: we see the reverse gunshot)

(3) A third party is "testing" the protagonist, which catapults them into the rest of the story. (Inception: the heist is what convinces Saito to hire Cobb for the inception job on Fischer. Tenet: We know from the trailer that JDW is being tested by some secret organization ["That test you passed, not everybody does. Welcome to the afterlife"], then brought onboard by that organization)
[/list]

That initial extraction heist on Saito was a job for Cobol Engineering, which, after the chase scene in Mombasa there's no mention of them or the heist past the first act of the movie. I agree that Tenet's opera siege will be the same. A set-piece that serves to kick off the rest of the story

rotas wrote:
May 23rd, 2020, 5:37 pm
We've already been over this. it is highly unlikely that this scene will happen twice in the movie. check the earlier posts for more info.
Yeah I know, I was the one that posted all those gifs to clear everything up :lol:. I was just mentioning one caveat of a certain thing that would have to be revisited, but I've maintained the viewpoint that the prologue is just a one-off mission.

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speedy117 wrote:
May 23rd, 2020, 2:25 pm
Nolanfan93 wrote:
May 23rd, 2020, 1:12 pm
How exactly does the reverse shot in the prologue work?

The bullet was already shot. But it was that reverse movement that caused it to go through the guy that was holding the gun to JDW.

So was the guy that already shot it knew JDW would be there? Did he shoot it at the wall, knowing there would be someone in front of it in the normal flow of time?

Just a bit confused on how the inversion works.
I don't think he shot the gun before hand. I guess that bullet hole was always there ready to be recovered.
So the gunshot was just randomly there and not shot before the events of the concert with the purpose of being "reversed" later on?

So the guy who saved him just "catched it" back?

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Nolanfan93 wrote:
May 24th, 2020, 6:31 pm
speedy117 wrote:
May 23rd, 2020, 2:25 pm
Nolanfan93 wrote:
May 23rd, 2020, 1:12 pm
How exactly does the reverse shot in the prologue work?

The bullet was already shot. But it was that reverse movement that caused it to go through the guy that was holding the gun to JDW.

So was the guy that already shot it knew JDW would be there? Did he shoot it at the wall, knowing there would be someone in front of it in the normal flow of time?

Just a bit confused on how the inversion works.
I don't think he shot the gun before hand. I guess that bullet hole was always there ready to be recovered.
So the gunshot was just randomly there and not shot before the events of the concert with the purpose of being "reversed" later on?

So the guy who saved him just "catched it" back?
It seems like the person who saved JDW can selectively reverse bullets. I don't think the bullets was fired before the SWAT teams entered the concert hall.

So in short, the swat guy fired a bullet before JDW got discovered amidst the mess. When he saw JDW was in danger, he reversed that particular bullet to save him.

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