A Tenet preview is bolted on to the Inception 10th anniversary re-release in cinemas and, according to those who have seen it, it offers up a “mind-blowing” experience. It also focuses on director Christopher Nolan’s frankly unbelievable dedication when it comes to using practical effects.
Forget blowing up a literal 747, the headline of the preview reactions (of which you can see a small sample of below) has to be Nolan filming certain scenes twice: once forwards and once in reverse motion to get the desired “time-inversion” effect, with one fight scene involving John David Washington’s The Protagonist using that technique.
In fact, there is apparently so little CGI here that a green screen wasn’t used. Not even once, according to actor Himesh Patel.
Essentially everything was done using practical effects, with stuntmen supposedly talking up how they’ve never done anything like this before. There’s a reason why Nolan described Tenet as having fewer VFX shots than most rom-coms.
One of the most detailed reactions from the footage comes from Twitter account ljwr_ who hints at the “next level crazy shit” on offer in just a few weeks and suggests that Kenneth Branagh’s Russian villain might just steal the show.
holy shit the #Tenet preview that plays before the Anniversary rerelease of Inception is fucking next level crazy shit. This is going to be incredible pic.twitter.com/9ualTpdnIUAugust 12, 2020
#Tenet preview:-John David Washington listed as “The Protagonist”-Professional stuntmen said they’ve never done anything like Tenet-They shot the same scenes twice, once forwards once with the actors doing everything backwards.-NO green screen-they did EVERYTHING practicallyAugust 12, 2020
-Footage of them in various countries all over the world-kind of implies that the masks are used to manipulate/weaponise time inversion (to me, anyway)-extended look at the fight in this room with the bullets from the trailers -longer look at the plane crash & the aftermath pic.twitter.com/RkUVlRFcXbAugust 12, 2020
-professional stuntmen said they’d never done anything like Tenet-actors did the same scenes forwards & then backwards (footage of JDW doing a front roll & then a back roll) (footage of stuntmen fighting & being flipped over someone, then physically doing the opposite)August 12, 2020
The rest of the Tenet preview reactions are similarly effusive: lots of capital letters, excitable swearing, and a real reason to buy a ticket if you feel comfortable doing so when it hits cinemas on August 26 and in select US cities on September 2.
The #Tenet preview before Inception was mind blowing! Can’t wait to see it!August 12, 2020
The Tenet preview before Inception is AMAZING. CANT WAIT.August 12, 2020
That #Tenet preview was madness. Good or bad, rest assure, TENET is going to be something to behold.August 13, 2020
Looking forward to more movies this year? Find out what’s still to come in 2020 with our movie release dates guide.
