Inception
IsTenetreallyInception 2 ? Is Christopher Nolan ’s new high - concept sci - fi , as headliner John David Washington call it , an " in - law " to his critically - acclaimed dream heist job ? Or are the similarity desirous thinking and nothing more ? The selling for Nolan ’s latest , which became the first blockbuster release of the post - lockdown world for a lot of area , leaned intemperately enough into vagueness that there was meaning elbow room for rendering . The suggestions of mysterious , futuristic engineering , a charismatic Cuban sandwich , and a suggestion of typically Nolan - esque Bond referencing were enough to support the link for enthusiastic onlookers at least .
In that respect , Tenetcertainly shares something withInception : not least in their share committal to impact . Like Tenet , Inception ’s endinginspired debate over what could amount next and whether more could be give away . Both take high - construct tale , mob in a cast of conversant faces - like Michael Caine , Kenneth Branagh , Elizabeth Debicki , and Aaron Taylor - Johnson - but the similarities and links do not go far enough to makeTenetandInceptionsequel . It is notInception 2 , but there are ideas and film - making theme that tie to two together .
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Tenet’s Links To Inception
Tenetmay not be a secret subsequence toInceptionor expressly exist in the same population as Nolan ’s earlier employment as a sorting of spin - off , but it ’s appropriate to think of the former as being informed by the latter . Certainly in condition of Nolan ’s progress as a film - Creator . Both have vast , inventive ideas and challenge high - concepts , butTenettakes everything further thanInception . In term of a strictly surface level valuation , TenetandInceptionare both heavily work by Bond ( and wider espionage moving picture ) , both have key heist elements tied to unexampled engineering , both are framed not just around one character but about how the tale blossoms out of them and both revel in challenge aesthetic narrative structure . And if there ’s any question over those parallel being promote , Nolan throws inInception ’s forthwith placeable horn audio , almost playfully .
Fundamentally , bothInceptionandTenetpush the limits of skill , but without the post - modern affright of progression assort with sci - fis that lean more into horror . They are in awe of the possibility of scientific creativity - something Nolan also played with inInterstellar- and use the perceptual experience of time and the looming threat of mortality and bequest to mess with typical narrative structure . ForInception , Nolan ’s joy was in burying a story in layers and then asking his consultation to work out what was actual , forTenet , the director presents a palindromic social system and challenge viewers to work out what is lasting and how things link . Both had the potential to be destructive and disquiet , but both end up do for existential film .
Related : Inception ’s Hidden Meaning Is Why The Ending Is Perfect
How Tenet Differs (And How It Sits With Nolans Other Films)
TenetandInceptionmay both be invested in the theme of time , but they sit at opposite end of the ideologic spectrum . Inception ’s central narrative anxiousness is the fear of becoming " an older man filled with regret " and the thought that time can be a prison and runs away like Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin through splayed fingers . Tenetpresents sentence as a dial to be manipulate and control , not something to fear but to be used . And whileInception- and alsoInterstellar -are structured as countdowns to a fixed power point , Tenet’sstructure is defiant of that conclusiveness . Yes , there ’s a countdown , but when Washington and his Colorado - hotshot get to the end of it , there ’s no full - block , only a reminder that this was only part of a story , and the end is actually somewhere in the midsection .
Tenet portion out a lot with Nolan ’s whole consistence of work . apart fromInception , it collimate withMementoandDunkirkin how all three challenge linear structure ; the use of engineering and enchantment with time - bending ride alongsideInterstellar;the story double trick comes fromThe Prestige . Insomniataught Nolan to rarify how he framed narrative probe , andThe Dark Knight Trilogyhoned his ability to intermingle populist literary genre with more challenging storytelling . Tenetis the sum of his experience as a pic - maker . It is , in nub , a phantasmal continuation to them all , even if it ’s notInception 2outright .
