Remember 2020, when, after so many movies being delayed due to the pandemic, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet got us back to theaters? The film marked such an important step for many film lovers, as it was exactly the right movie to show us just how much of a difference it can make to watch something onthe big screen. But it’s worth celebrating for so much more than that. This sci-fi spy thriller is as spectacular as it is intriguing, starting with the title itself, a palindrome that literally means “to hold” and that, in the movie, is the name of a secret organisation. Like many of Nolan’s films, the film has a non-linear narrative, which makes it hard to sum up its plot. Essentially, it revolves around a nameless Protagonist (John David Washington) who joins the titular organisation and is given the task of saving the world from something that has yet to happen.
Needless to say, time travel is in order for our protagonist, in a temporal, nuclear war where rules of space and time don’t matter anymore. Tenet is a complex film, so much so that it has sparked much discussion and been the subject of many assignments – perhaps it even made some think of delegating it to a paper writer service – and rightly so. Though it’s not the best film in Nolan’s filmography, it is endlessly fascinating from a philosophical point of view, not to mention revolutionary in its approach to storytelling, since it subverts the way time traveling, and time changing, has been shown in movies.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at 5 movies you can watch if you enjoyed Tenet, in alphabetical order! Enjoy!
1. Inception
Christopher Nolan
The least surprising entry on this list is a film that was, in many ways, a precursor to Tenet. Christopher Nolan has always been fascinating with time, and Inception is his first proper epic – a film where he managed to explore the themes in a non-linear way while really experimenting with the format of film. This mind-bending movie mostly takes place in people’s dreams, as its protagonist, Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), is a thief who doesn’t steal money or items, but secrets that he gets from people’s subconscious. The movie really starts when he’s given a different, more complex task: instead of stealing someone’s dream, he has to plant an idea into their mind.
It’s best to leave it at that to avoid spoilers, but this is one of those movies you’ll be thinking about for a very long time after you’ve watched it, and that you’ll even want to revisit many times. DiCaprio is superb, but so are Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy, Elliot Page, and the rest of its all-star cast. The visuals are stunning, with incredibly complex scenes shot in zero gravity and fantastic action throughout. And themes of dreams, guilt, redemption, and the power of ideas will keep you up at night. If you’re looking for more Nolan films with non-linear narratives and intricate plots, check out Memento and Interstellar too!
2. Looper
Rian Johnson
Before director Rian Johnson made Knives Out and Glass Onion, he made a sci-fi gem that achieved cult status due to its interesting approach to the genre. Once again, the film takes place in the future – a future where the people who can afford to pay for it can time travel. This is already a fantastic premise, but Johnson makes it even more interesting by having his film revolve around a man – the titular looper – who time travels for a living, as he’s hired by the mob to get rid of people in the past. There are many loopers in this society, but the movie’s protagonist is Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), one of the best hired assassins around. That is, until he receives a visit from his future self (Bruce Willis), who’s on a mission to kill him. Need we say more?
3. The Matrix
Lilly & Lana Wachowski
If you’ve never followed the white rabbit and entered The Matrix, you’re in for a treat! Lilly and Lana Wachowski’s 1999 film subverted the sci-fi genre and gave us something completely new that is still influencing filmmakers to this day. The movie is about a loner named Neo (Keanu Reeves) who one day gets a message on his computer by a woman named Trinity (Carrie-Ann Moss), who takes him to a man named Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) who will make Neo rethink everything he knows to be true. Soon, he finds out that the world he thought was his home was just a simulation, as the Earth was taken over by machines that trapped its entire population in a simulated reality.
Neo is believed to be “the One” who has the power to save them all, and as he learns martial arts and finds out exactly how both worlds – the simulation and the real, much less glamorous one – work, we start to understand why. If you “take the red pill” and embark on this journey, you won’t regret it.
4. Minority Report
Steven Spielberg
What if you could single out future murderers before they’ve committed their crimes? Minority Report, based on a very popular sci-fi story from Philip K. Dick, starts from a simple premise, but it’s a genius one. Just like in Tenet, the organisation at the film’s center is on a mission; this time, though, there’s no time traveling needed. The film takes place in Washington D.C. in 2054, where director Steven Spielberg and screenwriters Scott Frank and Jon Cohen imagine that the police used technology to create a device that can track future assassins. The protagonist, Tom Cruise, is the head of their “Pre-crime” unit, who is one day accused of an action he hasn’t committed yet: murdering a man he hasn’t even met yet. You’re in for even more surprises, but we’ll let you find out the rest on your own!
5. Primer
Shane Carruth
Here’s another film about time travel, but this one is set in our present world. Two tech savvy friends (Aaron, played by writer-director Shane Carruth, and David Sullivan’s Abe) make and sell devices that detect errors. One day, aided by their friends Robert (Casey Gooden) and Phillip (Anand Upadhyaya), they accidentally invent a time machine – at least, they think it is. The only way to find out for sure is putting it to the test, but what if it actually works? Think loops, paradoxes, and wonderfully complex storytelling in a movie that was shot on a very low budget. You’ll be googling the movie for hours after you’ve watched it, as you try to decipher its every scene.
The 5 films listed above are bound to give you plenty of spectacle and time-bending narratives to immerse yourself in if you’re looking for something to watch if you liked Tenet! Happy time traveling!
