RBatz: “What happened here?” John David Washington: “Hasn’t happened yet.”

I’m getting an Inception mindfuck vibe from this Tenet trailer. Reality is bending, not behaving, playing grand tricks, etc. But which character’s wife has recently died? Or is Nolan foregoing this recurring meme?

The concern, apparently, is the prospect of something worse than nuclear holocaust. But the bigger concern (and I regret repeating this) is that John David Washington, whom Chris Nolan hired because of BlacKkKlansman, has blank eyes. Obviously a good-looking smoothie, but lacking that special conveyance that tells you his character (whomever that may be) is a fellow of consequence and smarts with the spark of curiosity.

Another concern is shots of characters jumping from the roofs of buildings. (Or scaling buildings like Spidermen.) I’ve explained over and over that this is a mark of hackery.

RBatz is playing a second banana; Elizabeth Debicki (hired because of The Night Manager and Widows) is playing…what do I know? Nothing. Plus Martin Donovan, Clemence Poesy, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh, Himesh Patel (hired because of Yesterday), Dimple Kapadia and Denzil Smith.

Otherwise it looks great. 70mm and IMAX cinematography by the great Hoyte van Hoytema. Filmed in seven countries — Denmark, Estonia, India, Italy, Norway, the U.K. and the U.S.