Film 11 / 13 · Directed by Christopher Nolan
Christopher Nolan's Tenet (2020)
Tenet is Christopher Nolan's 2020 spy thriller, starring John David Washington and Robert Pattinson. A secret agent learns to move objects, and people, backwards through time to prevent a war with the future. It won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects.
After a mission in Kyiv goes wrong, an unnamed CIA agent is recruited by a secret organisation known only by one word: Tenet.
He learns that someone in the future has found a way to reverse the flow of time for objects and people, and that a Russian oligarch is the link between the two worlds. To stop what is coming, he has to learn to move through time backwards himself.
Ratings
As of 11 November 2026- IMDb7.3/10716K votes
- Rotten Tomatoes70%Tomatometer · 380 reviewsPopcornmeter 76%
- Metacritic69/100Metascore · 50 reviews
- Letterboxd3.47/5Average rating
- Kinopoisk7.5/10597.8K votes
Editor's score
Lars Ziegler · 6 November 20267.6/ 10Average of seven craft categories, each out of 10.
| Screenplay | 6 |
|---|---|
| Direction | 8 |
| Acting | 6 |
| Cinematography | 9 |
| Sound & music | 9 |
| Editing | 7 |
| Design | 8 |
How the ranking adds up
Total 64.1 / 100Facts
- Release (UK)
- Runtime
- 150 min
- Genres
- Action · Thriller · Science Fiction
- Studios
- Syncopy
- Distributor
- Warner Bros. Pictures
- Budget
- $205 million
- Box office
- $376.6 million worldwide
$58.5 million domestic · $318.1 million international
Incl. re-releases · Box Office Mojo, 11 November 2026
Awards
Wikipedia, 11 November 2026| Ceremony | Won | Nominated |
|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | 1 | 2 |
| BAFTA | 1 | 1 |
| Golden Globes | 0 | 1 |
Academy Awards won
Best Visual Effects
BAFTA won
Best Special Visual Effects
Also
Critics' Choice Award for Best Visual Effects
Cast
Billing order- 01John David WashingtonProtagonist
- 02Robert PattinsonNeil
- 03Elizabeth DebickiKat
- 04Dimple KapadiaPriya
- 05Michael CaineCrosby
- 06Kenneth BranaghSator
Key crew
- Director
- Christopher Nolan
- Screenplay
- Christopher Nolan
- Producers
- Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan
- Cinematography
- Hoyte van Hoytema
- Editing
- Jennifer Lame
- Music
- Ludwig Göransson
- Production design
- Nathan Crowley
Production notes
- 01
The Boeing 747 that crashes into a hangar is a real plane. Nolan said buying an old 747 in Victorville, California, worked out cheaper than miniatures or computer effects.
- 02
Released in the UK and dozens of other countries on 26 August 2020, it was the first big studio film in cinemas after they closed in March of that year.
- 03
It was the first Nolan film scored by Ludwig Göransson, who went on to score Oppenheimer and The Odyssey.