TENET Ending Fan Theory: Is Neil Really Kat's Son ??? | His True Origins Explained
Вставка
- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- TENET Ending Fan Theory: Is Neil Really Kat's Son ? | His True Origins Explained. We break down the TENET fan theory that says Robert Pattinson's character Neil might actually be Kat's son from the future. There are full spoilers here so if you don't want the ending of the movie ruined then don't watch this.
#TENET #RobertPattinson #FanTheory
TENET Time Inversion Explained + The Movie's Timeline - • TENET Time Inversion E...
TENET Ending Explained Breakdown + How Time Inversion Works & Story | Full Movie Spoiler Review - • TENET Ending Explained...
If you enjoyed this video then please subscribe to the channel / @heavyspoilers
If You Want To Help Support The Channel So I Can Make More Videos Like This Please Donate Here:
/ @heavyspoilers
Get some awesome Heavy Spoilers show clothes, phonecases and accessories at - teespring.com/...
/* ---- SOCIAL MEDIA ---- */
Follow Me On Social Media At:
/ deffinitionmc
/ heavyspoilers
/* ---- DISCORD ---- */
Join our Discord Community at - / discord
/* ---- VIDEO INFORMATION ---- */
Tenet Neil Fan Theory
Ok so initially Neil just seems like a contact that was randomly assigned to The Protagonist to help him with his missions. However, the character starts to play his hand more and more throughout the movie and we realise that he knows far more than he should. He spouts off dialogue about how time inversion works, knows about the grandfather paradox and always seems to be one step ahead of the game.
In the end it's revealed that the character is actually himself fully briefed up on exactly what's going on and we learn that in the future he was hired by The Protagonist before being sent to protect his younger self.
It's a twist that fatefully leads to the characters death but what if it goes far beyond that?
Well firstly I just wanna shoutout WillJD11 who first dropped the theory on my Tenet ending explained video. It wasn't something that I caught first watch, however, having gone back to the film a second time, I think it becomes glaringly obvious that it's the case.
I pretty much sat throughout the film making notes on my phone which probably ruined the movie for people behind me but god dammit this is important work.
So the first time we meet Neil he spouts off two lines of dialogue that pretty much cement that he is examining what kind of person that The Protagonist is at this point.
When talking to him, Neil asks "would you take a child hostage?" before following this up with "what about a woman?"
It's something that flies by the first time, however on a second viewing it becomes clear that he is of course referring to Kat and her Son in order to see whether The Protagonist would be willing to protect them or if he would risk their lives.
Their lives are of course paramount to the storyline but that fact that he asks about the child first could be playing his hand. If Neil is really the child then he would of course have his own interests at heart and he must be sure that The Protagonist is going to do anything he can to protect him so that he can return the favour when he's older.
He also asks about Kat because if this theory is true and she is his mother then he would want to protect her. After Kat is shot at the half way point of the movie, Neil takes great care of her and pretty much nurses her back to health, almost going above and beyond what's expected for a field ops member.
Neil isn't a medic and the fact that he spends so much time with her when he could have easily just took a medic along with them does hint at what's going on.
► Artist Attribution
Music By: "KaizanBlu"
• Instagram - / kaizanblu
• SoundCloud - / kaizanblu
• Facebook - / kaizanblumusic
• TikTok - @kaizanblu vm.tiktok.com/a...
• UA-cam - www.youtube.co....
• DOWNLOAD @ www.chilloutme...
Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Full licence here: creativecommon....
• Music released by: Chill Out Records @ goo.gl/fh3rEJ & www.LoFi-HipHo...
Instrumental by Homage
• [FREE] Chill 90s Type ...
Thanks for checking out the video. Let us know your thoughts on the theory.
Heavy Spoilers I knew it when I watched tenet
Okay just back from a second viewing. I think this theory is great and holds water. I'm just suprised Nolan didn't make it more explicit at the end because it's a cool reveal.
This second time I watched the film with captions/subtitles which was very helpful, given I couldn't decypher about half of the dialogue in booming Imax. I was able to piece together so much more sense in a second viewing, really watching out for details that were completely obscured by chaotic sound and editing on first view. But there is still two major things that I couldn't grasp even on a second focused view:
When Protagonist first goes back into the car chase sequence, what is he doing with the tracker/box and what goes down with the object popping out of it's case? He has a tracker on the case, goes to where the case was dumped and follows the car that dropped it back into the fray. But it looked like his past self through the object into his current silver car? How did he know to do that, or am I miss reading that? When Branagh sets his car on fire, does Branagh retrieve the object from the silver car? Or does this object go some place else? Couldn't make sense of that...
Second thing, what the hell is supposed to happen when Branagh's fitbit/deadman's trigger goes off. I took it to mean that the algorythym was supposed to explode/activate ending all time or something?! The bomb they were racing against was only supposed to bury it? Because that bomb went off. Branagh was killed before the object was taken apart, so shouldn't it have exploded/activated when the wife shot him?? Is there something I'm missing here? I was so focused on seeing what was going on with resurrecting Pattison and the door etc that I still couldn't get all of Branagh's monolgue on the phone (even with subtitles). Was he explaining some other way that future tech would go off? Something about gleaming tower in the future?? Can anyone make sense of all that??!
Reversing the sound. How many youtube tutorials did that take you? 🙂
Do you grow older or younger when you're reversed? Your thoughts move forward, and you breathe normally, so I guess you also grow older. If Max is 8 in 2020 and starts practicing time reversals at age 18 in 2030, he will have a chunk of time-reversed experiences while still growing older, but these experiences have to sum up at least to 10 years, plus any number of regular time spent in non-reversed fashion (if he lived 10 straight reversed years, he'll get to be 28 yrs old in 2020 in this example; if he lived for chunks of 6 reversed months with a one-month pause in between starting from 2030, he would gain 1 additional year every 3 years, i.e. he would be 22 in 2027, 26 in 2024, 30 in 2021... Pattinson's real age is 34, so give or take a few years for the character's age, the theory is plausible, but he should have spent most of his adult life in a reversed state and that requires some dedication...
They did not dye Pattinson's hair cos he look cool.
Neil is the most interesting character in the film. I have a real respect for Robert as an actor after this.
Just after this??
yes!! definitely the most interesting character
He has done more character And u only give credit to this movie just because he is in a big scale movie of nolan. If u follow his work ull know he is best in every role he plays.
Yeah I thought he brought the magic to the movie, I thought Kenneth was better then usual too. But he did way better in the dramatic moments then the weird quiet talking. Can't hear his bad accent through mumbling I guess
Id argue both the protagonist and neil are the most interesting!
Just watched for the 3rd time paying close attention for anything that might add to this theory - there was a HUGE suggestion in the scene between Protag, Neil and Kat going backwards in the boat: Protagonist asks Kat what date in the trip Sator flew off/she took Max ashore, she can't recall, Neil immediately chimes in with conviction saying it was the 14th. Is there any other reason he would so surely know this unless he is Max??
Yup! That was the exact line that made me think Neil was actually Max when I saw the movie the 1st time...I had never heard of this theory up to that point, but when "Neil" said that, I suddenly knew, "Wait a minute! WHOA! Neil is MAX!!!"
He was just a kid when it happened, seems unlikely he would know what date it was
@@Comakino He would if it was the day his father died!!
@@timothyj.bariteau5181 but he didn't die. That was the future inverted Satori Neil didn't know his dad died
@@Cristian_D63 Sure he did, maybe that day, as a child he wasn't aware of it...but at some point in the very near future he would've known his father died and he would've learned the when and how, too! And the adult version of him, "Neil", would DEFINITELY know all of those details!
Just imagine Neil travelling in that shitty container inverted for years and years staying lowkey just to save the protagonist and the world.
Loooooool, I love the idea that shipping containers hide the people though so we don’t notice them
So he would have to have years worth of oxygen supply ? Can't really wrap my head around that being a plausible theory . Neil is presumably ten years older than Max in the film so he would have to spend 10 years (or so) travelling back? Just seems to stop making sense to me there . Also in the film it isn't directly addressed , but characters who are inverted are still aging in normal time , simply going backwards through it . Otherwise they would literally be getting younger as they travelled backwards , so by the time Neil made it back to the time of the events of the film , he would be looking quite a bit older . What do you guys think? This film has prompted some really interesting discussion and I've very much enjoyed how deep people are going in.
I thought like you hefore but I think that the fact the protagonist has several parts of the algorithm at the end of the movie (6 parts or all parts as he's the boss of Tenet), this could allow Max/Niel to travel faster back in time.
But I thought he dies only once.. The protagonist sees the future niel getting shot.. In which for niel it was present and he was seeing everything in reverse...
I mean that niel goes in a single path from present then reversing himself and then dying ultimately... The protagonist sees the niel in reverse not getting shot in reverse but in future niel really dies once after which past niel comes and dies again without knowing he will have to die..
@@jbode11 it's not oxygen, it's simply carbon dioxide. You're breathing in CO2 and spitting out O2, which is the reversal of normal breathing.
As Kat mentioned, Neil left without saying goodbye, a big contrast to how caring he was when she was out of it. He was avoiding her now that she was fine, because he didn't want to risk her noticing that he looks like her son.
That scene sealed the theory for me. But I think Neil just told Kat about his real identity in the previous scene when he starts explaining her stuff, which is why she seems emotionally moved when she learns Neil left without saying goodbye.
@@mobbaddictchannel I think this doesn't prove much
That woman in the white coat is not the scientist who invented the reverse entropy of Bullet....
She is just assigned to that project....that's it....
That is SO interesting
You are right. She's not. Her child will be the creator of inversion :D @@HarshaHarshG-tb3pu
Think about this: Through the movie Neil and the Protagonist at least two times discuss the "Grandfather paradox" (a person travels to the past and kills their own grandfather before the conception of their father, which prevents the time traveller's existence). Andrej Sator's (father/grandfather) ultimate goal was to destroy the World. Niel's (son/grandson) goal was to save the world. It's a reversed grandfather paradox - TENET at it's best. Makes complete sens to me that Max is indeed Niel.
*inverted grandfather paradox
watched the film 3 times now and know a lot more, and yes youre right, niel has to be Max and everyone is in a big loop must not be interrupted or the paradoxon will happen and nobody knows what happens then, could be the end of time itself
But to be a grandfather paradox max should not be exist at that time when Sator dies. This Is not a full grandfather paradox
@@tommasoneri84 Perhaps sator himself is inverted and because kat has been inverted to keep sator alive until the mission is complete then it avoids the max/neil from dying
@@tommasoneri84 But niel still dies sacrificing himself at the gate for the protagonist who I reckon raised him so that he can complete the mission. It is literally an ongoing loop
This is basically Neil's movie just in The Protagonist point of view.
This is the most succinct explanation available.
I thought neil was the coolest character when you realized what he accomplished and you realize who he is
🤯🤯🤯🤯
man i want a sequel or part 2 that's the movie from Neil's pov.
Who Dat Ninja or you could wait until the Blu Ray comes out and rewind the movie so it goes in chronological order.
To me it had the complexity of Inception, the science of Interstellar and the action of the dark knight. I need to rewatch it a couple times to fully catch everything but it's could become one Nolan's best imo
I think some people critique it because they don't understand or catch half the things, to me all the 4 main characters were interesting so not sure what some people want to see
That's interesting! For me, I think it had the action of the Dark Knight trilogy, the look and feel of Inception, and the writing/complexity of Memento (primarily with the two timelines notion meeting).
I totally agree
Funny, i think it was his worsed movie. The plot is really not that difficult, if you pay attention. The characters lacked everything you need to be involved with a movie, they were flat as can be. The villain was so cliché, it was painfull to watch. Also, the whole "reverse fighting" thing was cute the first time, but after that it just felt like a gimmick to me. Also, if you attempt to do something like this, at least make it logical. Think about this, if the flow of air is reversed, why is the flow of light not reversed? Because it would make you blind, and the movie becomes impossible to make. I dont like that "let's just throw logic out the window to make a wannebe smart movie" kind of approach. Either it's all logic, or there is none. I was just waiting for the movie to be done. The ending wasnt surprising at all, when they fight in the vaults it was waaaaaay to obvious Pattinson was fighting one of their inversed selves, making the ending very predictable. This is one of those movies to me where the concept was so strongly put at number 1 it destroyed the movie.
@@Snacks079 dude its a movie sit back and relax calm down
In an earlier video, you mentioned, “lack of character development. They literally called the protagonist, ‘the protagonist’”
What if thats a huge misdirect, so people dont realize Neil is the protagonist?
woah!
It’s not a leap at all to link Max’s hair to Neil’s hair. Pattinson’s hair is naturally dark brown. Why else would Nolan have told the hair and makeup department to give ‘Neil’ blonde highlights...
I had a feeing neil was max midway through the movie. Robert getting blonde hair pretty much confirmed it for me. I knew max was so much more than just the woman’s son.
you cant use argument outside the movie to answer a narrative inside the movie. maybe nolan just hate brunette people in general
@@maulvimuhammad Yes you can use an argument outside a movie to answer for a narrative choice. Want to know why lots of indie horrors shoot in the woods and create backstory for said haunted woods? Because it's cheap to shoot in the woods.
@@highwayexit the cheap part wasn't in any of those film narrative. if a film cannot explain itself without you referring something behind the scene, then the film is failed to explain itself as it supposed to be a complete narrative. that's why auteur filmmakers usually doesn't want to explain their film, because all the answer are already in the film, not outside it.
@Josh S nope. nolan is a cold man. he just hate human interaction.
Neil mentions how much sleep helps when inverted, so that might suggest when travelling back in time for long periods, he slept a lot of the time.
Damn true that. There’s just too many hints to support the Neil/Max theory, it’s unbelievable
And why he was so damn chipper in all the scenes where he was moving forward with his friend; he just spent years traveling back alone.
@@wavyremix While getting plenty of sleep!
Sator’s sin (having a child) caused his demise
Oh shit
Damn
Rewatching right now and almost certain this is true - When she meets Neil for the first time she asks who he was and he replies "let's start with the simpler stuff - - physics"
Imagine taking a dump while inverted.
From your point of view it won't be inverted. Only from some one is in the parallel time line.
@@blazn0 imagine walking in on that
blazn0 what if the turd itself is inverted so like the inverted bullets, it will go back in if you act on it.
@@timurthelamest5630 then you probably have to take a shit first, then go through the time machine. Go to the toilet while your poop is still in there and try🤷♂️
blazn0 doesn’t have to be your shit, just as long as it’s inverted. Just take a poop in the toilet and take the turd out then just store it in an inverted timeline and the poop will return to a bare butthole if in close vicinity of one just like the bullets being retrieved into the gun.
I think it's just Nolan's way of making the movie ... Keeps you in an open ended debate, let the audience keep thinking ... Happened with inception and interstellar ....
And also his love for airplane ✈️ 💥
1. Dark knight( escape in airplane scene)
2. Dark knight rises ( crash the airplan scene)
3. Inception (entire dream is on airoplane)
4. Dunkirk
5. Interstellar (kind of with rockets)
6. Tenet
Damn Nolan really loves planes
100% this. Nolan planted a few clues that they COULD be the same, but the point is you’re not supposed to know either way. Bit like Dekkard in Blade Runner.
I love how Dunkirk is Dunkirk lmao
Love how you just put Dunkirk, cuz look at how many planes there are lol
And insomnia.
Neil was also pretty pissed when kat got shot and when protagonist responded its “ standard procedure “
I thought he was just amazed about “Standard Procedure” stuff cuz he even smile. I’m not sure tho
@@cmnt. Nah he was low key pissed and he went "Jesus..." when he saw Kat on the stretcher. The smile was more of a sarcastic one or "I can't believe you just said that" smile. Also I noticed when JDW wasn't looking Neil crouched next to her and looked at her for a few seconds. And later when she's in pain he gives her something to make her sleep then gently takes her arm and puts the blanket over her. Also he kindly says "we're almost there" to her when the van is about to stop. I dunno he just seems awfully nice to her considering she's meant to be a stranger
sen.m Yup, fair enough
@@sen.m7832 Yeah, and she brought up how Neil left without saying goodbye to her. If he's her son, that makes sense of why he would avoid her once she's OK, after caring for her while she was out of it.
@Traveller in the Dark Exactly, maybe he thought she might be able to tell he was her son that’s why he didn’t say goodbye. Or maybe cause he knew it’s the last time he’ll see her and he wouldn’t be able to hide his emotion if he had to say bye
Nice theory, and like someone said good call on him speaking Estonian.
I saw the movie with my father who is Estonian and we laughed about how unlikley it was that some british guy would understand that language yet alone speak it.
However Andrei is a russian name and you should know that Estonian is not a slavic language.
A lot of russian people who are born in Estonia dosent even speak Estonian all that well.
On top of that they even stress that he grow up in siberia so unless he is suposed to descend from Estonians deported to the gulags in that region i dont think you could draw any conclusions from it.
Neil is the son of Kat. I always thought he had a connection with Kat. His attitude, his willingness to help no matter what proved he had a deeper meaning in the grand scheme of things.
Maybe it's because Kat is the one who kills sator and is a vital part of the mission?
Im going to watch this movie backwards,maybe ill understand it then
@OMGIDestroyedMatter or just hit reverse when it's digitally released, might be a little easier..
Then you could reverse the title and proudly say that you've watched... Tenet.
What if Neil was not the son but actually the grandson?..."grandfather paradox"....
Good point
That is a valid point!!
I thought when you go back in time/inverted you need masks, so how are Neil, Sator and the women able to breathe without it???
Oh yeah, but were they inverted when they were back in time, or did they invert backwards and then were able to not invert so they didn’t need the masks
@@hawkeye13_46 I have no idea. The movie made it seem that if you invert, then u need a mask, cause you're breathing in carbon dioxide instead of oxygen. I don't really know if they even explained how they are inverted and still walk around with no mask, even though in other scenes they use masks. I'm so confused lol
Is it me but the protagonist is more Neil's step dad hence they have a very close bond and friendship. It would explain why he would die for him and add a better impact to it.
A character isn't just who they are, its what they do. The characters in the movie are perfectly well developed
I totally agree. Many viewers seem to think that dramatic acting with high emotions and deep backstories are pre-requisites for well-developed characters. This is certainly not the case, I would argue that through their actions, decisions and principles (tenets) in the present moment, the characters are actualized. Neil answered the protagonists question on what 'fate' is, to which he answered 'reality'. This reinforces the main theme throughout this film, that what one does or chooses to do, matters much more than their backgrounds and life stories. Reality is rooted in the present. If you watch Nolan's interview with Geoff Keighley, the lack of backstories and character name is deliberate.
Pattinson has an impressive charisma that leaves a signature behind his performance in several movies. I think that's been crucial to get more and more important roles.
"knows about the grandfather paradox" a lot of people do
True - its not like its a secret only those from the future know xd
I think he meant that Neil knows that in this universe, if something happens, it happens and can't be changed. I'm not sure though
I can’t sympathise with the idea that the movie doesn’t have very engaging characters. I think the world building more than makes up for the lack of detail and makes mystery all but necessity as the characters deliberately distance themselves from each other to protect one another
totally agree, well said
Plus The Protagonist is not supposed to know who anyone is as that would reveal to much and as Neil mentions, it could mess things up.
Thats why the audience cant know certain characters backstory’s
Agreed.
In retrospect I do thing that all of the characters except Neil were pretty sterile. However the pace of the plot was so rapid that there didn't seem any time to slow down and have any significant character moments. I felt Interstellar suffered a little from this too. TENET was a great film but not an easy watch ... the complexity, pace and quantity of action/barrage of information made this a VERY hard film to simply enjoy ... in fact it was SO complex it made INCEPTION feel like Mary Had A Little Lamb!
Tony Davies I agree, I think Tenet could’ve benefitted from 20/30 mins longer runtime with some downtime in between to explore characters. Regardless, I think it still worked well - similar to Inception where other than Kobb most of the crew are just “someone I’ve worked with before”, they’re just pieces in a bigger game
The music is so loud in the cinema in tenet
Yeah mega loud, you pretty much have to watch it in IMAX to get the proper mix
@@heavyspoilers Nah, we watched it in IMAX and had the same experience the dialogue was at the bottom of the mix. Chris Stuckman also had the same experience... It seems to be a new theme with Nolan first noticed in Interstellar.
BWAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
The music makes it hard to catch firm grasp of dialogue process
The sound was AMAZING! Very loud but not that loud that it became annoying. 'Luckily' we saw it with subs so there were no issues with catching the dialogue.
Loving reading the comments here. Read the 'Neil could be Kat's son' theory in a comment on UA-cam after watching Tenet a second time at the BFI IMAX Waterloo, London on Friday 28th. Needed to see it a second time, because totally did not understand the movie after viewing it first-time on Wed Aug 26th. Today, Aug 31st seen it a third-time, again at the awesome BFI IMAX, largest screen in the UK, and Tenet just gets better with each viewing. The Neil character moves in and out of time-inversion always there at the right time to save the protagonist. He might not be Kat's son, but he knows a hell of a lot because he's jumping between times so frequently. Nolan is teasing us to question the origin of Neil and sets many scenes suggesting he's the son of the villain, like how he knows the date that Sator disappeared. I love this movie and could see it everyday day at the BFI IMAX, alas summer's ended so has annual leave, back to work-from-home tomorrow , before then, will continue reading Tenet fans' theories and comments. 🙂
But Neil says “years ago for me, years from now for you.” Meaning that him and Neil meet each other really soon, and if that’s soon Neil would be a lot younger wouldn’t he?
Do u really have to keep saying that you watched it at the BFI IMAX?
🤣
Kat and Neil's English accents are not regional, unless "Posh" is a region.
Neil's accent was very transatlantic. If you want a genuine UK accent watch Tom Hardy in Inception.
There’s no such thing as a genuine U.K. accent. The United Kingdom is made of up four different countries.
What you’re referring to is “Received Pronunciation”.
@@Pytho_n Robert Pattinson is British, if he chose to do a "posh" accent, he did it for the character.
It's funny because I didn't even remember her having an accent until I came here to figure out what I just watched. I must be used to super thick English accents.
Just came back from watching it a 2nd time, absolutely love this film!
Yeah, kinda feel like bumping my score to a 9, works so much better second time around
Me too!
I got it the first time. The fights were too long. Too much of the same backward stuff and the plot was too abvious. Not sure if I whant to see it again.
@@rougewillow I got it the first time as well, some scenes just have a bigger meaning to the viewer a second viewing. I liked the fighting scenes and didn't think it was too long, visually it looks stunning. There some twists here and there for the plot, which I didn't see comming. I really enjoy this film, might go a few more times.
I'm going to force my wife to go watch it so I have an excuse to go watch it again ;)
Goddammit. This makes me feel more emotional now. Maybe the lack of character depth of Neil and The Protagonist is to hide crucial things about both of them.
He didn't have a master in physics that was a lie to cover how he knew so much about inversion.
Some dialogue the characters say are lies. This was hinted at when the Protagonist said to Neil... "lying is standard operating procedure"
Ah good catch
@Brian Cairns He's a tenet professional with years of experience. Of course he would be one of the most knowledgeable people on the subject.
@Brian Cairns 😂
Unrhu Sator says multiple times how much Max’s education costs. So only if the theory is true, it would make sense that Neil gets a master in Physics.
@@VonJay Even still if the theory holds true , Sator was referring to Max grade school education at a prestigious private school.
I'm sure when they head out for the final mission, kat asks where's Neil because she never got a chance to say goodbye. JDW says he's already gone. Maybe Neil would have found it too hard to say goodbye to his mother knowing this would be the last time he saw her
Also cool detail but did anyone peep that throughout the whole movie there are at least 2 Neil's present in thesame time. 3 momentarily when they save Kat
4 Actually, if Neil is from the future and 5 if he is Max, he had to be inverted to go help PT.
2 inverted on Blue Team, 1 uninverted in the car, 1 inverted going to save PT at the Opera House.
@@MaxIronsThird yh problem is I don't agree with the theory of Neil being Max. It sounds poetic but I don't think it makes sense that Neil would have waited almost 25 years in inversion with an oxygen mask
@@NoMoreNamesAvailabl1 25 years? 10 years is the correct number, he is about 12, 10 years later, 22, 10 years inverted, 32.
Also even if he's not Max, he could still be from the future
Also there is plenty of space and inverted air in that Carrier ship Tenet used.
Neil seemed to me the type of action hero you’d find in Japanese anime. Slender, somewhat feminine yet comfortable with it, but very confident in high pressure situations.
To move back through time he would need to go through an inverted timeline and time moves at the same pace. So this means that Max would have to go in the tourniquet and wait 25 years to reach the point where he was 8. I can imagine what he would have done during all those years and the reserve of oxygen he needed.
Now you need to try this with Nolan's Memento. You will have to watch it a few times (unless you research ahead of time).
Also, the female scientist in the shooting range is the Oppenheimer-like scientist who discovers time travel. She says she can't tell him what she is doing, but obviously she is studying reverse entropy and will figure out how to do it herself in the next few decade or so (when Neil will travel back and maybe he will construct some of the MANY time machines everywhere in this world).
No, Priya says to protagonist that the Algorithm was created many generations from now
im coming from the future
IIRC, they said someone cracked the reverse entropy, but generations after that. future scientist created the algorithm. maybe she created the science behind the turnstiles, but not necesarily the algorithm.
She created the turnstiles to invert the soldiers, someone stole the plan, modded it and sent them to Sator.
His performance just gives more hype for The Batman and I can't wait to see it
Cool analysis. I think it's another 'Nolan signature' to make the viewer think long after the movie with the whole Neil/Max Theory. Much like the end to inception. It's never stated outright which leaves room for either theory to be right not wrong. 👍🏾. Subscribed.
When Neil express the safety features in the lockers, He Says it's "Child's Play" to John (The Protagonist). I think Neil is telling abut his childhood plays which might done with John. That supports the explanation that Max is Neil.
One thing I find a little hard to buy is Neil's interaction with Kat. If she is his mom I feel his reaction to her being shot and injured by his dad would be a little bit more visceral. Maybe, he has been trained extremely well but I would expect a bit more anguish or even trepidation.
I agree with this theory, I've also tought about the fact that Neil is Max just on the middle of the movie but I've gone more far. In my opinion, what we saw in the movie (from the "Tenet" to the broker-from-future of Sator) is all the big plan of the old protagonist in order to create again the loop in the hope that in the new iteration the adult Max/Niel could survive? At the beginning of the movie we know from a guy on the boat that knowing the big picture is equal to a failure in the mission so knowing that everything was built by the protagonist of the future in order to save both the world and Niel would have lend to a complete failure. On the boat with Sator when the protagonist was capture during the moment with the gold, Sator told that "We live in a twilight world" meaning that he is both part of TENET organisation.
I agree with you in part, that they fail, I stated this on another review of Tenet.
Again this is hinted at in the very beginning in the toture scene when the Russians are torturing the Protagonist.
The Protagonist and his team fail the mission at the opera house. He didn't give up his friends and choose death, but his friends still died.
The twilight world saying was just CIA code. The protagonist doesn’t fully join Tenet until after he bites the pill.
Racecar: Direct sequel to Tenet
Kayak: The final in the tenet trilogy
Madam: The spin off movie
And
Refer: The loosely connected TV show
don't give them ideas.
I can't watch another movie this beautiful
@@faresdeabes9576 It's a joke,there all palindromes
@@ronanmccabe8157 you really think he didnt get that?
Hannah - the prequel.
Lol: Some teens get some fun being inverted, knowing the world has been saved
In the car chase scene when Sator counts down Neil says "don't give it to him"(section 9 of the algorithm) which says that he doesn't care if Kat is shot he also says "He's getting away" disregarding Kat being in the moving car
I don't think he'd let his mother down like that :(
If he knew how it would all play out he would
He knows that his mom will live.
You've had the most accurate theories on Tenet I've seen from Maxwell's Demon to Max being Neil. Keep doing great observational commentary!
New Rockstars went with the same idea (coincidence?) 9-10 days after you. Congrats for figuring it out. Will be following your channel due to this a long time going forward!
Max - Maximilien - Lien - NEIL 🤯
Holy shit mate
That’s a reach as that’s not even how you spell it, so stop that
@@andrewdickens7016 It's originally a French name and it IS spelt that way :) cheers
Lien also means LINK
the name has a palindrome in the centre between max and Neil which spells I'm in both directions. reversed for Neil and the right way round for Max but with the word order reversed. I'm Max and I'm Neil
MAX I'm'I LIEN
It's an interesting theory but if he's the son of a Russian father, surely his name would be Maxim/Maksim.
I just got done watching your previous video, and yeah I feel like Neil is the future of Kat's son.
The Sator square was found in Pompeii in 79 AD. Max mentions a Pompeii trip, which Sator mentions again on the yacht when the Protagonist drops off Kat. They all spend some time in Italy for a while, such the Amalfi Coast scene, which is close to Pompeii.
Who else was expecting Neil to be like villain?
Definitely expected a villain plot twist there, yes!
I'm glad Nolan doesn't stoop to those levels very often.
I thought it was Ives at the end but I just misunderstood the moment lol
At the end of the movie, Neal asks the protagonist if he is now going to see Kat even in a distance, (why?)wich he does, and that's the give away of Neil being Max the first time I saw the film
Well done on this video dude. A lot of work went into it.
Anyone else get Fight Club vibes with the Protagonist making Tenet? Movie starts with him being woken up. He later travels around and makes different cells of the same organization with a plot to change the world. He fights himself. He tells his organization to not trust him or tell him much so he does not mess any of his plans up in the future because he cannot remember making the organization. A tower explodes in spectacular fashion in the third act. Weird three way love triangle with the woman being verbally and physically abused. Probably a few more similarities as well.
This film made Inception look like a coloring book.
Nolan is fking genius
can't wait for this movie to be released
i initially didn't want to consider this theory but wow... you make a great argument for this.
Interesting view on the character of Neil. It makes a lot of sense to be honest. Although, I still kinda preffer my own private theory, which is, that Neil's real name is in fact James, and that he's son of Dom Cobb. Although, all I have is the fact, that we know that Neil comes from the future, he is blonde, just like James, and the way he spoke about dreams kinda reminded me of Inception.
😁
1:52:00 into the movie Neil is the only one who knows what is the exact day that Sato disappears, The Protagonist asks him "how do you know ?". That scene alone proves that Neil is Max. Kate and Max are the only one that actually knew about that day. Also in the last dialog of the same scene Kate fears that it might be the last moments of her son, the protagonist responds by saying "they're not" while taking a look at Neil
MAX IMI LIEN
The palindrome IMI is Estonian for "I"
So we get:
MAX, I, NEIL
Coincidence? I think not...
There is no word in Estonian to my knowledge that is IMI. There is nimi which is name and mina or ma which is I. It is a bit far fetched in my opinion to say: oh... well then we invert neil and we get MAX IMIN EIL. Therefore getting Nimi out of the name ;)
imi means "meaning" in Japanese haha
MAX ----> I Am I
I hope the sound mixing is fixed when they release the Blu ray
If it is the beginning of a great relationship for Neil. He could be referring to that relationship starting after Kat and her son welcome the protagonist enter their life.
My theory is that the doctor played by clemence poesy is the same who invented the inversion tech, i dont know if im the only one.
Also i think there might be a possibility Neil gets out of this alive through a timeloop
the doctor can't be the inventor because that's a time paradox , it's the causal loop paradox i think , the problem comes if you think how did this loop starts
Hair is what made me suspicious after I saw the movie first time..
Great video bud, bringing to light many things,
After the first viewing it had never occured to me Neil was Max, after hearing rumblings about it online, it made a BIT of sense, but watching it a 2nd time? PLUS this video? I think its more than apparent Nolan is at least trying to make the viewer think about it.
Another thing that happened, it was small, but its near the end of the film, In the shipping container, JDW and Neil are talking to Kat about the vietnam vacation, and they are getting the dates a little confused... You can see Neil staring into the void as in "trying to remember in the far reaches of his memory" and says "no, it was the 14th." I almost flipped in my theater chair, that wasnt a spy sharing intelligence, THAT was someone remembering the past because he was THERE (which if he is max, he was!), But the look on his face , was so telling i thought
The other thing that occurs to me way more on the 2nd viewing, they end the film on Pattinsons voiceover, not JDW or anyone, but specifically Neil, and the FINAL shot of the film, is of Kat and her son, and I noticed the framing this time was more centered on the SON, and its clear to me now that thats just not for nothing.
Knowing how Nolan is... he will never tell us the truth..but I think now its more than obvious, throwing everything else in the pot, their hairstyles and the fact hes british and estonian (GREAT catch by the way), leaves no doubt in my mind.
Neil is a codename, and he is little Max, who the protagonist will obviously get close to as he gets close to the mother and will take the kid under his wing eventually and they will become great friends
If people have trouble with the thought that Neil would need to travel so far into the past a number of times, Knowing THAT character a little more now, I think Neil IS that dedicated to saving the world and his mother, and has no problems understanding the way of things
Best character in the movie, by far
I agree. I think Nolan was at least hinting at it. I noticed the Vietnam dates as well, would make sense Neil would remember that as that was the day his father went missing.
Yeah the ending with Neil talking about “the bomb that didn’t go off has the real power to change the world” - Kat and Max walk off because JDW saved them from being killed. So Max could grow up to save JDW’s life, and together they literally saved the world. And yes focusing slightly more on Max as he is the one who reaches for Kat’s hand.
Also when JDW isn’t looking, there is a shot of Neil crouching next to a sleeping Kat and looking at her almost fondly/emotionally. Very interesting
an interesting thing to note is that Neil does not necessarily have to invert immediately after the films end he could go ahead and live his life as long as he doesn't die before he inverts and gets the door open he can live a life out
Not gonna lie. I was rooting for Neil than the protagonist in this movie, so it hits me when he was saying goodbye to the protagonist, me knowing he's walking to his death. Now, I have high hopes for the new Batman.
Neil being Max is like a last minute idea thing where they didn’t think it through.
I’ve seen it 3 times. I heard this theory after my second viewing. I don’t think there is anything in the movie that really proves or disproves the theory. When you watch it thinking he is Max you view what he does a bit different. However I’m still trying to decide if Cobb is home or still dreaming.
just from the fact that Pro has to watch over Kat and her son leads me to believe that they develop some sort of relationship. Robert dyed his hair and his hairstyle matches Max’s. We get quick, very quick glimpses of Max’s face. No other character in the film is handled like that. Sator stresses Max’s expensive education several times in the film, Neil says that he’s a Physicist. I don’t think that Nolan wastes time on dialogue, on the little smirk Neil has on his face when he’s teasing him about Kat. The first time Neil learns that the Protagonist is willing to save Kat, an unmistakable smile washes over Neil’s face, “you’re doing it to save her.”
just watched it again and realised something. that orange string on Neil's backpack has a metal piece on it. i think it's an actual viatnamese coin and guess where that family went on vacation that was relevant to the movie. as you usually say, it might be a reach, but these kind of coins are actually common in that area
I pray whoever likes this comment becomes a millionaire someday
SOMEDAY
A little unspecific on where to become a millionaire?
Japan? 1m Yen = £7082
Hungary? 1m Forint = £2473
Albania? 1m Lek = £7186
Algeria? 1m Dinar = £5863
Angola? 1m Kwanza = £1209
Armenia? 1m Dram = £1567
Bangladesh? 1m Taka = £8874
Cambodia? 1m riel = £183
Chile? 1m Peso = £975
Columbia? 1m Peso = £203
Costa Rica? 1m Colon = £1262
Haiti? 1m Gourde = £6652
Indonesia? 1m Rupiah = £60
Iran? 1m Rial = £18
Iraq? 1m Dinar = £630
Kazakhstan? 1m Tenge = £1788
Kenya? 1m Shilling = £6942
Laos? 1m Kip = £82
Lebanon? 1m Pound = £496
Malawi? 1m Kwacha = £1008
Myanmar? 1m Kyat = £565
Nepal? 1m Rupee = £6437
Nigeria? 1m Naira = £1951
Pakistan? 1m Rupee = £4543
Paraguay? 1m Guarani = £107
Rwanda? 1m franc = £778
Sierra Leone ? 1m Leone = £77
South Korea? 1m mon = £633
Sri Lanka? 1m Rupee = £4067
Tanzania? 1m Shilling = £324
Uganda? 1m Shilling = £204
Uzbekistan? 1m Som = £73
Vietnam? 1m dong = £32
Yemen? 1m Rial = £3005
I was bored. But if I were in Iran, I'd be a Millionaire!!........Just.
I will come back to this comment and like this when I become a millionaire, in true spirit of time inversion TENET
I invested heavily in tesla so here's ur like.
@@LRR001 Nikola Tesla? Did you invert all your precious metals in the hope that it would change the future & thereby our present for the better, specifically better for you?
Yeah, sorry to tell you. That hasn't worked. What's happened, Has happened. Just a litlle belief that may help, a tenet to live by in these twilight times.
Hey thanks so much, truly, for making this awesome video. That being said, man it’s never ok to pull out your phone during a movie! Bring a notepad and pen next time
if Maximillien is his name, Max of course is alternative name but also the word Maxim is in his name as well. Surface-level you can explore the relationship and similarities between the words 'Maxim' and 'Tenet', but with depth in how Neil and The Protagonist represent this interplay of definitions and relationship. The first pincer movement describes a marked change in the 'characters' of both characters, it's as if the relationship between not only those words but Neil and The Protagonist have a pincer movement. Check how surprised Neil is when The Protagonist confesses not only he saved the woman but was cunning in doing so. In that moment The Protagonist exhibited a merger of his own Maxim of helping others while not sacrificing his Tenet in completing his mission/duty. Neil is in awe at this point. Neil is a thesaurus definition of The Protagonist in my opinion like how children can be thesaurus definitions of their parents in a way like an 'express image of' or 'likened unto'. This in my eyes, causes me to think that Max is Neil.
Also Neil is working backwards throughout the entire film, meaning that it is apt for him to be named so because of his backwards mission.
Neil is the son, makes absolute sense...
Even more mindblowing.. since Neil has studied physics in the Future, maybe he’s the one that created the technology im the first place.. and he’s trapped in a Time-Loop, taking care of the past/future.. since he’s the one that saved the Protagonist not one, but two times..
He is, there are so many references
I enjoyed this movie so much!! Nobody wants a boring movie that been remade from the 90s. This was very original and the characters are amazing. I honestly don’t think we need more background of the characters. I also forgot how loud IMAX can be lol
Wait, how do you know Sator was/is Estonian?
Yeah - I think it’s said in the movie that Sator is Russian.
Would be cool to hear that inverted Estonian dialogue from the movie do we can figure out what they say. (Estonian league reporting in)
@@paulvahur The dialogue wasn't in Estonian, it was just reversed and sounded like estonian to John and Neil corrected him. The same dialogue is also played back in the right way later when John is driving the silver car and recording the voice line on his phone.
@@wictor1992 Neil tells him it is Estonian backwards
I think the biggest clue is neil narrating at the end. “The bomb that didnt go off” was the murder of his mother that didnt happen, thanks to TP
really enjoyed this ! thank you so much!
After I finished seeing the moive I was thinking the same thing max is neil. Glad I'm not the only one. But now I think of it this moive kind of reminds me of netflix "in the shadow of the moon"
1:40
For me it’s pretty ignorant that you don’t care, if you ruin others cinema experience.
You and your thoughts may be not that important as you think they are.
Right? What a dick move, if you need to make notes that badly just bring a notebook.
Great analysis and agree, this theory would tie the movie together so well.
Neil is the son. Which is why Priya wanted to kill him at the end of the movie but the protagonist stopped her
I had a feeling after the first watch
Can you invert an already dead person? I mean Neil went out there and died. But what if you took his body through the turnstile( the inverting machine) and inverted his body. Won't the bullet that struck him come out of his body then? Won't his heart return to its previous state? Wouldn't you be able to reverse death if that's possible? Isn't that almost what they did with Kat? If so...isn't that possible? Please reply.
No, it makes no sense that Neil is Max
Or at least it makes no sense without making the story extremely convoluted
If Neil was the same age as his actor, that means Neil was in his 30s during the events of the movie
Max looks like he cannot be older than 8 or 10
In other words, for Neil to invert back to the events of the movie, he'd have to stay inverted for almost 30 years
How does he get access to 30 years worth of inverted supplies? Food, medication, and most importantly, oxygen
It just seems too far fetched or convoluted that someone can stay inverted for that long
The boredom itself would probably drive him insane
(He can't even watch TV or listen to music or talk to anyone while inverted, he'd essentially be sitting around alone staring at walls for almost 30 years)
I think your math is wrong. If Max is 8 in 2020 and starts practicing time reversals at age 18 in 2030, he will have a chunk of time-reversed experiences while still growing older, and these experiences have to sum up at least to 10 years, plus any number of regular time spent in non-reversed fashion (if he lived 10 straight reversed years, he'll get to be 28 yrs old in 2020 in this example). So if he lived for chunks of 6 reversed months with a one-month pause in between starting from 2030, he would gain 1 additional year every 3 years, i.e. he would be 22 in 2027, 26 in 2024, 30 in 2021 and 30something in 2020 (Pattinson's real age is 34).
@@st.armanini9521 We will never be able to know exactly how much time Neil spent living inverted, but the point is it's A LOT
As you said, assuming Max is 8 in 2020, and Neil starts training at 18 in 2030, he'd still need to live something like *ten to fifteen* years inverted, in order to arrive back at 2020 aged in his 30s
That's a lot of time spent living inverted
Sure, maybe they came up with some kind of a schedule, breaking up all those years into more manageable chunks, but it just gets really convoluted at that point
@@hiyukelavie2396 Yeah it's just really really stretching for a mad twist that actually works against the film rather than elevates it . The fact that their friendship was inverted ( i.e Neil at the end of a beautiful friendship and the protagonist at the start of his) was powerful enough . This theory about Max is just too much.
Absolutely love this theory. Good work!
One of the strongest arguments for the Max is Neil theory and one that I have to see be brought up (unless I incorrectly misheard or remembered the movie) is that Kat figures the day her husband will invert but it is Neil who specifies the date/time. He knows the date because he has the memory of boarding the boat ashore with his mother as a child and probably more importantly - it is the last day he will ever see his biological father.
Jason Enriquez its not his last day that he saw his biological father
Hmmm I believe it would be? If I’m not mistaken, immediately following those events - Sator starts taking steps towards activating the algorithm to end the world? He pretty much disappears from the grid
Yeah I agree it makes sense that he would remember that day. Also perhaps the most compelling implication is the ending. In the voice over Neil says “the bomb that didn’t go off has the real power to change the world”, as Kat and her son walk off and Max takes her hand. They survive because JDW saved them. Max grows up to save JDW and together they literally saved the world.
Very good call out on him speaking Estonian. It's hardly a language that someone would want to take up just to learn on their own.
Cheers, yeah I remember soon as they said that in the film it was so obvious
Sator was Russian who grew up in Siberian town (that’s very far from Estonia). Not sure where it is said in the movie that he is Estonian. It might be that he has inverted crew members who are Estonian and we hear them speaking.
Nice theory, and like Vittoria said good call on him speaking Estonian.
I saw the movie with my father who is Estonian and we laughed about how unlikley it was that some british guy would understand that language yet alone speak it.
Andrei is a russian name and you should know that Estonian is not a slavic language.
A lot of russian people who are born in Estonia dosent even speak Estonian all that well.
On top of that they even stress that he grow up in siberia so unless he is suposed to descend from Estonians deported to the gulags in that region i dont think you could draw any conclusions from it.
If Max-is-Neil then the Protagonist has to recruit Max and then sends him through a turnstile twelve years from "now" (10+12+12=34, which is Neil's age). That's a pretty long haul in anyone's book. But there is another possibility: the Protagonist enters a turnstile in the near-future and travels back to a point years prior to the movie. He then builds Tenet, recruiting Priya, Dude-on-the-boat, Ives, and.... Neil, who is a dashing Physics student. He briefs Neil on what needs to be done (just like Blue Team briefed Ives prior to the final battle). And when the movie starts then back-to-the-future Protagonist steps into the shadows while Neil goes off to save present-day Protagonist in Kiev. It works either way, but the latter seems more sensible because *someone* has to create Tenet, and it is heavily implied that this someone is the Protagonist. And he can't do that from the future, he can only do that in the past.
I might be wrong, but neil and max are the only character who carry backpack.
Wow I love this and all signs point towards Neil being max pretty cool.
All right, here me out....
"you have a future in the past my friend", "this whole operation is a temporal pincer... yours.", "you are only halfway there" are lines said by Neil before he goes to his inevitable death.
That along with the scene that follows, with the protagonist in the past killing Priya to make sure Kat is safe makes me believe that, he travels backwards from that point on to the past to set things in motion. If your theory were true, he could only have grabbed a future version of Max or Kat to take with him to the past because the ones already in the past are meant to continue their lives in the future, making it only possible for him to watch from a distance (if that makes sense).
This is why I believe Neil is an entirely different person from the past that's recruited by the Protagonist, who he forms a close friendship with.
neil to the protag is like pippen to jordan,but his role getting bigger and bigger as the movie goes
I said this in the theater to my mates but thought I had been wrong by the end of the movie
Neil says to the protagonist that he has a future with him in the past, so he can't be the kid he's actually Ava naturally that old at that time. Also saying they have a friendship is weird for a stepson and stepfather, but it makes sense with them being of similar ages
I would’ve realized that Neil was Max on my first viewing if I could’ve heard the dialogue. Sadly I only experienced the movie....
We really don't know how many times Neil went through, and how old he was by the time he took the final mission. Where did all the gold come from that was inverted and buried? The plane crash. The mission at the airport not only saved Kat but also provided funding for the organization.
Has anyone looked at the casting requirements for the characters of a Neil or Max? If any of the audition requirements called for certain physical attributes to match it could help prove the theory.
I found the characters engaging enough. I liked not knowing much about them or their motivations. It was like dropping in on a story and having to play catch up. My only complaint was the sound. A sequel would be great but I'm not holding my breath.