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Tenet · written by Christopher Nolan · 2020
Scene 12 of 275 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one
An unnamed intelligence operative, recruited into a shadow war fought through time-inverted weapons and objects, teams with an enigmatic ally to stop a dying Russian oligarch from using technology gifted by a dying future to erase the present.
A staged terrorist siege at the Kiev opera — chaos, disguise, and a world where nothing is what it appears to be.
The Protagonist and the Well-Dressed Man rope down into the stalls, dodging terrorist fire among the drugged audience.
The Protagonist races to the coat check and recovers a black metal object from a numbered bag.
The Protagonist flees down a service corridor searching for an exit.
This scene
THREE ‘SWATS’, guns trained, and the Well-Dressed Man. The Protagonist throws a bomb to SWAT 2, then shows the OBJECT to the Well-Dressed Man –
PROTAGONIST
I’ve never seen encapsulation like
this.
WELL-DRESSED MAN
We don’t know how old it is. It’s
the real deal.
PROTAGONIST
Did you have an out?
WELL-DRESSED MAN
Service tunnels to sewers.
PROTAGONIST
Swap clothes.
The ‘SWAT’ and the Well-Dressed Man start changing. The Protagonist hands SWAT 3 the object –
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
Take this, take him, take his exit.
I don’t trust ours any more.
(to SWAT 2)
Can you defuse it?
SWAT 2
(shakes head)
Centrally synchronized. Are there
more?
The Protagonist nods, STUFFS the bomb in his pack –
PROTAGONIST
Covering their tracks.
SWAT 2
Taking out the audience?
PROTAGONIST
Just the cheap seats.
SWAT 3
Not our mission –
PROTAGONIST
Mine, now.
The newly dressed ‘TARGET’ steps up –
‘TARGET’
I’m with you – the Ukrainians are
expecting a passenger.