Tenet · written by Christopher Nolan · 2020

Neil and the Protagonist examine the recovered case as backwards radio chatter reveals Sator's inverted Audi chasing them; he holds Kat hostage, forces a mid-chase handoff, then abandons her in the runaway car as he escapes with the material.

Scene 160 of 275 · ≈ 2 min on screen · Act two

Neil
Protagonist

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:16 into a 2:28 film

The story so farBefore scene 160

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.

Scenes 1–17
The Protagonist in his zone of comfort — a skilled, anonymous field operative, competent and confident inside the Kiev operation.
Scenes 18–20
Broken by torture and 'killed,' he needs a new purpose; Fay offers one that transcends the nation-state loyalties that just got his team killed.
Scenes 21–32
He enters the wholly unfamiliar situation of Tenet — the wind turbine, the password test, and Barbara's proof that time itself can run backward.
Scenes 33–144
Mumbai, London, Oslo, and Amalfi — he adapts to the world of inverted physics and Sator's inner circle, paying costs (Kat's trust, his own safety) to get close to the target.
Scenes 145–158
The Tallinn ambush succeeds — he gets what the mission wanted, extracting the plutonium '241' from the armored convoy.
Just before
Scene 157
The ambush team disables the pursuing police car's engine.
Scene 158
The Protagonist extracts the orange case containing the plutonium '241.'
Scene 159
He escapes back to the getaway BMW with the case.
Scene 160
This scene

160INT./EXT. BMW, TALLINN STREET – CONTINUOUS

Neil, driving, glances at the orange case –

NEIL

We got it!

The Protagonist opens the latches, flips open the lid... revealing the BLACK METAL SHAPE the size of a softball.

PROTAGONIST

I’ve seen samples of encapsulation

in every weapons class – this is

not one of them.

Neil looks back at the Protagonist. Serious.

NEIL

It’s what he’s after.

The Protagonist looks around at the surrounding traffic...

PROTAGONIST

Check the radio chatter.

Neil clicks on the radio – EMPHATIC GIBBERISH...

NEIL

I can’t understand –

PROTAGONIST

You said you spoke Estonian –

NEIL

It’s not Estonian, it’s...

backwards –

Up ahead, an Audi is weaving through traffic, towards them, BACKWARDS... Neil STARES...

NEIL (CONT'D)

The hell?

The BACKWARDS-RUNNING AUDI flies at them, CLIPPING the wing mirror, ‘HEALING’ its crack. Behind them it SPINS AROUND, to CHASE them, still running BACKWARDS...

The BMW DODGES around traffic, trying to lose the backwards Audi, which pulls up to the back bumper – then ALONGSIDE – in the back is Sator, black eyes peering over a RESPIRATOR, a gun to Kat’s head. She is BOUND and GAGGED, eyes TERRIFIED –

Sator rolls the rear window down, holds up his hand, FINGERS EXTENDED. He COCKS the gun at Kat’s head then starts COUNTING DOWN on his fingers... the Protagonist looks down at the BLACK METAL SHAPE in the case...

NEIL (CONT'D)

You can’t give it to him!

The Protagonist LIFTS the closed case, LOWERS the window...

PROTAGONIST