Tenet (2020) - Quotes

Neil: [to Ives] Ives! Wait.

Neil: [to The Protagonist] You’re not going back to London to check on Kat, are you?

The Protagonist: No, it’s far too dangerous.

Neil: Even from afar?

The Protagonist: Even from afar.

The Protagonist: Thought you were inverted.

Neil: Changed gears halfway. Looked like you needed help here.

Ives: [to The Protagonist] Here? We needed help down there. How’d you get that lock open?

The Protagonist: [to Neil] Wasn’t me. Didn’t your team need you?

Neil: [to Ives] I’ll get them on the next pass. All right, Ives?

Ives: Once I’ve caught my breath.

The Protagonist: No one who’s seen this leaves the field.

Ives: [divides the Algorithm into three sections and throws each of two to The Protagonist and Neil; lowers his gun] All right. We hide it. We end our lives. It’s the only to be sure. As to when, maybe that’s every man’s decision to make for himself.

Neil: [chuckles] You’re not gonna kill us?

Ives: If I ever find you, I will.

Neil: You won’t look too hard?

Ives: [gives The Protagonist one last look and chuckles mirthlessly before walking away] Yes, I will.

Andrei Sator: How would you like to die?

The Protagonist: Old.

Andrei Sator: You chose the wrong profession.

The Protagonist: What's happened, happened. I get it now. But it's harder to take things on trust from people speaking half-truths.

Neil: That's not fair.

The Protagonist: You were a part of this before we met. Were you working for Priya?

Neil: No.

The Protagonist: Who recruited you, Neil?

Neil: Can't possibly do you any good to know that right now. When this is over, we're still standing, and you still care, then you can hear my life story, okay?

The Protagonist: [Speaking to Neil after stealing the materials; Opens the case to find an unknown object] Check the radio chatter. I've seen samples of encapsulation in every weapons class. This is not one of them.

Neil: [Sator speaking indistinctly on radio] That's what he's after. ...I can't understand this.

The Protagonist: You said you spoke Estonian.

Neil: It's not Estonian...It's backwards.

The Protagonist: Via convoy through downtown, what's the thinking?

Neil: Crowded. Unpredictable traffic patterns. It's almost impossible to plan an ambush.

The Protagonist: They have a point. Is the convoy monitored from the air?

Neil: Tracked by GPS. One wrong turn, in come the cavalry.

The Protagonist: We need big guns. Guns that make the point without being fired. We need a fast car that doesn't look fast. Four heavy vehicles. All different. Bus, coach, 18-wheeler. One of them has to be a fire truck. Most of all, we have to set this up with nothing in the record. Nothing electronic, nothing paper. I don't want Sator ambushing us once we spring the material. His ignorance is our only protection.

The Protagonist: What did you find on the gold?

Neil: No franks, no mold marks. Nothing. How?

The Protagonist: Dead drops. He buries his time capsule, transmits the location, then digs it up to collect the inverted materials they sent.

Neil: Seemingly instantaneous. Where's he bury it?

The Protagonist: Some place that won't be discovered for centuries. What did the soil samples show?

Neil: Northern Europe, Asia. Radioactive.

Neil: Well, I've seen too much. I'm still alive, which must mean you've decided to trust me.

The Protagonist: Or maybe I lost my edge.

Neil: Edge is still intact.

The Protagonist: [chuckles] There's a cold war.

Neil: Nuclear?

The Protagonist: Temporal.

Neil: [Laughs] Time travel?

The Protagonist: No. Technology that can invert an object's entropy.

Neil: You mean reverse chronology. Like Feynman and Wheeler's notion that a positron is an electron moving backwards in time?

The Protagonist: Sure, that's exactly what I meant.

Neil: I have a master's in physics.

The Protagonist: Well, try and keep up.

Neil: The implications of this are...

The Protagonist: ...Beyond secret.

Neil: Then why'd you bring me in?

The Protagonist: I thought we'd find a drawing and a couple boxes of bullets.

Neil: Not as surprised as I was.

The Protagonist: I'm going back to Mumbai to get some answers. I'll set you up as a go-between. But remember, to you...it's all about plutonium. Or when we're done, they'll kill you.

Neil: Won't you have to do that anyway?

The Protagonist: I'd rather it be my decision.

Neil: So would I... I think.

Neil: What the hell happened here?

The Protagonist: Hasn't happened yet.

Neil: All doors are fireproof. Hydraulic closers, simple key and electronic triggers. Surprisingly easy once there's a lockdown.

The Protagonist: Why a lockdown?

Neil: Power switches to fail-safes, sealing the outer doors, but inner doors revert to factory settings...and pickable locks. It's child's play, really.

The Protagonist: Child's play? They're inside airport security. They have to worry about climate control, not armed raids.

Neil: So, how do we get enough firepower through the perimeter to trigger the lockdown procedure?...Back wall of the Freeport?...

The Protagonist: You've got something?

Neil: Not gonna like it.

The Protagonist: [After Neil explains his plan off camera to The Protagonist] You wanna crash a plane?

Neil: Well, not from the air. Don't be so dramatic. I want to run a jet off the taxiway and breach the rear wall and start a fire.

The Protagonist: Well, how big a plane?

Neil: [Walking up to Mahir sitting on a bench] Well, that part is a little dramatic. This is Mahir. His team will work the plane.

The Protagonist: There can't be passengers.

Mahir: Norsk Freight...They use the hangar on the west side of the Freeport.

The Protagonist: You want to crash a transport plane? What about the crew?

Mahir: We pop the slides, chuck em off.

The Protagonist: On the move?

Mahir: What's the problem? They'll be fine.

The Protagonist: It seems bold.

Mahir: Bold I'm fine with. I thought you were gonna say nuts.

The Protagonist: And if you get caught?

Mahir: We won’t.

The Protagonist: And if you do?

Mahir: Everyone assumes terrorism, but no one's died so swift extradition then lost in the system. It'll barely make the news.

Neil: Oh...Depends on the size of the explosion.

Mahir: Well...Actually, The gold bars might get some play.

The Protagonist: Gold bars?

Neil: Norsk Freight ships Treasury gold once a month

Mahir: Blow the back. Drop it out on the runway.

Neil: No one will be looking at the building. I can guarantee you.

Neil: It seems you need an introduction to a prominent Mumbai local on short notice...I'm Neil.

The Protagonist: I need an audience with Sanjay Singh.

Neil: That's not possible.

The Protagonist: Ten minutes tops.

Neil: [Protagonist shakes his head] Time isn't the problem. It's getting out alive that's the problem...Would you take a child hostage? ...A woman?

The Protagonist: If I had to. I'm not looking to make much noise here.

Neil: [Waiter walks up; Protagonist looks at Neil] Vodka tonic. And a Diet Coke. ...What? You never drink on the job.

The Protagonist: You're well-informed.

Neil: Well, pays to be in our profession.

The Protagonist: Well, I prefer soda water.

Neil: [Chuckles softly] No, you don't... How's your parachuting?

The Protagonist: I broke an ankle during basic training...Singh's house isn't tall enough to parachute off of.

Neil: It's bungee-jumpable.

The Protagonist: I don't think "bungee-jumpable" is a word.

Neil: It may not be a word, but it may be our only way out of that place. Or into it, for that matter.

Contact: Yep?

The Protagonist: We live in a twilight world.

Contact: No friends at dusk...I was told you left the building.

The Protagonist: Even the dead need allies.

Contact: Specifically?

The Protagonist: I need an assist in Mumbai, I need to get to Sanjay Singh.

Contact: Singh? He never leaves his house. And his house is ummm...his house is...

The Protagonist: [standing in front of a high rise building where Sanjay Singh lives on the top floor] Yes, it is...I'm looking right at it.

Contact: I'll see who's on deck. Bombay Yacht Club in two hours.

Steward at Restaurant: May I help you, Sir?

The Protagonist: I'm Mr. Crosby's lunch.

Steward at Restaurant: I presume you mean Sir Michael Crosby's Lunch.

The Protagonist: Presume away.

Steward at Restaurant: [leads The Protagonist to Sir Michael's Table] If you'll follow me.

Sir Michael Crosby: Started without you. Hope you don't mind.

The Protagonist: [points to Sir Michaels Plate and gestures to The Stewart] I'll catch up...'...Same for me, Please.

Steward at Restaurant: I'll send the waiter.

The Protagonist: No, Just Pass on the Order.

Sir Michael Crosby: I gather you have an interest in a certain Russian national.

The Protagonist: Anglo-Russian. So I have to watch my step.

Sir Michael Crosby: Indeed. He's tapped into the intelligence services. I've warned them he's feeding them rubbish...but they don't seem to care.

The Protagonist: Tell me about him.

Sir Michael Crosby: I assume you're familiar with the Soviet-era secret cities.

The Protagonist: Closed cities, not shown on maps. Built around sensitive industries. Most of them have been opened up and renamed as regular towns.

Sir Michael Crosby: Not the one Sator grew up in. Stalsk-12. In the 70's, it had a population of about 200,000. Thought to be abandoned.

The Protagonist: Abandoned?

Sir Michael Crosby: Some kind of accident. After which it was used for underground tests. Two weeks ago, same day as the Kiev Opera Siege, We Spotted a Detonation in Northern Siberia, Just where Stalsk-12 was. Sator Emerged from this blank spot on the map with ambition and enough money to buy his way into the British establishment.

The Protagonist: Through his Wife?

Sir Michael Crosby: Katherine Barton. Oldest niece of Sir Frederick Barton. She works at Shipley's. Met Sator at an Auction.

The Protagonist: A Happy Marriage?

Sir Michael Crosby: Practically Estranged.

The Protagonist: Well, How do I get to Sator?

Sir Michael Crosby: Well, Through Her, Of Course.

The Protagonist: You may have an inflated idea of my powers of seduction.

Sir Michael Crosby: [shakes his hand; gestures to a Bag near the table] Hardly. We have an Ace in the Hole.

The Protagonist: [picks up bag placed on side of table] You're carrying a Goya in a Harrods Bag.

Sir Michael Crosby: It's a Fake by a Spaniard named Arepo. One of the two we've confiscated from an embezzler in Bern.

The Protagonist: What happened to the other one?

Sir Michael Crosby: It turned up at Shipley's. Authenticated by Katherine Barton. Put on Auction. And who do you think bought it?

The Protagonist: Her Husband?

Sir Michael Crosby: Mmm-hmm.

The Protagonist: Does she know it's a forgery?

Sir Michael Crosby: Oh, It's hard to say. Rumor has it that she and Arepo were close.

The Protagonist: Uh-Huh.

Sir Michael Crosby: [points at the Protagonist's Suit] Look, no offense, But in this world, when someone is claiming to be a billionaire...'...Brooks Brothers won't cut it.

The Protagonist: I'm assuming I'm on a budget.

Sir Michael Crosby: [hands Protagonist his credit card] Save the World, Then we'll balance the books. Can I recommend a tailor?

The Protagonist: I'll manage. You British don't have a monopoly on snobbery, you know.

Sir Michael Crosby: [The Protagonist stands up to leave] Well, not a monopoly. More of a controlling interest.

The Protagonist: Could you box that up for me?

Steward at Restaurant: Certainly not.

The Protagonist: Goodbye, Sir Michael.

Barbara: [Opens a drawer of random items that have been inverted] The bullet may not seem like much, but it's a simple machine...Lead bullet, brass casing, gunpowder. If they can invert that, I see no reason they couldn't invert pretty much anything. Even a nuclear weapon can only affect our future...An inverted weapon might be able to affect our past as well. Now that we know what to look for, we're finding more and more inverted material. Remnants of complex objects.

The Protagonist: [Holds hand over one of the items that flies into his palm] What do you think we're seeing?

Barbara: The detritus of a coming war.

The Protagonist: [points gun at wall and fires multiple times] Why does it feel so strange?

Barbara: You're not shooting the bullet, you're catching it.

The Protagonist: [walks up closer to the wall] Whoa. I've seen this type of ammunition before.

Barbara: In the field?

The Protagonist: I was almost hit.

Barbara: Then you were exceedingly lucky. An inverted bullet passing through your body would be devastating. Not pretty.

The Protagonist: These look like today's.

Barbara: They may have been made today and inverted years from now.

The Protagonist: Where did you get them?

Barbara: Came with the wall. I was assigned it, like all the material I'm studying here.

The Protagonist: Do you have an analysis on the metals?

Barbara: Sure. Why?

The Protagonist: [[Armageddon] The mixture of the alloys can tell me where they might have been made. Look...I'm not seeing ] here.

Barbara: One of these bullets is like us, traveling forwards through time...The other one's going backwards...Can you tell which is which?

Barbara: [she holds out her hand out and bullet flies from table into her palm] How about now? It's inverted. It's entropy runs backwards. So, to our eyes, its movement is reversed. We think it's a type of inverse radiation triggered by nuclear fission.

The Protagonist: You didn't make it?

Barbara: No, we don't know how yet.

The Protagonist: So, where'd it come from?

Barbara: Someone's manufacturing them in the future. They're streaming back at us... Try it.

Barbara: You have to have dropped it.

The Protagonist: [places hand over the bullet as if he just dropped it; it flies up into his palm] How can it move before I touch it?

Barbara: From your point of view, you caught it...But from the bullet's point of view, you dropped it.

The Protagonist: But cause comes before effect.

Barbara: No, that's just the way we see time.

The Protagonist: Well, what about free will?

Barbara: [plays a recording of the interaction with the bullet both forward and backward] That bullet wouldn't have moved if you hadn't put your hand there. Either way we run the tape, you made it happen. Don't try to understand it. Feel It.

The Protagonist: [Bullet begins to move backwards on table from Barbara's fingertips to The Protagonist hands] Instinct. Got it.

Barbara: Aim it and pull the trigger.

The Protagonist: [checks the magazine] It's empty.

Barbara: [The Protagonist aims and fires] Aim it. Check the magazine.

The Protagonist: [The Protagonist checks the magazine which is now no longer empty] How?

Barbara: With a high-vis vest and a clipboard, you can get almost anywhere...Almost.

The Protagonist: An obscure Tenet.

Barbara: [Barbara leads The Protagonist into a secure room] No small talk. Nothing that might reveal who we are or what we do.

The Protagonist: I thought I was here to find out what we do.

Barbara: You're not here for "What", You're here for "How"..."What" is your department and not my business.

The Protagonist: Well, to do what I do, I need some idea of the threat we face.

Barbara: As I understand it, we're trying to prevent World War III.

The Protagonist: Nuclear holocaust?

Barbara: No. Something worse.

Fay: We all believe we’d run into the burning building. But until we feel that heat, we can never know. You do.

The Protagonist: I resign.

Fay: You don’t work for us, you’re dead. Your duty transcends national interest. This is about survival.

The Protagonist: Whose?

Fay: Everyone’s. There’s a cold war, cold as ice. To even know its true nature is to lose. This is knowledge divided. All I have for you is a gesture, in combination with a word. “Tenet”. Use it carefully. It’ll open the right doors, but some of the wrong ones, too.

The Protagonist: That’s all they've told you?

Fay: That test you passed? Not everybody does.

Priya: Sator's lifelong mission, financed and guided by the future, has been to find and reassemble the algorithm.

Priya: The world needs Tenet.

Priya: You have to start looking at the world in a new way.

Neil: Lying is the Standard Operational Procedure.

Neil: See? It’s me in there again, weaving another past in the fabric of this mission.

Neil: “What's happened’s happened.” Which is an expression of faith in the mechanics of the world. It’s not an excuse to do nothing.

Neil: You have a future in the past. Years ago for me, years from now for you.

Neil: I'll see you at the beginning, friend!

Neil: We’re the people saving the world from what might’ve been. World would never know what could happen. Even if they did, they wouldn’t care. Because no one cares about the bomb that didn’t go off, only the one that did. It’s the bomb that didn’t go off, the danger no one knew was real; that’s the bomb with the real power to change the world.

The Protagonist: You may have an inflated idea of my powers of seduction.

The Protagonist: I realized I wasn’t working for you, we’ve both been working for me.