It is the
film of the summer — the release that cinema operators, beset by coronavirus
regulations around the world which have largely kept audiences at home are praying
will reboot the industry.

That film is
Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet”, a clever blockbuster that slips between
espionage and science fiction.

After
several postponements, “Tenet”, which ran to a $200 million budget,
is the first of its kind to dare a release during the pandemic. Disney, in
contrast, canned its plan for a big-screen release for its flagship
“Mulan”, preferring to run it on digital platforms.

And the
latest James Bond film “No Time to Die”, which was due for release in
April, will only go into cinemas in November.

But Warner
Bros have faith in Nolan’s ability to pull in the crowds — and with good
reason.

His rebooting of the “Batman” films in the shape of the
“Dark Knight” trilogy has grossed more than $4 billion.

His last
film “Dunkirk”, which won three Oscars and had five other
nominations, including one for Nolan, cost a mere $100 million and has grossed
over $526 million.

“Tenet”
hits the screens on Wednesday — not in the United States but in more than 70
countries, including most of Europe, Canada, Australia, and South Korea.

For the US,
Warner Bros has held off for a week and is also counting on the important Labor
Day holiday weekend, with a release planned for September 3.

Critics
around the world have been pointing to “Tenet” as the film that could
save movie theatres with the BBC portraying Nolan as a “patron saint”
of cinemas.

The creator
of “Inception” and “Interstellar” is aware of his clout in
the film industry, as evidenced by his recent column in the Washington Post.

“The
past few weeks have been a reminder, if we needed one, that there are parts of
life that are far more important than going to the movies,” he wrote.

“But,
when you consider what (movie) theaters provide, maybe not so many as you might
think.”

“Tenet”
has everything to fulfil its mission. The film’s script hook is reflected in
its title, a palindrome, that is to say a word that can be read in both
directions — similarly, time can be wound backwards or forwards in the film.

The film
appears to be a straightforward spy movie with a secret agent — John David
Washington, seen in “BlacKkKlansman” — on the heels of an evil
Kenneth Branagh who is threatening humanity.

Except in
true Nolan style there is a little twist to that — notably, that characters
can reverse time.

Given the
forward-reverse nature of the story — some of it at the same time — there
promises to be plenty of head-scratching at the end of the two and a half hours
but the film is also packed with 007-style chase and seek.

Nolan
confessed Wednesday in a remote world press conference to being influenced by
Dutch artist MC Escher as well as the 1977 Bond film “The Spy Who Loved
Me”, which he saw aged seven.

“What I
remember from it is the feeling of possibility that you could jump through that
screen and go anywhere in the world and see the most amazing things,” he
said.

“It was
pure escapism with an excellent fantasy component to it.

“I have
spent a lot of my career trying to get back to that feeling and trying to give
that feeling to audiences. Take it back to that sense of wonderment about the
possibilities of what movies can do and where they can take you.”

“Tenet”,
shot in seven different countries, certainly delivers on that front. But the
Nolan touch is a black hero, something that the decision-makers of the 007
franchise have yet to embrace.

The cast
includes Robert Pattinson and Elizabeth Debicki, who once again dons the role
of a scorned woman who regains her freedom, as she did in Steve McQueen’s
“Widows”.

On the pure
action front, there are echoes of the explosions of “Heat” or
“The Matrix”, including an actual — not computer-generated — 747
passenger plane blowing up.

Nolan and
Warner Bros will doubtless be hoping to recoup the bulk of their production
outlay if not better.

Cinema owners will meanwhile hope the flick will
prompt the public to return in droves and then keep coming back as they try to
rebuild their industry.