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Christopher Nolan doesn't give anything away in intriguing new Tenet trailer

John David Washington and Robert Pattinson star in the twisty 2020 thriller from the director of Memento and Inception.

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Gael Fashingbauer Cooper
CNET freelancer Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Gael Fashingbauer Cooper

It's OK to watch the trailer for Tenet, the upcoming movie directed by Christopher Nolan, and not exactly know what's going on. Nolan's trying to keep the plot secret, and the trailer doesn't put any pieces together. Star John David Washington (son of Denzel, and star of BlacKkKlansman) might be a spy, and a time traveler, and someone trying to stop World War III -- and maybe other things, too.

He might even be dead. "That test you passed?" Martin Donovan's character says to him at one point. "Not everybody goes. Welcome to the afterlife."

Moviegoers who are seeing Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in IMAX might get a little more inside info. Those screenings will feature a longer, six-minute prologue for the film, Slashfilm reports

Mysterious plots are nothing new to Nolan, who also directed Memento and Inception, among other films.

Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Aaron Taylor-Jackson and Kenneth Branagh also star. Tenet is scheduled for release on July 17, 2020.

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