r/tenet • u/carbon_user • 7d ago
Question about the car chase scene
So in the car chase scene, are the cars that reverse Sator and the reverse protagonist in also reversed? If not then just by driving the cars they are influencing it to behave like it’s also going back in time?
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u/cobbisdreaming 6d ago
The Saab is inverted as well as the Audi Q7.
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u/enemy884real 4d ago
Wondering how the inverted cars use regular air when inverted people need inverted air.
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u/cobbisdreaming 4d ago
Which is why the inverted P was wearing a mask supplying him with inverted air that could pass through the membranes of his lungs while he was driving an inverted car that contained regular air that wouldn’t be able to pass through the membranes of his lungs.
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u/enemy884real 4d ago
Yea right. You can’t have inverted internal combustion without inverted air. Lung membranes have nothing to do with it.
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u/cobbisdreaming 4d ago
Yep, I just mentioned the membrane dialogue from the film when Wheeler briefs P before he heads out
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u/LegendofNick 6d ago
My problem with this scene is that no one else on the road is reacting to the cars driving wildly insane. Everyone one the road is just pretending they're not seeing people drive backwards?
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u/betteroffdad23 4d ago
I don't understand how you reached that conclusion when cars are clearly swerving out of their way?
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u/LegendofNick 3d ago
Show me. Watch the scene again and all the cars driving at the backwards protagonist are ...driving regular, not reacting. The only reaction is a few people turning their heads, not even doing anything else.
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u/betteroffdad23 3d ago
Ah I guess you're right that they don't swerve but tbh I didn't really see much reason for them to. Like when done 19 year old with a death wish whizzes through traffic I tend to just be about to keep driving like normal.
It probably would have benefited the film if they did throw on the brakes or something though. I bet it's a consequence of however they filmed the scene
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u/aidocore 6d ago
The cars aren’t driving in reverse gear, they are being ‘un-driven’ backwards in forwards gear. Just think of a video of normal car driving forwards but the footage is reversed. Reversing the footage doesn’t put the gear selector into Reverse.
The cars aren’t inverted, only the drivers. If TP’s silver Saab were inverted, he would have no problem driving it, but we clearly see him struggle to drive it as he has to ‘feel’ his way through it (much like firing the inverted bullet in the lab). If the car were inverted he would be able to drive and steer it perfectly (while dealing with some inverted elements if his environment, wind etc)
The Black Audi (Sators) I believe to also be not inverted, as when forward moving TP jumps in to save Kat, he presses the brake and the car stops. If it were inverted, the car wouldn’t behave this way.
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u/set271 6d ago
I agree with your first paragraph but i can’t agree with your second. The saab has to be inverted because the first time we see it, it rights (unrolls) itself and starts moving backwards away from the BMW.
Same for the Audi. Only an inverted car driving at full speed in a forwards gear could keep pace with a non inverted car like the Audi keeps up with the bmw. You can’t do that in reverse in any car
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u/set271 6d ago
I agree with your first paragraph but i can’t agree with your second. The saab has to be inverted because the first time we see it, it rights (unrolls) itself and starts moving backwards away from the BMW.
Same for the Audi. Only an inverted car driving at full speed in a forwards gear could keep pace with a non inverted car like the Audi keeps up with the bmw. You can’t do that in reverse in any car.
We see TP struggle because the inverted car responds in unexpected ways as it interacts with the non-inverted ground and air.
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u/aidocore 6d ago
An object doesn’t have to be inverted in order for the cause of an effect to be messed up, but the person (or object) causing the cause has to be inverted. If an inverted person knocks an non inverted glass off the table infront of me, from my non inverted point of view, the non inverted broken glass will rise from the floor and reassemble on the table infront of me.
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u/set271 6d ago
I agree about the glass in your example. But cars cannot be made to move at normal speeds backwards just because an inverted driver is driving them. The transmission doesn’t work that way. The audi is inverted with respect to the bmw.
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u/aidocore 6d ago
You are still thinking in terms of reverse gear, it’s not being driven in reverse. It’s been driven forwards but the “video footage of the tape” is being played backwards. (I only use video tape as a conceptual example).
You have to also remember that ‘what’s happened, happened’ and the events of the movie are in a pre-determined closed loop. So the cars have already been driven in the opposite flow of time, and for the inverted TP it is un-happening.
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u/RobbyInEver 6d ago
Now you got me asking what happens if an inverted person tries to drive a normal car?
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u/Tachanka-Mayne 6d ago
They would have to put it in Reverse to drive forward, since in normal entropy it’s moving backwards.
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u/aidocore 6d ago
No that’s not true, reverse isn’t the opposite of a forward gear. It would have to be un-driven forwards in first gear. See my post above
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u/Tachanka-Mayne 6d ago edited 6d ago
Yeah but if the car was driven in first gear it would be moving forwards in forward entropy, which wouldn’t work for the inverted person since that would mean it’s moving backwards in their point of view. Your theory would work if the car was inverted too.
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u/aidocore 6d ago
This is what happens with TP and the non inverted Silver Saab
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u/Gosicrystal 6d ago
The Saab is also inverted. As set271 pointed out, a non-inverted Saab would have to be in reverse gear in order to move in the opposite direction relative to the BMW, but reverse gear can't reach high speeds like that.
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u/ImWalterMitty 6d ago
Inverted Sator's Audi and inverted TP's Saab are inverted cars.
You can see the Saab in the red room the whole time. At some point in the future the Saab is inverted by Tenet team, and parked outside ( in the past 🤣 )