nor able to sweep up brick dust on the floor for decades because it is “destined” to be reverse-bullet damage that is fixed in the future.
(In the movie, you see them walk into a pre-damaged room that is later ‘repaired’ by the inverted gunfire that caused it)
Yes, in a nutshell. Tenet looks lovely, but the time consistency is appalling. The physics is also broken, and the whole thing just becomes a mess if you start thinking about it. There are very few consistent time travel films. Back to the Future is good, and the TV series Dark handles it brilliantly.
That’s because time travel is not (meaningfully) possible. If you want time travel fun, to have to accept broken physics.
Also consistent - and all very different from both Tenet, and each other:
Primer (2004) - American low-budget sci-fi darling that didn’t dumb itself down
Summer Time Machine Blues (2005) - Japanese comedy about a missing air conditioner remote
Timecrimes (2007) - Spanish mystery-thriller with twists
Primer is great, really enjoyed that one