Tron: Ares

It's hard to rate the Tron movies, to be honest. The first one was one of my favorite films when I was a kid, but as an adult it's kind of cheesy and slow-paced. The second one was beautiful but exposition-heavy and sort of pointless. Despite all their flaws, there's a special place in my heart for the Tron universe.

Ares is also heavy on the exposition, but it doesn't feel as ponderous as the previous films. At its core, it's about two rival corporations, fighting over a piece of code that will change the world. The evil corporation, headed by the grandson of the original movie's antagonist, doesn't care who gets hurt as long as they make a profit. Meanwhile, the good company wants the code for completely ethical purposes, such as ending world hunger. It's sad that in a story about living computer programs, an ethical corporation is the hardest part to swallow.

The special effects are absolutely stunning. I saw it in 3D, and I highly recommend it. The visuals are easily the movie's biggest draw. Unfortunately, once you get past that, there's not a lot to say about it. I loved the nostalgic references to the original movie, and it had some really pretty action scenes. I also like that it spends plenty of time in both universes, with AI machines getting 3D printed into ours.

I love the little touches, like how the vehicles are printed with supports like a those from a filament printer. Or the nostalgic references, like the first movie's sound effects being used as someone's ringtone. There's plenty of fanservice for those who loved the original.

Still, not a lot happens. The majority of the movie follows a forgettable protagonist trying to get a MacGuffin from one side of town to the other. It's kind of like a high-tech remake of 2012's Premium Rush.

If you're a fan of the first two movies, this is a great entry in the series. But it's still just as flawed as the other two, with more eye candy than substance. 

Second Look: Tron Legacy

I saw "Tron: Legacy" in the theaters ten years ago, and was severely disappointed.  Yesterday I gave it a rewatch, and it was slightly better the second time.  But it's still severely disappointing.

To recap: Sometime after the first Tron film, Flynn disappears.  His son Sam goes looking for him, and gets sucked into the virtual world.  He thinks he's been reunited with his dad, but it turns out to be "Clu" - Flynn's pet program that turned into an evil dictator, leaving the real Flynn Clu-less.  Sam is made to fight in the games, and is rescued by a mysterious woman named Quorra.  She takes Sam to the real Flynn, who has been living in exile.

Quorra turns out to be the last member of a species called "ISOs", the rest of whom were killed by Clu.  Now Clu is focused on stealing Flynn's identity disc in order to do bad things.  Flynn refuses to fight because he knows it's dangerous to let Clu know where he is.  Sam and Quorra go off on their on to foil Clu's plans, but run into trouble, and are rescued by Flynn.  The three of them try to escape the virtual world together, and everyone fights on the way to the portal.  In the end (spoiler alert), Flynn and Clu kill each other, while Sam and Quorra escape to the real world.

What I liked: It's a very pretty movie.  Other than Flynn's de-aged CGI face, most of the special effects hold up ten years later.  Michael Sheen's character is over-the-top in the most delightful way - he should play the Riddler someday.  Quorra is a pretty neat character, presented as a stock "badass female fighter" character, but not so powerful that she seems like a cliche.

What I didn't like: Almost everything else.  Admittedly the original Tron isn't nearly as good as I thought it was as a kid, but at least it was cheesy enough to laugh at.  Legacy is more serious, and feels heavy handed.  But the story isn't good enough to support a serious tone.

Quorra's "last of her kind" backstory felt pointless.  The ISOs could have been taken out of the script entirely without losing much.  It feels like they just threw in an act of genocide to make Clu seem more evil, but he could have just killed a lot of the regular citizens of the virtual world and had the same impact.  Random trivia: There's actually a word for something that's the last of its species: "Endling".

In a way, the visual design was actually too good.  It didn't look like they were in a computer, it just looked like an alien planet, or futuristic Earth.  I wish they had dumbed it down a bit and given it a more jagged look.  The fashions in the virtual world just looked like modern racing gear, with some illuminated piping.  I miss the circuit-style aesthetic of the original.

Meanwhile, the CGI de-aging on Jeff Bridges was pretty bad.  Now, that would have been okay if they'd only used that special effect in the virtual world.  In fact, maybe they should have made everybody CGI in the virtual world, in order to sell that it's a computer generated world.  But they definitely shouldn't have had so many shots of young Jeff Bridges in the real world.  It might as well have been a scene from Roger Rabbit for how artificial it looked.

I also didn't like the soundtrack.  It was too generic and atmospheric.  During one major fight I noticed that the soundtrack was practically asleep.  Some heart-thumping boss battle music would have ramped up the tension.  But I really miss the techno-esque score from the original, and wish they had updated it.

The actual character of Tron - despite his name being in the title - is turned into an evil henchmen, and basically serves as this movie's Darth Maul.  He's an okay villain, but it's really a disservice to the character.

The plot is not interesting.  To be fair, the original Tron is just a Wizard of Oz remake.  Dude gets trapped in a fantastical world (complete with a different color palette) and spends the rest of the movie trying to get home.  Yeah, there's a subplot about wresting back control of his stolen copyrights, but the main story is basically an escape plot.  It's the same plot as Jurassic Park III, now that I think about it.

Anyway, Legacy has a similar plot, but it fleshes out the universe more, which ends up making it worse.  I really liked the 80s Tron universe, and would have liked to have seen more movies, games, comics, and cartoons set in that universe.  But the universe of Tron Legacy is bland and soulless, and left me cold.

What a wasted opportunity.