Tron: Ares Film Analysis – Despite Gillian Anderson Fails to Save This Incredibly Mind-Bendingly Dull Sci-Fi Movie

The framework of futility is revisited in this mind-bendingly dull science fiction movie, more a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. This is a threequel to the original movie Tron from 1982, a movie that was groundbreaking and boldly pioneering for its time in a way that escapes this film and its predecessor Tron: Legacy from the previous decade. Tron: Ares almost awakens just once – when Evan Peters gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson playing his mother, in an old-fashioned bit of real-world action. This is a bit of firm parenting you might feel like administering to all the producers engaged in this film, and it's sad to see the respected Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so lifeless.

Story Summary of The New Tron Film

The situation currently is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a rival to the VR company Encom Inc, originally set up in the 80s arcade-game era by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn's character, played by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger, played by David Warner) is led by the founder’s odiously nerdish grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to develop and produce lucrative items such as invincible troops and tanks in the VR world and then export them into actual reality using a kind of three-dimensional printer.

The issue is that however fearsome, these creations crumble into dust after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has discovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can keep these things alive for ever, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic USB drive. So the dreadful Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares the warrior, the superhuman fighter which can leave the VR world for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of androids, is starting to exhibit symptoms of disobeying what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance plays Ares's stoic deputy Athena and unfortunate Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in wise white robes, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Character and Performance Analysis

And Ares himself – the protagonist of the film's name – is acted by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, facial hair and subtly omniscient grin, details that were perhaps created by inputting the words “extremely annoying” into an AI human creation programme. No one who recalls the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life will ever find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Jared Leto, and I was incidentally quite amused by his expansive (and critically misunderstood) comic turn in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is unremittingly, persistently terrible here, although he isn't helped by a weak storyline which is intended to allow him to display glimpses of “compassion” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the villainous actions to Athena's character, thus making her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be charming when Ares the character says how he adores 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode are better than Mozart.

Franchise Elements and Overall Impact

And in keeping with the brand-identity of the series, there are motorcycles from the VR netherworld which whizz about the environment in linear paths, adhering to the angular layout of antique arcade games (or even dance clubs); one even emits a lethal beam which cuts a cop car in two. But there is zero tension or danger or human interest throughout. This series now looks as relevant as an in-car CD player.