Tron: Ares Film Analysis – Even Gillian Anderson Can't Rescue This Incredibly Boringly Complex Sci-Fi Film

The framework of pointlessness is revisited in this tediously complex sci-fi film, closer to a screensaver than an actual film. It's a third installment to the original movie Tron from the early 80s, a movie that was mould-breaking and courageously innovative for its time in a way that eludes this film and its forerunner Tron: Legacy from 2010. The new Tron film nearly awakens just once – when Evan Peters gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson playing his mother, in an traditional bit of real-world action. That's a piece of tough love you might feel like handing out to every producer engaged in this film, and it's unfortunate to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so uninspired.

Plot Overview of Tron: Ares

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 virtual reality firm Encom, originally set up in the 80s arcade-game era by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, played by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (initially founded by Encom executive Ed Dillinger, played by David Warner) is led by the founder's odiously nerdish grandson's character Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to develop and produce profitable things such as indestructible soldiers and armored vehicles in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into the real world using a kind of three-dimensional printer.

The issue is that no matter how intimidating, these things crumble into dust after 29 minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has discovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can keep these things alive permanently, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic flashdrive. So the ghastly Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares, the humanoid uber-warrior which can exit the virtual realm for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of robots, is starting to exhibit symptoms of disobeying what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance portrays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena and poor Jeff Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in wise white robes, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Acting and Roles Analysis

Moreover, Ares – the hero of the film's name – is acted by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and subtly omniscient grin, touches that were perhaps created by inputting the words “extremely annoying” into an artificial intelligence character generator. No one who remembers the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life series will always find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Mr Leto, and I was incidentally very entertained by his expansive (and critically misunderstood) comic turn in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is unremittingly, persistently awful here, although his performance isn't aided by a weak storyline which is supposed to allow him to display glimpses of “compassion” for Greta Lee's character and subcontract all the villainous actions to Athena's character, thus rendering her marginally more interesting. It is meant to be charming when Ares the character says how he adores 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode are better than Mozart.

Series Features and Final Impression

And in keeping with the brand-identity of the series, there are motorcycles from the VR netherworld which speed around the environment in linear paths, conforming to the rectilinear design of classic video games (or indeed dance clubs); one even shoots out a death ray which slices a cop car in two. But there is no drama or jeopardy or emotional engagement throughout. This franchise currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.