Tron: Ares Film Analysis – Despite Gillian Anderson's Efforts Can't Rescue This Incredibly Mind-Bendingly Dull Sci-Fi Film

The matrix of pointlessness is revisited in this mind-bendingly dull sci-fi movie, closer to a screensaver than an actual film. This is a third installment to the original movie Tron from the early 80s, a film that was groundbreaking and courageously innovative for its day in a way that eludes this one and its predecessor Tron: Legacy from the previous decade. Tron: Ares almost awakens just one time – when Evan Peters' character gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson's character portraying his mother, in an traditional bit of real-world action. This is a bit of firm parenting you might want to administering to every producer involved 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 now is that an evil AI corporation with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger has become a rival to the virtual reality firm Encom Inc, first established in the 1980s gaming period by brilliant innovator 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 VR world and then export them into the real world using a kind of three-dimensional printer.

The issue is that no matter how intimidating, these things disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has uncovered the plot-driving “permanence code” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even stores it on her person on a very low-tech flashdrive. So the dreadful Julian sets his attack dog on her: Ares the warrior, the humanoid uber-warrior which can exit the virtual realm for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of androids, is starting to exhibit symptoms of not doing what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance plays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena and poor Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Character and Performance Breakdown

And Ares himself – the hero of the title – is acted by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, beard and faintly all-knowing smile, details that were possibly designed by typing the words “incredibly irritating” into an AI human creation programme. No one who recalls the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life series will ever find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Jared Leto, and I was incidentally quite amused by his broad (and widely misinterpreted) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is unremittingly, persistently awful here, although his performance isn't aided by a limp plot point which is supposed to allow him to show flashes of “empathy” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena, thus making her marginally more interesting. It is meant to be adorable when Ares says how he loves 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode band are better than Mozart.

Franchise Elements and Final Impression

Consistent with the franchise identity of the series, there are motorcycles from the VR netherworld which speed around the place in long straight lines, adhering to the angular layout of classic video games (or even nightclubs); a single bike even emits a lethal beam which slices a cop car in two. But there is no drama or danger or emotional engagement throughout. This franchise currently appears as relevant as an in-car CD player.