🔗 Share this article

The framework of pointlessness is revisited in this tediously complex sci-fi film, closer to a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. It's a threequel to the classic Tron film from 1982, a film that was mould-breaking and boldly pioneering for its time in a way that escapes this one and its predecessor Tron Legacy from the previous decade. The new Tron film almost comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters' character gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson's character portraying his mum, in an old-fashioned bit of real-world action. That's a piece of tough love you might want to administering to all the producers engaged in this film, and it's sad to see the respected Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so lifeless.

Plot Overview of The New Tron Film

The scenario now is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger Corp has become a rival to the virtual reality firm Encom, first established in the 80s arcade-game era by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn, played by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (initially founded by Encom executive Ed Dillinger's role, acted by David Warner) is headed by the founder’s odiously nerdish grandson's character Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to design and create lucrative items such as invincible troops and armored vehicles in the VR world and then export them into actual reality 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 algorithm” which can keep these things alive permanently, and even keeps it on her person on a extremely basic flashdrive. So the dreadful Julian Dillinger deploys his enforcer on her: Ares, the superhuman fighter which can leave the VR world for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the traditional 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 unfortunate Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in sage-like white garments, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Acting and Roles Analysis

And Ares himself – the hero of the title – is acted by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, facial hair and subtly omniscient grin, details that were perhaps created by typing the words “incredibly irritating” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who remembers the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life series will ever find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Mr Leto, and I was also very entertained by his broad (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is unremittingly, unrelentingly terrible here, although his performance isn't aided by a weak storyline which is supposed to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Eve Kim's role and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena, thus making 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 superior to Mozart.

Series Features and Final Impression

Consistent with the brand-identity of the series, there are motorcycles from the virtual underworld which whizz about the place in long straight lines, conforming to the angular layout of classic video games (or indeed dance clubs); a single bike even emits a lethal beam which cuts a cop car in half. But there is no drama or danger or human interest throughout. This franchise currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.