🔗 Share this article

The matrix of pointlessness is revisited in this tediously complex sci-fi movie, more a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. This is a threequel 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 predecessor Tron: Legacy from 2010. The new Tron film nearly comes to life just once – when Evan Peters gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson's character playing his mum, in an old-fashioned bit of real-world action. That's a piece of tough love you might want to handing out to all the producers engaged in this film, and it's unfortunate to see the respected Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so lifeless.

Plot Overview of The New Tron Film

The situation now is that an evil AI corporation with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a rival to the VR company Encom Inc, first established in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (initially founded by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger, acted by David Warner) is led by the founder’s annoyingly geeky grandson Julian (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to design and create profitable things such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the VR world and then transfer them into the real world using a sort of three-dimensional printer.

The issue is that however fearsome, these creations crumble into dust after 29 minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can keep these things alive for ever, and even keeps it on her person on a extremely basic USB drive. So the dreadful Julian Dillinger deploys his enforcer on her: Ares the warrior, the humanoid uber-warrior which can leave the VR world for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of androids, is beginning to show signs of disobeying what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith plays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena's role and unfortunate Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in wise white robes, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Character and Performance Breakdown

And Ares himself – the protagonist of the title – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and faintly all-knowing smile, details that were perhaps created by inputting the words “extremely annoying” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who recalls the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life series will ever find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Mr Leto, and I was also quite amused by his expansive (and widely misinterpreted) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Leto is unremittingly, unrelentingly awful in this film, although he isn't helped by a limp plot point which is intended to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Greta Lee's character and subcontract all the badass wickedness to Athena, thus rendering her slightly more engaging. It is supposed to be adorable when Ares the character says how he adores 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode are better than Mozart.

Franchise Elements and Overall Impact

Consistent with the franchise identity of the franchise, there are motorcycles from the VR netherworld which speed around the environment in linear paths, adhering to the angular layout of antique arcade games (or indeed nightclubs); one even emits a death ray which cuts a police vehicle in half. But there is zero tension or danger or emotional engagement anywhere. This franchise now looks about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.