🔗 Share this article

The framework of futility is revisited in this tediously complex science fiction movie, closer to a screensaver than an actual film. This is a threequel to the original movie Tron from the early 80s, a movie that was groundbreaking and boldly pioneering for its day in a way that escapes this one and its predecessor Tron: Legacy from 2010. Tron: Ares almost comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson's character portraying his mother, in an old-fashioned bit of real-world action. This is a bit of firm parenting you might want to handing out to every producer involved in this movie, and it's sad to see the estimable Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so uninspired.

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 has become a rival to the virtual reality firm Encom, originally set up in the 1980s gaming period by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn's character, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger's role, acted by David Warner) is led by the founder's annoyingly geeky grandson's character Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to design and create lucrative items such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the VR world and then transfer them into actual reality using a sort of three-dimensional printer.

The problem is that no matter how intimidating, these things crumble into dust after 29 minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has discovered the plot-driving “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even stores it on her person on a very low-tech flashdrive. So the ghastly Julian Dillinger sets his attack dog on her: Ares, the superhuman fighter which can exit the virtual realm for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of robots, is starting to exhibit symptoms of not doing what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith portrays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena's role and unfortunate Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in wise white robes, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Analysis

And Ares himself – the hero of the title – is acted by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, facial hair and faintly all-knowing smile, details that were perhaps created by inputting the words “extremely annoying” into an AI human creation programme. No one who remembers the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life series will always find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Mr Leto, and I was also very entertained by his expansive (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is unremittingly, persistently terrible in this film, although his performance isn't aided by a limp plot point which is supposed to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the villainous actions to Athena, thus making her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be charming when Ares says how he loves 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode are superior to Mozart's compositions.

Series Features and Overall Impact

And in keeping with the brand-identity of the series, there are motorbikes from the VR netherworld which speed around the place in long straight lines, conforming to the rectilinear design of classic video games (or even dance clubs); a single bike even shoots out a death ray which slices a police vehicle in two. But there is no drama or jeopardy or human interest anywhere. This franchise now looks about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.