🔗 Share this article

The framework of pointlessness is reloaded in this mind-bendingly dull science fiction film, closer to a screensaver than an actual film. It's a third installment to the original movie Tron from 1982, a movie that was groundbreaking and boldly pioneering for its time in a way that escapes this one and its forerunner Tron: Legacy from the previous decade. The new Tron film nearly awakens just once – when Evan Peters' character gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson's character portraying his mum, in an old-fashioned bit of analogue reality. This is a piece of tough love you might want to administering to all the producers involved in this movie, and it's unfortunate 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 situation now is that an evil AI corporation with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger has become a competitor to the virtual reality firm Encom, originally set up in the 80s arcade-game era by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger, played by David Warner) is headed 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 invincible troops and tanks in the VR world and then transfer them into actual reality using a sort of 3D printer.

The issue is that no matter how intimidating, these things disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence code” which can maintain these entities permanently, 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 superhuman fighter which can leave the VR world for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of robots, 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 poor Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in wise white robes, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Character and Performance Breakdown

Moreover, Ares – the hero of the title – is played by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, beard and faintly all-knowing smile, touches 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 ever find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Jared Leto, and I was incidentally quite amused by his expansive (and critically misunderstood) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Leto is unremittingly, persistently awful in this film, although his performance isn't aided by a limp plot point which is supposed to allow him to show flashes of “compassion” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena's character, thus making her marginally more interesting. It is supposed to be charming when Ares says how he adores 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode band are superior to Mozart's compositions.

Series Features and Overall Impact

Consistent 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 angular layout of antique arcade games (or even nightclubs); a single bike even emits a lethal beam which slices a police vehicle in half. But there is no drama or jeopardy or human interest anywhere. This franchise now looks as relevant as an in-car CD player.