Review of Tron: Ares – Despite Gillian Anderson Can't Save This Mind-Bendingly Dull Science Fiction Movie
The framework of futility is revisited in this mind-bendingly dull science fiction film, more a screensaver than an actual film. It's a threequel to the original movie Tron from the early 80s, a film that was groundbreaking and boldly pioneering for its day in a way that escapes this one and its forerunner Tron Legacy from 2010. The new Tron film almost awakens just once – when Evan Peters' character gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson's character playing his mother, in an traditional bit of analogue reality. This is a piece of tough love you might want to handing out to all the producers involved in this movie, and it's sad to see the respected Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so uninspired.
Story Summary of Tron: Ares
The situation currently is that an evil AI corporation with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger has become a competitor to the VR company Encom Inc, originally set up in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn, played by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger, played by David Warner) is headed by the founder's odiously nerdish grandson Julian (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to design and create profitable things such as invincible troops and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into actual reality using a kind of 3D printer.
The problem is that no matter how intimidating, these things crumble into dust after 29 minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence code” which can keep these things alive for ever, and even keeps it on her person on a extremely basic flashdrive. So the ghastly Julian Dillinger sets his attack dog 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 time-honoured way of androids, is starting to exhibit symptoms of disobeying what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith plays Ares's stoic deputy Athena's role and poor Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in wise white robes, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton.
Character and Performance Breakdown
And Ares himself – the hero of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, facial hair and subtly omniscient grin, 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 will ever find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Mr Leto, and I was also quite amused by his broad (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is consistently, unrelentingly terrible here, although his performance isn't aided by a weak storyline 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 rendering her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be adorable when Ares says how he adores 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode band are superior to Mozart.
Series Features 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, conforming to the angular layout of antique arcade games (or indeed dance clubs); a single bike even emits a lethal beam which cuts a police vehicle in two. But there is zero tension or jeopardy or emotional engagement throughout. This series now looks as relevant as an automobile CD system.
