Tron: Ares Film Analysis – Even Gillian Anderson Can't Rescue This Mind-Bendingly Dull Sci-Fi Film

The framework of futility is revisited in this mind-bendingly dull science fiction movie, closer to a screensaver than an actual film. It's a third installment to the original movie Tron from 1982, a film that was groundbreaking and boldly pioneering for its time in a way that eludes this film and its predecessor Tron Legacy from the previous decade. 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 real-world action. That's a bit of firm parenting you might feel like handing out to every producer involved in this movie, and it's unfortunate to see the respected Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so lifeless.

Plot Overview of Tron: Ares

The scenario now is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger Corp has become a competitor to the VR company Encom, first established in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (initially founded by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger, acted by David Warner) is headed by the founder's annoyingly geeky grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to develop and produce lucrative items such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into the real world using a kind of 3D printer.

The issue is that however fearsome, these creations disintegrate after 29 minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has discovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can keep these things alive permanently, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic USB drive. So the ghastly Julian sets his attack dog on her: Ares, the superhuman fighter which can exit the virtual realm for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of robots, is starting to exhibit symptoms of not doing what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance portrays Ares's stoic deputy Athena's role and unfortunate Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Acting and Roles Breakdown

And Ares himself – the protagonist of the film's name – is acted by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and subtly omniscient grin, details that were possibly designed by typing the words “incredibly irritating” 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 totally rude about Jared Leto, and I was also quite amused by his expansive (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Leto is consistently, unrelentingly terrible here, although his performance isn't aided by a limp plot point which is intended to allow him to show flashes of “compassion” for Eve Kim's role and delegate all the villainous actions to Athena, thus rendering her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be adorable when Ares says how he loves 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode band are better than Mozart.

Franchise Elements and Final Impression

Consistent with the franchise identity of the franchise, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which speed around the environment in long straight lines, conforming to the rectilinear design of classic video games (or even dance clubs); one even shoots out a lethal beam which cuts a cop car in two. But there is no drama or danger or human interest throughout. This franchise now looks as relevant as an automobile CD system.