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The framework of pointlessness is reloaded in this mind-bendingly dull sci-fi movie, closer to a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. It's a threequel to the original movie Tron from the early 80s, a film that was groundbreaking and boldly pioneering for its time in a way that escapes this one and its predecessor Tron Legacy from 2010. Tron: Ares almost awakens 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 analogue reality. That's a bit of firm parenting you might want to handing out to every producer engaged in this movie, and it's sad to see the respected Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so lifeless.

Story Summary of The New Tron Film

The situation currently is that an evil AI corporation with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a competitor to the virtual reality firm Encom, first established in the 80s arcade-game era by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger's role, 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 profitable things 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 however fearsome, these creations crumble into dust after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has uncovered the plot-driving “permanence code” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic flashdrive. So the dreadful Julian sets his attack dog on her: Ares, the humanoid uber-warrior which can exit the virtual realm for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of androids, is beginning to show signs of not doing what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith plays Ares's stoic deputy Athena's role and poor Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance 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 played by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, facial hair and faintly all-knowing smile, touches that were perhaps designed by typing the words “incredibly irritating” into an AI human creation programme. Nobody who remembers the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life will ever find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Mr Leto, and I was also very entertained by his broad (and critically misunderstood) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Leto is unremittingly, unrelentingly awful in this film, 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 making her slightly more engaging. It is supposed to be charming when Ares says how he adores 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode are better than Mozart.

Franchise Elements and Overall Impact

And in keeping with the brand-identity of the series, there are motorcycles from the virtual underworld which speed around the place in linear paths, conforming to the rectilinear design of antique arcade games (or indeed dance clubs); one even shoots out a death ray which cuts a cop car in two. But there is no drama or danger or human interest anywhere. This series now looks about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.