🔗 Share this article

The matrix of pointlessness is revisited in this mind-bendingly dull science fiction movie, closer to a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. This is a third installment to the classic Tron film from 1982, a movie that was mould-breaking and courageously innovative for its day in a way that eludes this one and its predecessor Tron: Legacy from the previous decade. The new Tron film almost awakens just one time – when Evan Peters' character gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson's character portraying his mother, in an traditional bit of real-world action. That's a piece of tough love you might want to handing out to every producer engaged in this movie, and it's unfortunate to see the respected Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so uninspired.

Story Summary of The New Tron Film

The situation now is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a competitor to the virtual reality firm Encom, originally set up in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (originally set up by Encom executive Ed Dillinger, acted by David Warner) is led by the founder’s annoyingly geeky grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to develop and produce lucrative items such as invincible troops and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into the real world using a kind of 3D printer.

The problem is that however fearsome, these things disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has discovered the plot-driving “permanence code” which can maintain these entities permanently, and even keeps it on her person on a extremely basic USB drive. So the dreadful Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares the warrior, the superhuman fighter which can exit the virtual realm for twenty-nine 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 plays Ares's stoic deputy Athena and poor Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in wise white robes, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Acting and Roles Breakdown

Moreover, Ares – the protagonist of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and faintly all-knowing smile, touches that were possibly created by inputting the words “incredibly irritating” into an AI human creation programme. Nobody who remembers the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life will always find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Jared Leto, and I was incidentally quite amused by his expansive (and widely misinterpreted) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Leto is unremittingly, unrelentingly terrible in this film, although he isn't helped by a weak storyline which is intended to allow him to show flashes of “empathy” for Eve Kim's role and delegate all the villainous actions to Athena's character, thus making her marginally more interesting. It is meant to be charming when Ares says how he loves 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode band are superior to Mozart.

Series Features and Overall Impact

And in keeping with the brand-identity of the series, there are motorcycles from the VR netherworld which speed around the place in linear paths, conforming to the angular layout of classic video games (or indeed dance clubs); one even emits a lethal beam which cuts a cop car in two. But there is no drama or danger or emotional engagement throughout. This series now looks as relevant as an in-car CD player.