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The matrix of pointlessness is revisited in this tediously complex sci-fi movie, closer to a screensaver than an actual film. This is a threequel to the classic Tron film from the early 80s, a film that was mould-breaking and boldly pioneering for its day in a way that eludes this one and its forerunner Tron Legacy from the previous decade. Tron: Ares nearly awakens just one time – when Evan Peters gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson's character portraying his mum, in an traditional bit of analogue reality. This is a bit of firm parenting you might feel like administering to every producer involved in this movie, and it's unfortunate to see the respected Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so uninspired.

Story Summary of The New Tron Film

The situation currently is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a competitor to the VR company Encom Inc, originally set up in the 1980s gaming period by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn, played by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger, acted by David Warner) is led by the founder’s odiously nerdish grandson Julian (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to develop and produce profitable things such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into actual reality using a sort of three-dimensional printer.

The problem is that however fearsome, these things disintegrate after 29 minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has discovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence code” which can maintain these entities permanently, and even stores it on her person on a very low-tech USB drive. So the dreadful Julian Dillinger deploys his enforcer on her: Ares the warrior, the humanoid uber-warrior which can exit the virtual realm for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of robots, is beginning to show signs of not doing what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith portrays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena's role and poor Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton.

Acting and Roles Analysis

And Ares himself – the protagonist of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, facial hair and subtly omniscient grin, touches that were perhaps created by inputting 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 incidentally quite amused by his broad (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Leto is consistently, persistently terrible here, although his performance isn't aided by a weak storyline which is supposed to allow him to show flashes of “empathy” for Greta Lee's character and subcontract all the villainous actions to Athena, thus rendering her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be adorable when Ares the character says how he adores 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode are better than Mozart's compositions.

Franchise Elements and Final Impression

Consistent with the brand-identity of the series, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which whizz about the environment in linear paths, conforming to the angular layout of classic video games (or indeed nightclubs); one even shoots out a lethal beam which slices a police vehicle in half. But there is no drama or danger or human interest throughout. This franchise now looks about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.