TRON Legacy

*SIGH* You know, as much as I love writing these reviews, there are sometimes where I just don’t want to. Example; the “Twilight” movies are the most aggravating movies out there to review. First of all, the movies have all sucked, but any reviewer that’s worth their salt knows that pointing out the flaws and problems with the films is hugely pointless because, well, the movies are going to make crap loads of money from the tween girls that make up the series’ fan base. Honestly, writing a review for something like that just feels like you’re the internet equivalent of that homeless guy that wears a sign saying the end is near. It’s a feeling I just couldn’t shake as I write this review, I know whatever my opinion may be, the people that were excited for “TRON Legacy” and love the movie already, won’t care what I have to say anyway. So if that’s the case I’m going to do what I always do and be brutally honest.
“TRON”, for those who don’t know, was a movie released by Disney back in 1982, it was one many films that year, like “Blade Runner” and John Carpenter’s remake of “The Thing” that didn’t really make a ton of money, but on video has had a very good life as a cult favorite. The premise is that a video game designer, Jeff Bridges, is zapped into a digital world called The Grid, and must take down a despotic program called master control. It had impressive visual effects for the time and, well, that’s really it.
First of all, I only saw the original “TRON” recently. I… I just don’t get it. I don’t see what’s so special about “TRON” outside the at the time amazing visuals, but the movie’s story is boring, the characters are all kind of lame and all in all I think it’s not really bad, but it’s really forgettable for me. And it’s not that I’m jaded by modern visual effects, I mean, one of my favorite movies is “Jason and the Argonauts”, who’s visuals almost more dated than “TRON”. The difference is that I liked all the characters, and the story, while really nothing special held my interest from beginning to end, and it’s basically the same story as “TRON” anyway, only “TRON” replaced the fantasy/mythology tropes with computer and video game jargon. I don’t know, maybe it has more to do with the movie coming out on the cusp on the video game age and it appeals to the fanasty of being warped into a video game, but part of me feels like that’s reading way too much into it.
The point is, due to its cult popularity and Hollywood being desperate for any franchise it hasn’t already remade, re-booted or re-imaged, “TRON Legacy” was born. A sequel set in modern times about Bridges’ character having disappeared several years after the events of the first movie. His son Sam, played by Garrett Hedlund, gets a strange message and winds up inside The Grid to find his father and avoid the program CLU, who has gone rogue and turned into a fascist dictator. So, what is my opinion? I mean, the original got by on at the time amazing visuals, and this movie is cutting edge, plus they’ve had nearly 30 years, that means they’ve taken time and actually thought of ways to deal with the issues that the original movie had, right?
Well, “TRON Legacy” does actually have a lot going for it. I can’t avoid it, I simply must say it, this movie has some of the sweetest eye candy ever. The visual style of the original is both homaged and updated and I feel it looks just awesome. Added to that, the action sequences are quite impressive and really ramp the excitement to 11 when they happen. Jeff Bridges reprises his role of Kevin Flynn, though I basically should say it’s more like he reprised his role as The Dude, if he had a computer sciences degree, which is great. Michael Sheen also has a great bit part where I swear he’s purely there to see if he could devour more scenery in a single scene than Al Pacnio has in his entire career.
But the real show stealer it has to be acknowledged, is the music. I’m going to just say it, Daft Punk got screwed by Oscar. This is, no contest, one of the most ambitious, impressive scores in recent history adding so much passion and excitement to the action scenes, as well as permeating the whole movie with a great atmosphere. Seriously, this soundtrack is awesome, buy it now if you haven’t already.
So, by all this logic this movie must be amazing, like I enjoyed it right? Well, yes and no. I liked the music and the action, it had a few characters that I liked. But oh my god, oh sweet Christmas this story is a total mess! If you try and follow this movies plot you will be left in the dust because the movie really didn’t care. It’s plot has more holes than swiss cheese, after a firing squad, not going to spoil them, but they all mostly boil down to the fact that this grid was designed by Flynn… and that’s all I’m going to say. On top of all the plot holes, there are some scenes early on where it feels like serious plot elements are being introduced, but they are never mentioned again. Part of me feels like this movie is being used to set up a franchise and those elements will be further explored in sequels, but that’s always a problem. Really what this movie boils down to is a retread of the first movie’s set pieces with a bigger budget and some additional characters and the workings for continuity among at least one more movie, and that causes the moments in between the action scenes to be really really dull, and really really stupid on top of it. I’ve been told I shouldn’t take something like this too seriously, but the movie really keeps trying to cling to this story. I can forgive movies that have lack story in favor of visuals, but there is a line and it gets crossed when the movie just seems to THINK it has a story when it barely exists. The problem gets to compound when pretty much all the characters other than the two I’ve already mentioned are enormously bland and clichéd. Early on those action scenes? Awesome, super cool, after awhile though, I got pretty bored. By the final chase I was just unimpressed because I frankly didn’t care who was going to win.
Overall, eh, I’m indifferent to “TRON Legacy”. I don’t hate it, but I really didn’t care for. It had some impressive visuals, awesome music and that’s really it. To me, that’s not quite enough to forgive an ungodly stupid plot and bland characters, but for some it is, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

2.5/5 digital gladiators