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| Images courtesy of Disney |
Let's get one thing out of the way. Tron:Ares is not the sequel or continuation that any fans of the series asked for. With that out of the way, the film is a worthy successor that expands on what we've already seen in the original Tron and Tron: Legacy.
It's not fully beholden to nostalgia, despite its nods and varying connective tissue. This is a side quest of sorts that's not held down by the previous lore. Instead, it continues many of the ideas and themes that were teased in Legacy.
There, the greatest fear was that the programs would make it into the real world. And this is exactly that. When the digital realm expands and arrives in our reality, havoc is unleashed. The people in our dimension finally get a look at the technology that exists on the grid, causing a massive collision of worlds. There are striking moments of pure dread as massive digital tanks terrorize city streets and light-cycles intermingle with traffic. The color palette is striking and vibrant. It's everything we imagined and thought we might see at the end of 2010's sequel.
The film is an absolute spectacle to look at. The visual effects work is some of the best of the year. Tron:Ares is pure eye candy that's topped by nonstop action sequences and the pulse pounding soundtrack by Nine Inch Nails. Hand in hand, it all works in cohesion building towards a further expansion of the Tron franchise. While Sam and Quorra are missing in physical form here, their presence is felt through several mentions and story points that bring us directly back to Legacy.
The hard sell about this entire movie is Jared Leto and his fully deadpan and dry performance. As a previous Oscar winner, it's hard to believe that the man cannot emote or bring any semblance of realism to his character. His delivery here is so absurdly uncharismatic and boring that it makes you long for the days of Garrett Hedlund. There's zero chemistry between him and female lead Greta Lee. The two just don't ever click. The other major gripe from most fans is that this is a Tron movie with no Tron and zero mention of him. Evan Peters role as the latest head of Dillinger is remarkable.
Tron:Legacy certainly had its flaws. However, it's held in high regard for being one of the better sequels we've had the pleasure of experiencing in theaters. When it was released, it also had mixed reviews and struggled at the box office. Disney thought that nostalgia for the original was enough to sell tickets. Its troublesome theatrical run spelled certain doom for the series. The brand was continued in the animated series Tron:Uprising, but was eventually abandoned by the House of the Mouse. For several years, talks seemed to be happening to continue the story of Sam and Quorra. But it never materialized. So, here we are fifteen years later with the best thing we're going to get. And it's a damn good entry in a flawed trilogy of science fiction action films.
If audiences can set aside the much-deserved animosity towards Leto, they might be able to see this for what it is. Tron:Ares dives head first into the current discussions and fears of AI and brings them directly into the cinematic realm. If anything, maybe we can be thankful that Leto had the wherewithal to get a new Tron movie into production and in theaters where it belongs. Director Joachim Ronning, whose worked on several other Disney adventure films, does a bang-up job unleashing the Grid into our world.
With its almost necessary callbacks and obviously needed cameo, Tron:Ares is one to be seen with the biggest sound and screen.
-CG