Review of Tron: Ares – Despite Gillian Anderson's Efforts Can't Save This Incredibly Boringly Complex Science Fiction Film
The framework of pointlessness is revisited in this tediously complex science fiction film, closer to a screensaver than an actual film. This is a threequel to the original movie Tron from the early 80s, a movie that was mould-breaking and courageously innovative for its time in a way that eludes this film and its forerunner Tron Legacy from 2010. Tron: Ares nearly comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters' character gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson's character playing his mum, in an old-fashioned bit of analogue reality. This is a piece of tough love you might feel like administering to all the producers involved in this film, and it's unfortunate to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so uninspired.
Plot Overview of Tron: Ares
The situation currently is that an evil AI corporation with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger has become a rival to the VR company Encom Inc, first established in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (initially founded by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger's role, played by David Warner) is led by the founder's annoyingly geeky grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to design and create lucrative items such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the VR world and then export them into actual reality using a kind of 3D printer.
The issue is that no matter how intimidating, these things crumble into dust after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has discovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence code” which can keep these things alive permanently, and even keeps it on her person on a extremely basic USB drive. So the dreadful Julian Dillinger deploys his enforcer on her: Ares, the humanoid uber-warrior which can leave the VR world for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of androids, is starting to exhibit symptoms of disobeying what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith portrays Ares's stoic deputy Athena and poor Jeff Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in wise white robes, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton's setting.
Acting and Roles Analysis
And Ares himself – the hero of the film's name – is acted by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, beard and subtly omniscient grin, details that were perhaps created by inputting the words “incredibly irritating” into an AI human creation programme. Nobody who recalls the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life will always find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Mr Leto, and I was incidentally very entertained by his expansive (and widely misinterpreted) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Leto is consistently, persistently terrible in this film, although he isn't helped by a limp plot point which is intended to allow him to show flashes of “compassion” for Greta Lee's character and subcontract all the badass wickedness to Athena's character, thus making her marginally more interesting. It is supposed to be adorable when Ares says how he adores 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode are better than Mozart.
Franchise Elements and Overall Impact
Consistent with the franchise identity of the franchise, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which speed around the place in long straight lines, conforming to the angular layout of classic video games (or even dance clubs); one even emits a lethal beam which cuts a police vehicle in half. But there is no drama or jeopardy or human interest anywhere. This series now looks about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.