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The framework of futility is reloaded in this tediously complex sci-fi movie, more a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. This is a threequel to the original movie Tron from 1982, a movie that was groundbreaking 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 nearly comes to life just once – when Evan Peters' character gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson playing his mother, in an old-fashioned bit of real-world action. That's a piece of tough love you might want to administering to every producer engaged in this film, and it's unfortunate to see the respected Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so lifeless.

Plot Overview of The New Tron Film

The scenario now is that an evil AI corporation with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a competitor to the VR company Encom, first established in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn, played by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger's role, played by David Warner) is headed by the founder’s odiously nerdish grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to develop and produce lucrative items such as invincible troops and tanks in the VR world and then transfer them into actual reality using a sort of 3D printer.

The issue is that no matter how intimidating, these things crumble into dust after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has discovered the plot-driving “permanence code” which can keep these things alive for ever, and even stores it on her person on a very low-tech USB drive. So the dreadful Julian sets his attack dog on her: Ares the warrior, the superhuman fighter which can exit the virtual realm for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of robots, is starting to exhibit symptoms of disobeying what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith portrays Ares's stoic deputy Athena's role and poor Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in wise white robes, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton.

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 perhaps designed by inputting the words “incredibly irritating” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who remembers the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life will always find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Jared Leto, and I was incidentally very entertained by his expansive (and critically misunderstood) comic turn in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Leto is consistently, persistently awful here, although his performance isn't aided by a limp plot point 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 rendering her slightly more engaging. It is supposed to be adorable when Ares the character says how he loves 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode are better than Mozart's compositions.

Franchise Elements and Final Impression

Consistent with the franchise identity of the franchise, there are motorbikes from the VR netherworld which whizz about the place in long straight lines, adhering to the rectilinear design of classic video games (or even dance clubs); one even emits a death ray which slices a police vehicle in two. But there is zero tension or danger or human interest anywhere. This series currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.