Review of Tron: Ares – Even Gillian Anderson Can't Rescue This Boringly Complex Sci-Fi Movie
The framework of pointlessness is reloaded in this mind-bendingly dull science fiction movie, closer to a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. It's a third installment to the classic Tron film from 1982, a movie that was mould-breaking and boldly pioneering for its time in a way that eludes this one and its predecessor Tron Legacy from the previous decade. Tron: Ares nearly comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters' character gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson playing his mother, in an old-fashioned bit of analogue reality. This is a bit of firm parenting you might want to handing out to all the producers involved in this film, and it's sad to see the respected Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so lifeless.
Plot Overview of The New Tron Film
The situation currently is that an evil AI corporation with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger has become a competitor to the virtual reality firm Encom Inc, first established in the 1980s gaming period by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger, played by David Warner) is led by the founder's odiously nerdish grandson's character Julian (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to design and create lucrative items such as invincible troops and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into actual reality using a sort of 3D printer.
The problem is that however fearsome, these things disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has discovered the plot-driving “permanence code” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic USB drive. So the ghastly Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares the warrior, the humanoid uber-warrior which can exit the virtual realm for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of androids, is beginning to show signs of disobeying what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance plays Ares's stoic deputy Athena and poor Jeff Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton's setting.
Character and Performance Breakdown
Moreover, Ares – the hero of the title – is acted by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, beard and faintly all-knowing smile, touches that were perhaps created by typing the words “extremely annoying” into an AI human creation programme. No one who recalls the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life series will always find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Jared Leto, and I was incidentally quite amused by his expansive (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Leto is unremittingly, unrelentingly awful 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, thus rendering her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be adorable when Ares says how he adores 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode band are better than Mozart.
Franchise Elements and Overall Impact
Consistent with the franchise identity of the franchise, there are motorcycles from the virtual underworld which whizz about the place in linear paths, adhering to the angular layout of antique arcade games (or indeed nightclubs); a single bike even shoots out a lethal beam which cuts a cop car in two. But there is zero tension or danger or emotional engagement throughout. This franchise now looks as relevant as an in-car CD player.
