Tron: Ares Review – Despite Gillian Anderson's Efforts Fails to Save This Boringly Complex Science Fiction Film

The framework of futility is reloaded in this mind-bendingly dull sci-fi film, more a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. It's a threequel to the classic Tron film from the early 80s, a film that was groundbreaking and boldly pioneering for its day in a way that escapes this film and its predecessor Tron Legacy from the previous decade. Tron: Ares almost awakens just once – when Evan Peters' character gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson's character portraying his mum, in an traditional bit of real-world action. This is a piece of tough love you might feel like administering to every producer engaged in this film, and it's sad to see the respected Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so uninspired.

Story Summary of Tron: Ares

The scenario currently is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger Corp has become a rival to the VR company Encom Inc, originally set up in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, played by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (initially founded by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger, acted by David Warner) is led by the founder's annoyingly geeky grandson's character Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to develop and produce lucrative items such as invincible troops and armored vehicles in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into actual reality using a sort of three-dimensional printer.

The issue is that no matter how intimidating, these creations disintegrate after 29 minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence code” which can keep these things alive permanently, and even keeps it on her person on a very low-tech flashdrive. So the dreadful Julian 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 robots, is beginning to show signs of disobeying what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance portrays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena's role and unfortunate Jeff Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Acting and Roles Analysis

Moreover, Ares – the protagonist of the title – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and subtly omniscient grin, details that were perhaps created by inputting the words “incredibly irritating” into an AI human creation programme. 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 also quite amused by his expansive (and widely misinterpreted) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is unremittingly, persistently terrible here, although he isn't helped by a limp plot point which is intended to allow him to show flashes of “compassion” 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 charming when Ares the character says how he adores 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode are superior to Mozart.

Franchise Elements and Overall Impact

Consistent with the brand-identity of the franchise, there are motorcycles from the VR netherworld which whizz about the environment in linear paths, adhering to the angular layout of antique arcade games (or even nightclubs); a single bike even emits a lethal beam which slices a cop car in half. But there is zero tension or jeopardy or human interest anywhere. This franchise now looks about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.