THE STORY – A highly sophisticated Program, Ares, is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission.
THE CAST – Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Jodie Turner-Smith, Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Castro, Gillian Anderson & Jeff Bridges
THE TEAM – Joachim Rønning (Director) & Jesse Wigutow (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 119 Minutes
As someone who watched “Tron: Legacy” in theaters as a child, it’s still somewhat baffling how this franchise has managed to infiltrate today’s cultural consciousness. Most “fans” of the franchise are more likely attached to the aesthetic of “Legacy,” aided by the impeccable music by Daft Punk, which remains one of the all-time great film scores. Joseph Kosinski’s direction elevated these technical elements, solidifying its pop culture fandom for the modern era and holding together what is ultimately a fine sequel. A sequel that planted the seeds for the great de-aging epidemic of visual effects in Hollywood, one that has unfortunately evolved into something more sinister with the rise of artificial intelligence. Yet Kosinski’s sequel has, beyond all reason, moved through the long gestation period of internet re-evaluation to the point of willing another entry in the series into existence. Joachim Rønning, a solid utility filmmaker who Disney has tapped to work on other sequels (“Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales“), now takes over the reins Kosinski left behind. With “Tron: Ares,” Rønning has created a legacy threequel that will have even the most devoted “Tron” defenders regretting their decision to keep this franchise on life support, with its tiresome meditation on what constitutes the human experience rolled into a dull, action-filled light show.
“Tron: Ares” picks up years after the previous outing, as audiences stare at a TV in a grid-esque environment while Jeff Bridges’ Kevin Flynn delivers a speech on the wonders of the Grid. Rønning cuts through all the red tape within the first few moments, as news reporters spout exposition, including the unceremonious departure of Garrett Hedlund’s Sam Flynn as CEO of ENCOM. Greta Lee’s tech genius, Eve Kim, has now stepped into the fold, attempting to lead the company into a new age amidst competition from Dillinger Systems, with a young, tattooed Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters) at the helm. Both billionaires are in a race for Flynn’s lost Permanence Code, which would grant its possessor the ability to generate artificial creations in the real world without the risk of them self-destructing into carbonate dust. While Eve may have more altruistic reasoning behind her actions, this all-powerful tool only fuels Dillinger’s insidious motives to militarize the entities of the Grid for financial gain.
Dillinger’s plans are thrown for a loop when his creation, Ares (Jared Leto), begins longing for the ability to live beyond the confines of the digital landscape he’s forced to defend. Turning against his master, Ares’ mission for sentience leads to the digital world breaking the sacred barrier between the Grid and the real world. This narrative decision, as uninteresting as it sounds, results in a visually unstimulating “Tron” outing, one that puts as little effort into conceptualizing its set pieces as it does into its characters. Much of the story hinges on Ares, Athena, and other artificial soldiers breaching the real world, which is nowhere near as visually satisfying as the Grid. Rønning’s red-accented creation even feels more compact and less lived-in than what was displayed in “Legacy.” Say what you will about “Legacy,” Kosinski successfully built the Grid as a breathing environment populated by Grid raves (DJ’d by Daft Punk) and gladiator fights. Leto’s Ares, by contrast, lives in what feels like an empty world, with the closest thing to “civilization” being the distant horizon from his headquarters. No wonder Ares is so desperate to get the hell out of there.
Ares’ desire to experience all that life has to offer, even if it’s fleeting, drives all the ensuing digital chaos. This emotional evolution isn’t effectively sold by Leto, who feels like a step down from Hedlund’s protagonist in the last film. Perhaps it’s perfect casting to choose Leto as an artificial intelligence devoid of emotion, because his performance here offers little of it. Even when the gears begin to turn, Leto fails to convey any sense of sentient development, leaving an absence of personality that Lee is forced to fill in. Not even Leto’s humorless bit involving his love of Depeche Mode is enough to make this a character worth emotionally investing in. His milquetoast character is somewhat balanced by Lee, who does far more heavy lifting than the screenplay allows him to. Unfortunately, the women of “Tron: Ares” all get the short end of the stick, as actors like Jodie Turner-Smith and Gillian Anderson are relegated to playing half-realized characters devoted solely to fleshing out their male counterparts. Turner-Smith’s Athena, a loyal soldier repeatedly brought into the real world, is a cheapened antagonist, used either to give Ares some semblance of conflict or to assist Julian’s frantic pursuit of the Permanence Code. She may look cool punching through crowds and riding a light bike, but an actor of her caliber deserves far better. The same can be said for Gillian Anderson’s Elisabeth Dillinger, the former CEO of Dillinger Systems and mother of Julian, who appears merely to play a dissatisfied parent to her overly ambitious son.
Even the Nine Inch Nails score, which works well as a stand-alone listen, doesn’t fully integrate into the world of “Tron: Ares.” Its harsher sound complements what Rønning is thematically aiming for, but it feels more like background noise than the living, breathing entity Daft Punk’s music became in 2010. It is, at the very least, well-mixed; the film’s sound design is the closest it comes to creating an immersive experience. The visual effects are competent, but it’s hard not to notice that, given a nearly fifteen-year difference between releases, the film isn’t any more enchanting to look at. Some moments almost make you nostalgic for the horrid de-aging of Bridges with a fonder heart.
“Tron: Ares,” like many long-delayed legacy sequels, has long since crossed the threshold of necessity. It feels like a nostalgia-bait artifact designed purely to revive interest, a fact made even more evident by the inevitable sequel-baiting that will undoubtedly go nowhere. What’s worse for a movie that hopes to celebrate the beauty of humanity is that its message is told through the perspective of an artificial intelligence, aided by an almost hilariously Sorkin-esque portrayal of a billionaire who believes he’s making the world a better place. It’s a fantasy that falls short of being as sensorily stunning as it needs to be. If anything, “Tron: Ares” is less a film than a cinematic pin dropped in a franchise map that’s going absolutely nowhere.
