Tron: Ares Film Analysis – Despite Gillian Anderson's Efforts Can't Rescue This Boringly Complex Sci-Fi Film

The framework of pointlessness is revisited in this mind-bendingly dull science fiction movie, more a screensaver than an actual film. This is a threequel to the original movie Tron from 1982, a film that was groundbreaking and boldly pioneering for its time in a way that escapes this one and its predecessor Tron Legacy from 2010. Tron: Ares nearly comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson portraying his mum, in an traditional bit of analogue reality. That's a piece of tough love you might feel like administering to every producer 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 unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a competitor to the virtual reality firm Encom Inc, originally set up in the 1980s gaming period by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn's character, played by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (originally set up by Encom executive Ed Dillinger, acted by David Warner) is headed by the founder’s annoyingly geeky grandson's character Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to design and create profitable things such as invincible troops and tanks in the VR world and then transfer them into actual reality using a kind of 3D printer.

The issue is that however fearsome, these things disintegrate after 29 minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence code” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even stores it on her person on a very low-tech USB drive. So the dreadful Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares the warrior, the superhuman fighter which can exit the virtual realm for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of robots, is starting to exhibit symptoms of disobeying what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith portrays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena and poor Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in wise white robes, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Acting and Roles Breakdown

Moreover, Ares – the hero of the title – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, facial hair and faintly all-knowing smile, details that were possibly created by inputting the words “extremely annoying” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who remembers the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life will ever find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Jared Leto, and I was incidentally quite amused by his broad (and widely misinterpreted) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is consistently, unrelentingly awful here, although he isn't helped by a weak storyline which is intended to allow him to display glimpses of “compassion” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena's character, thus rendering her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be adorable when Ares says how he loves 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode are better than Mozart.

Series Features and Final Impression

Consistent with the franchise identity of the franchise, there are motorbikes from the VR netherworld which whizz about the place in linear paths, conforming to the rectilinear design of classic video games (or indeed dance clubs); a single bike even emits a lethal beam which cuts a police vehicle in half. But there is no drama or jeopardy or emotional engagement throughout. This franchise now looks about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.