🔗 Share this article

The framework of pointlessness is revisited in this tediously complex science fiction movie, closer to 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. Tron: Ares almost comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters' character gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson's character portraying his mother, in an traditional bit of real-world action. That's a bit of firm parenting you might want to handing out to every producer engaged in this film, and it's sad to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so lifeless.

Story Summary of Tron: Ares

The scenario now is that an evil AI corporation with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger has become a competitor to the virtual reality firm Encom, first established in the 1980s gaming period by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn's character, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (initially founded by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger, played by David Warner) is led by the founder's annoyingly geeky grandson Julian (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to develop and produce profitable things such as invincible troops and armored vehicles in the VR world and then transfer them into the real world using a sort of 3D printer.

The problem is that no matter how intimidating, these creations crumble into dust after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has discovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even keeps it on her person on a extremely basic USB drive. So the dreadful Julian deploys his enforcer 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 not doing what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith portrays Ares's stoic deputy Athena's role and unfortunate Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in sage-like white garments, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Breakdown

And Ares himself – the hero of the title – is played by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, facial hair and subtly omniscient grin, touches that were perhaps created by typing the words “incredibly irritating” into an AI human creation programme. No one who remembers the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life will ever find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Jared Leto, and I was also very entertained by his expansive (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Leto is unremittingly, persistently awful here, although he isn't helped by a limp plot point which is supposed to allow him to display glimpses of “compassion” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena, thus making her slightly more engaging. It is supposed to be adorable when Ares 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 series, there are motorbikes from the VR netherworld which speed around the environment in linear paths, conforming to the rectilinear design of classic video games (or even dance clubs); a single bike even shoots out a death ray which slices a police vehicle in two. But there is zero tension or danger or human interest anywhere. This series now looks as relevant as an automobile CD system.