Tron Legacy

After 28 years and possibly the most hyped marketing campaign for any movie in quite a while, ‘Tron Legacy’ arrives with a big bang. And while it’s visually fantastic and very thrilling in the first half, it loses its way after that and becomes an unfocused and cold mess that’s pure eye candy and nothing else.

Twenty eight years after legendary designer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) goes missing, his son Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) goes looking for him at Flynn’s Arcade after receiving a mysterious page. He finds himself sucked into the game that his father designed and forced to participate in arena games in ‘The Grid’. There, he meets his father’s created avatar Clu (also Jeff Bridges) that has now turned against him and together with his real imprisoned father and the help of Quorra (Olivia Wilde) has to escape this digital world before the portal is closed forever.

Though it markets itself as a standalone film, ‘Tron Legacy’ is actually a direct sequel to the 1982 cult classic ‘Tron’. There are so many references, characters and actual plotlines that flash back to that movie that any uninitiated audience member will probably be dumbfounded at times. It’s a good idea to read up on the original film since Disney hasn’t really re-released the original. Since I haven’t seen the original either, how does this stand as a standalone film?

It starts off greatly with a flashback sequence that sets a lot of backstory up for newcomers. We are then taken 28 years later and introduced to a reckless Sam Flynn who doesn’t care about anything related to Encom. When his father’s friend Alan asks him to check out Flynn’s Arcade, he is sucked into the digital world that his father created. The opening sequences to this world are breathtaking as The Grid comes to life in stunning visual detail. What follow are hands-on the most impressive sequences in the film and worth the price in 3-D in itself if that’s all you’re going for. There’s the best sequence in the film as Sam is forced into a disc war game and it’s so elegantly staged and visualized that you can’t help but be mesmerized by it. It quickly leads to another magnificent action scene with the lightcycles and it definitely thrills. But then the movie takes a breather and that’s where the problems begin.

As Sam finally meets his father Kevin at a safehouse, the story relaxes a bit. Sadly, it never really kicks back into gear. The father-son moments feel fresh the first time around but quickly run stale as we realize that the next hour of the film is pretty much all about this aspect and completely abandons the primary storyline of the movie so far. Instead of the promise of more such breathtaking arena games in an effort to reach to the top and defeat Clue, the action now takes place in boring locales where all the characters do are talk about things they want to do. The characters are cold and emotionally vacant despite interesting dynamics between them. The film periodically cuts away to CGI Jeff Bridges as Clu walking around and thinking about things. Between this, there are lengthy flashbacks that flesh out what happened between the two movies but once again a newcomer will probably be more confused than cleared of doubt. This major nosedive in the script plagues the entire next hour of the film as a sound story is abandoned for talky sequences that amount to nothing. The biggest example of this is an excruciatingly lengthy metro ride that is so bland and non-eventful that it becomes uncomfortable.

Add to that the fact that the movie is over 2 hours long and you can figure where Disney went wrong here, trying to match ‘Avatar’ runtime levels without any a plot that close to sustains it. It results in an extremely bloated second act where hardly anything of note takes place. There are a few highlight moments though, one of which involves an appearance by Michal Sheen doing a David Bowie impression as a nightclub owner that also features a cameo performance by Daft Punk. It adds life into the dull proceedings but his character comes and goes far too quickly. As the finale approaches, the movie picks up and delivers an ending ripe for a sequel or two but fails to make it really feel epic as the trailers suggested.

Of course, the visuals here are one of the best of the year and are so distinguished and bring the unique world to life in their own way. The blue and yellow design is a perfect fit for the world of Tron and Joseph Kosisnki does a wonderful job at that. The action sequences are brilliantly orchestrated and the 3-D itself really adds a whole new vibrancy to the film and perfectly fits the visual theme of the film. You owe it to yourself to see the disc war scene in 3-D. The soundtrack, entirely composed by Daft Punk, is outstanding and one of the best scores of the year even outside the film itself. The band is a perfect fit for the kind of tone the movie is trying to achieve and these are the things where Disney made the right choices.

Newcomer Garrett Hedlund is a charming leading man but doesn’t show too much of an acting ranging besides the basics. Jeff Bridges plays two versions of himself – he’s profound as Kevin Flynn but surprisingly breaks character quite a few times and switches to his character from ‘The Big Lebowski’ in bouts. As the CGI younger version of himself, the animators and Bridges do their best to make him realistic and while it is a huge technical achievement, it still looks creepy and the dead-eye syndrome is very much present and still has a long way to go. It does look surprisingly good in a few scenes, though. Olivia Wilde doesn’t have much room for range but fits her character well. Bruce Boxleitner is very effective in his brief appearances and brings his own charm, and so does Michael Sheen.

Anyone wanting to see ‘Tron Legacy’ needs to see it in 3-D on the big screen since visuals and action scenes are all it has going for it. In the story department, it hits all the wrong notes and doesn’t nearly utilize the potential it has to carve a sound tale set in a digital world which leads to a dull and cold second act. It’s still a pretty good film, just not the high caliber sci-fi fantasy everyone was waiting for.

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