🔗 Share this article

The framework of pointlessness is reloaded in this tediously complex science fiction movie, more a screensaver than an actual film. This is a threequel to the original movie Tron from the early 80s, a movie that was mould-breaking and boldly pioneering for its day in a way that eludes this film and its forerunner Tron Legacy from 2010. The new Tron film almost comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson's character portraying his mother, in an traditional bit of real-world action. This is a bit of firm parenting you might feel like administering to all the producers involved in this film, and it's sad to see the estimable Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so uninspired.

Plot Overview of Tron: Ares

The situation now is that an evil AI corporation with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger Corp has become a competitor to the VR company Encom, originally set up in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, played by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (originally set up by Encom executive Ed Dillinger, played by David Warner) is led by the founder’s odiously nerdish grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to develop and produce lucrative items such as invincible troops and tanks in the VR world and then transfer them into the real world using a kind of three-dimensional printer.

The issue is that however fearsome, these things crumble into dust after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has discovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can keep these things alive permanently, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic USB drive. So the dreadful Julian Dillinger sets his attack dog on her: Ares, the humanoid uber-warrior which can exit the virtual realm for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of androids, is beginning to show signs of disobeying what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith plays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena's role and poor Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Character and Performance Analysis

And Ares himself – the protagonist of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, facial hair and subtly omniscient grin, touches that were possibly created by typing the words “extremely annoying” into an AI human creation programme. No one who remembers the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life series will always 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 film House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is unremittingly, unrelentingly awful here, although he isn't helped by a limp plot point which is intended to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the villainous actions to Athena, thus rendering her marginally more interesting. It is meant to be charming when Ares says how he adores 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode are better than Mozart's compositions.

Franchise Elements and Overall Impact

Consistent with the brand-identity of the franchise, there are motorcycles from the virtual underworld which whizz about the environment in linear paths, conforming to the angular layout of antique arcade games (or indeed nightclubs); one even shoots out a lethal beam which cuts a police vehicle in two. But there is no drama or jeopardy or human interest anywhere. This series now looks about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.