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The framework of futility is revisited in this tediously complex science fiction movie, more a screensaver than an actual film. It's a third installment to the classic Tron film from the early 80s, a movie that was groundbreaking and courageously innovative for its time in a way that eludes this film and its forerunner Tron Legacy from 2010. The new Tron film almost awakens just one time – when Evan Peters' character gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson's character playing his mum, in an traditional bit of analogue reality. That's a bit of firm parenting you might want to administering to all the producers involved 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 The New Tron Film

The situation currently is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a rival to the virtual reality firm Encom, first established in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (initially founded by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger's role, played by David Warner) is led by the founder’s odiously nerdish grandson's character Julian (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to develop and produce lucrative items such as invincible troops and armored vehicles in the virtual reality grid and then export them into the real world using a sort of 3D printer.

The problem is that no matter how intimidating, these things crumble into dust after 29 minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can keep these things alive permanently, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic flashdrive. So the dreadful Julian sets his attack dog on her: Ares, the superhuman fighter which can exit the virtual realm for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of androids, is beginning to show signs of not doing what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance plays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena's role and poor Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in sage-like white garments, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Character and Performance Analysis

Moreover, Ares – the protagonist of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, beard and faintly all-knowing smile, 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 totally rude about Jared Leto, and I was incidentally very entertained by his broad (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is unremittingly, persistently awful in this film, although his performance isn't aided by a limp plot point which is intended to allow him to show flashes of “empathy” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena's character, thus making her marginally more interesting. It is supposed to be adorable when Ares says how he adores 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode band are superior to Mozart.

Franchise Elements and Final Impression

Consistent with the franchise identity of the franchise, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which speed around the environment in long straight lines, adhering to the rectilinear design of classic video games (or indeed dance clubs); a single bike even emits a lethal beam which slices a cop car in two. But there is no drama or jeopardy or human interest throughout. This series now looks about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.