Well, that’s the TRON era over I guess. Short lived.

Two competing tech companies race to unlock Kevin Flynn’s “permanence code”; a way to make AI last forever in our world. Ares, a defence and hacking program made by Dillenger corp, is one such AI. But he has started to question his master’s motives.

“Sequel” to TRON: Legacy released in 2010, which in turn was a sequel to TRON released in 1982, it is plain to see that the Disney “franchise” is struggling. TRON was a technical marvel in its day, while Legacy was a financial failure for the studio. Directed by Joachim Rønning (creator of such middling results as Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, and Pirates of the Carribean: Salazar’s Revenge – that’s the fifth one) and starring Jared Leto (Blade Runner 2049, Morbius), Greta Lee, and Evan Peters (X-Men: Days of Future Past).

This review is going to take some time.

The story follows a trifecta of characters. Juilan Dillenger (Evan Peters) is trying to continue his father’s legacy, leading a computer software company. His recent programming project, Ares, he gives the title of Master Control (quite flippantly, I might add). Juilan wants to bring Ares into the real world, and have a super soldier with military applications. Meanwhile, Eve Kim, one of two sisters who own Encom, are also looking for a means to create artifical digital life in the real world. But when Ares starts to exhibit emotions outside his programming, the battle for real-world digital life is now a race. Or something.

I was a big fan of Joseph Kosinski’s TRON: Legacy. I saw it multiple times in the cinema, and still listen to the soundtrack by electronica band Daft Punk. Sure, it isn’t perfect, but it is still like catnip for me. It had all the energy and unique style that gave hope for TRON in the new millennium. It looked forward, had some interesting developments and leaned into its oddness with wanton abandon. But it would appear the dream has died.

TRON: Ares is an angry film. In light of current events it is a tone-deaf film. And instead of going forward it is keen to go completely backwards; in storytelling, action, and vision. It has some merit, but we need to talk flaws first.
First of all, all the characters are dull and hard to empathise with. Leto’s titular Ares is Pinocchio. A learning AI that is trained for hacking and controlling computer systems. Or in TRON world: fight really well. But Leto is doing the robot. Literally looking at footage of families and trying to comprehend “love.” Our heroes have little to no personality. Eve (Greta Lee) rides a motorbike instead of taking the company car that’s being driven at the same time (???) and like the villianous Dillenger, is also a tech CEO. She also wants to pioneer AI. Only to make orange trees and not tanks, I guess?

I don’t know, dear reader, if you’ve noticed the current climate around AI. Especially where tech company CEOs are concerned. It isn’t good. Granted, the script for Ares probably got greenlit before the AI fad soured. But having the words “AI will uplift humanity” literally filling the screen in the first three minutes of your movie is not a good idea. Fictional storyline or otherwise.

So our characters are tech CEOs. Dillenger literally 3D prints TRON vehicles and programs (like Ares) with… something? We’ve never seen this technology before, and it isn’t explained beyond a line of dialogue. It can even 3D print… real people. I’m sorry… what? The world of TRON is more confused and less consistent than ever here.

If it sounds like this review is rambling a bit, it is only because the film has no brakes. Once Ares has defied his programming (spoilers, I guess?) it is chase movie. And it doesn’t stop. The cinematography and action set pieces are messy and frenetic, unlike the cool and elegant scenes from Legacy. Design work is lacking; characters aren’t particularly interesting to look at (on top of being dull) and setting most of the movie in the real world is boring. It put it in mind of Transformers movies, or the Sonic the Hedgehog movies. Just more of the same: a couple of sci-fi thingies flying around American cities with some explosions going off.

And then it did the worst thing it could have. It went backwards. TRON: Ares thought it would be fun to go back into TRON 1980s world. Now… Not only does no one generally want to see that again because its really really old, but really, having the “retro-styled” lightcycle in Legacy was a cool callback. Seeing the 1:1 reproduction of 1980s graphics is more grating somehow.

Reader, I am very sad. Because I see where this review has gone, and TRON is something I grew up with and I wanted to see it have an interesting journey. To travel with our technology and maybe say something interesting about it. Instead we have this.

Positives. There are some. Seeing lightcycles in the real world is quite cool. Because they do have real versions that drive around and it is awesome. Some of the action on The Grid is naturally very interesting: Seeing Ares and a team of soldiers break into Encom as Dillenger hacks their servers, was very cool. That was probably the best visualization we’ve ever had of what TRON is. The way the two worlds operate together.

Everyone has already spoken about the soundtrack. Daft Punk unfortunately broke up in 2021, and with that the integrity of Legacy’s… err… legacy was at risk. So Disney, at least recognising that much of what they had, knew they needed something. Enter Nine Inch Nails: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. They are an interesting choice, and the result is very good. My foot was tapping on more than one occasion. The movie is red and angry, opposing Legacy’s blue and thoughtful. NIN harmonises with this vibe perfectly. It isn’t as good as Daft Punk’s offering, but it is very close. We also have Gillian Anderson, it is always good to see her.

There is the kernel of a good premise here. Life and death, immortality and what it means to really live. This theme is buried in there, but the film’s script would rather us listen to Leto talk about Depeche Mode and Honda Civics for some reason.

I always want to be objective in my reviews. But TRON: Ares has been written up here as a terrible movie. It isn’t. It has its moments, and I’m sure kids would love it. And I will always like TRON asthetics no matter what. Plus, I will probably buy the soundtrack. But I am disappointed, which is worse than angry in some ways.

I didn’t even need to talk about the predatory/unsettling real-life stories that circulate around Leto. From as recently as this year.

End of line.