I feel bad for Tron as a franchise. The movies are so spread apart, that the hype and anticipation for each is too high. Tron: Legacy released 28 years after the first movie and promised a fleshed-out grid where the digital world felt just as real as ours. It was received with mild praise, but nowhere near what Disney had hoped for. Now, we’re 15 years removed from that sequel with another part to the story and some nervous hope behind it.
Tron: Ares quickly moves past any elements of Legacy and brings us to the present day where corporate warfare is still very present in this world. Eve Kim (Greta Lee) is the CEO of Encom and is seeking to use the grid’s technology to improve the planet. While Julian Dilinger (Evan Peters) has almost full power of the Grid and wants to profit off of digital weapons of war. He creates a new program, Ares (Jared Leto) to be his constant enforcer.
Yet, Ares quickly finds that humanity has a little more to offer than the programming and orders given by his superiors can. He fights back in a battle that crosses through a few digital realms and our reality.
There are two elephants in the digital room here – The soundtrack and the main star. I have good news involving both. Let’s start with Nine Inch Nail’s incredible score. I know, I know, there will never be another score that could match the brilliance of Daft Punk’s Tron: Legacy score. However, unlike the words of No Fear shirts, “second place is *not* first loser.” Second place is still really great. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross deliver the reason this movie exists. It’s so involved and feels like the movie is constructed around it. It brings a real depth to it, and is far better than the movie deserves.
It’s tough to accept Jared Leto in a movie and not just see him for the ego that precedes him. The good news is, he’s more than serviceable at playing a program that speaks with a monotone cadence and doesn’t quite understand humor. This movie requires him to portray a role similar to the protector in the Terminator movies. Though, he does it with the intent to discover what it means to have a full life outside of a directive.
There was so much potential with this story. The first act had all the puzzle pieces set. As trope-filled as this movie is, it chose the wrong ones to focus on. There’s so little focus on why Ares really wants to be human or the ethics of AI wanting to be a real boy could be. There’s a great internal story somewhere in here, but it gets lost to focus on a mismatched co-lead and a macguffin chase.
Greta Lee is not great here. She’s meant to be the human anchor and the heart behind the story, but based on her robotic delivery and constant exposition, I would not have been surprised to find out that she herself was a program. Evan Peters is having a lot of fun with his corporate villain role, but halfway through the plot, his purpose feels lost. There seems to be several scenes of motive and emotion missing. The Tron franchise is no stranger to corporate warfare, but this movie leans into the drama, and leads to all sorts of collateral damage.
The action is an absolute highlight and a lowlight. It’s crisp and beautiful. This is truly the prettiest Disney action movie they’ve made in a decade. Not a penny was wasted at what is presented on screen. There are plenty of light-cycle chases, hand-to-hand fights, and disc battles. These gorgeous scenes, paired with the score, made me happy I saw this in IMAX. However, the downside of the action is that there is so much of it (I know, weird gripe), that the story or characters have no room to get anywhere beneath the surface.
Tron: Ares might be remembered fondly over time, just as Tron: Legacy finally got its flowers. For now, it is much like its main character and in need of a soul. The visuals, the score, and even Jared Leto are impressive. Yet, the story, script, and bad costars really de-rezz the experience. C+
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