Tron: Legacy

When I saw the first trailer for “Tron: Legacy”, I was excited to see it but I knew that I would have to see the original film first. I did that just hours before I saw the sequel. “Tron” was made for an 80’s audience while “Tron: Legacy” is obviously designed to entertain people in the new millennium. I liked the sequel better than the original film because today’s technology is such that the filmmakers can explore the full possibilities of the “Grid”. 3D gives the viewer a similar feeling of awe that an audience back in 1982 must have felt. The story of the sequel is better than that of the original film but it was still not exactly what I had hoped. Both stories share similarities so that is good. Visually, the movie was fun. Just like “Avatar”, the film must be seen in 3D even though the 3D effects were not as impressive as I had hoped.

The story wasn’t bad in “Tron: Legacy”. I just wish it had more sincere drama. I liked the opening sequence where Sam steals the operating system. I also liked Sam’s exploration of the arcade; we get to see beloved places from the original film. The opening gladiator game is fun but what everyone wants is the lightcyles. We get what we want but I would have rather had that sequence extended. It would have been nice if the filmmakers had mirrored that sequence after the scene in “Gladiator” where Maximus and his men first fight in the coliseum. It was fun to have Saw work together with another program and kick butt but I wanted more of that. It was funny how Sam first thinks that his lightcycle “stick” is a lightsaber type weapon. I felt that the ISO’s were not explained very well. I want to better understand how they can change the real world. I felt the scenes with Zuse held imperfections as well. I was not surprised for example by Zuse’s betrayal of Sam and it would have been more dramatic for Zuse’s betrayal to come as a shock. I also wonder why Zuse allowed himself to so easily be derezzed. It is obvious that C.L.U. can’t be trusted and Zuse doesn’t seem like a stupid program despite his eccentricities. If I were Zuse, I would have tried to force C.L.U. into making a deal for Kevin’s disc rather than simply handing it to him and trusting C.L.U.’s word. I did like the twist when we realize C.L.U.’s plan to send an army to the real world. In these scenes, we finally see the 3D effects that I was wanting throughout the film. The climax is well crafted and I like Tron’s redemption. I love the call back that Jeff Bridges has to the original film: “It’s all in the wrist.” I also like how there is room for another sequel as Sam backs up the Grid on his portable device.

There are other miscellaneous parts of the film that I like. Jeff Bridges was great. I liked Garrett Hedlund’s performance as Sam but the best acting in the film goes to Michael Sheen as Zuse. I have never seen him as this kind of character and it was lots of fun. I liked it when Cillian Murphy showed up as Edward Dillinger Jr. Due to his personas from “Batman Begins” and “Inception”, he feels perfect for that cameo. The CGI work on young Kevin Flynn and C.L.U. are very well done. I like how Daft Punk, the composers of the score, have cameos as the disc jockeys in Zuse’s club. Their work on the film was good although it reminded me too much of Hans Zimmer’s work on “Inception”.

I felt that the 3D was lacking in the film until the climax. I wanted more depth and funny enough one of the most impressive things I saw was the Disney logo at the start of the film. Despite the imperfections story-wise, the film is worth seeing in 3D. "Tron: Legacy" also gets better after mulitple viewings. The film was nominated for Best Sound Editing at the Oscars. I loved what I saw and experienced for the most part. The original “Tron” was meant for today’s technology and “Tron: Legacy” provides a way for this to happen. I would have loved to see more complexity on the Grid but then it wouldn’t be the Grid we know from the first film. I bet we have not seen the last of the Tron franchise. I am, at this point, open to more films.

4 Stars