Tron: Legacy (2010)

28 years went by from the first Tron and this sequel. At the time, the original Tron changed the way technology and computers were used in movies. Tron did things with computers that nobody had done before in cinema; it was a game changer. A movie like Tron had to be made, it had to move the industry along, like Star Wars did, and Avatar. That was 28 years ago. What do we do with a new Tron today? Is there really a technological achievement that hasn't been made that can be made? Tron: Legacy doesn't change the game. I don't think it seeks to either. I don't know why Disney thought they needed a sequel and why so late to make one, but I'm glad they did.

Tron: Legacy is a more fuller embodiment of what I believe Tron was trying to be. With computers and technology these days, I feel that it had to be much easier to create the environment needed for the story. The story, though, is what's lacking. We meet the protagonist, Sam Flynn (Garret Hedlund), son of computer and game whiz Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges). Papa Flynn has been missing for a long time, and Sam has dealt with it the best he can. This includes trying his best to sabotage his father's (now his) company. You see, the Flynn's company, ENCOM, has been taken over by very greedy individuals who seek to sell the same software with a different name for more money. Sam doesn't like this. Why he doesn't vote it down and actually take control of his company, I'm not sure. Regardless, Sam reverts to corporate espionage against his own corporation.  Once he's told by a family friend that Papa Flynn supposedly paged him from the shut-down Flynn Arcade, we never again hear about the shady dealings at ENCOM.

Sam is curious and decides to go check out the Arcade himself. He finds the secret entrance to his father's secret office/laboratory, and like anyone else would do, he starts punching buttons and turning stuff on, including a laser-like device that dissolves Sam's physical body and transports it into the digital world known as the Grid. I think the director knew that the Grid was far more interesting and epic than the real world is and he wanted to get there as soon as he could. Confused, Sam wanders around until he is snatched up by the Digital Gestapo and forced to compete in the digital gladiator games. Except, unlike his competitors who, when defeated simply fall apart in pixel cubes, Sam bleeds when he's hurt. Other than showing the crowd and the leaders that Sam is in fact not a program but a user (human) we never come back to whether or not it's real blood or just zero's and one's made to look like blood.

Users aren't welcome in the Grid, so Sam is brought before the leader who at first appears to be his father Kevin. It looks exactly like him, but it isn't. This is a bad guy. They send him back into the arena and after some impressive light cycle action he escapes with the help of another program, the enigmatic  Quorra (Olivia Wilde). Quorra brings Sam to the outskirts of the Grid and Sam is reunited with his father. From there you learn more about the Grid and the people/programs within (the leader who looked like Papa Flynn? His name is CLU and Flynn created him to help him build the Grid, but that didn't work out too well for Flynn.) Eventually it becomes a race to get out of the Grid for Sam, Kevin, and Quorra. I won't ruin the movie for you, but I'll just say it's very interesting and elicits some good questions about what computer programs are and what humans are in relation to those programs.

I see no lack in the acting in this movie. I was very pleased with most everyone involved. Michael Sheen plays a bizarre program of whose purpose I'm not entirely sure. No, there's no problem with the acting (Jeff Bridges, with the help of computers and technology effectively plays three characters, young Kevin, old Keven and CLU). There's also no problem with the soundtrack, it was fantastic and well suited to the movie. The visuals were impressive, if a bit dark and dreary. I saw it in 3-D and I've always thought when 3-D is done right you don't lose brightness, you gain clarity, and in this case it was true.

No, the problem was with the storyline. Maybe it's just me, but it felt very hasty, especially considering it took 28 years to finally make it. I saw a HUGE missed opportunity when the story did not stick with the use of freeware and online peer to peer communities to share software. That is relevant to today, so why do we not see the same connection between the Grid and the real world as we did in the original Tron? I felt as though the story could have been a lot better, though much like the original Tron, Tron: Legacy seemed more focus on the spectacle and not on the substance. All in all it was an entertaining and engrossing movie. More visually pleasing than the original. It would have been excellent had the script been more relevant and given the actors more to work with.

6/10