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The matrix of pointlessness is revisited in this mind-bendingly dull sci-fi film, closer to a screensaver than an actual film. It's a threequel to the original movie Tron from the early 80s, a film that was mould-breaking and boldly pioneering for its time in a way that escapes this film and its predecessor Tron: Legacy from the previous decade. The new Tron film nearly comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson's character portraying his mum, in an traditional bit of real-world action. That's a piece of tough love you might feel like administering to all the producers engaged in this film, and it's unfortunate to see the respected Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith's character 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 obviously criminal name of Dillinger has become a rival to the VR company Encom Inc, originally set up in the 80s arcade-game era by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, played by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (originally set up by Encom executive Ed Dillinger's role, played by David Warner) is headed by the founder’s annoyingly geeky grandson's character Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to develop and produce lucrative items such as indestructible soldiers and armored vehicles in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into the real world using a sort of 3D printer.

The issue is that no matter how intimidating, these things crumble into dust after 29 minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even keeps it on her person on a extremely basic USB drive. So the ghastly Julian Dillinger sets his attack dog on her: Ares, the superhuman fighter which can leave the VR world for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of androids, is starting to exhibit symptoms of not doing what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance portrays Ares's stoic deputy Athena and poor Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in sage-like white garments, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Analysis

And Ares himself – the protagonist of the title – is acted by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, facial hair and subtly omniscient grin, touches that were possibly designed by typing the words “incredibly irritating” into an artificial intelligence character generator. No one who recalls the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life series will ever find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Jared Leto, and I was also quite amused by his broad (and widely misinterpreted) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is unremittingly, persistently awful in this film, although he isn't helped by a weak storyline which is intended to allow him to show flashes of “compassion” for Eve Kim's role and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena, thus making her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be charming when Ares says how he loves 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode are better than Mozart.

Franchise Elements and Overall Impact

Consistent with the franchise identity of the franchise, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which whizz about the place in linear paths, conforming to the rectilinear design of antique arcade games (or indeed nightclubs); a single bike even shoots out a death ray which slices a police vehicle in two. But there is zero tension or danger or emotional engagement throughout. This series now looks as relevant as an automobile CD system.