Director: Joseph Kosinski
Stars: Garrett Hedlund, Jeff Bridges, Olivia Wilde
Sam Flynn (Hedlund), son of computer genius Kevin Flynn (Bridges), is the troubled 27-year old inheritor of his father's digital empire. When his father vanished mysteriously over 20 years previous, Sam was left with his grandparents, and the majority shares of his father's company, ENCOM. However, having no interest in a management position, Sam spends his time committing industrial sabotage against his own company, and riding around looking tough on a motorcycle. After one such stunt, which temporarily lands him in jail, he's visited by an old family friend, Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner). Alan has received a page from Kevin Flynn's old number at "Flynn's", an arcade that he used to own. With this clue, Sam heads over to Flynn's, and finds himself sucked completely down the rabbit hole; he's entered The Grid, his father's digital empire of a completely different kind. And he'll have to fight if he ever hopes to make it out again.
Tron would certainly be in my Top 20 favorite films of all time, if not Top 10, so it was with bated breath that I walked into the IMAX theater and strapped on my 3D glasses. I was sorely disappointed. Tron Legacy fails on so many levels that it's difficult to know where to begin.
The first, glaring problem; the special fx for "Clu", the main bad guy. Clu is a digitally de-aged Jeff Bridges, and he looks like complete ass. This wouldn't be good enough to pass for a single shot "riding on the back of a cave troll" scene, much less as a major antagonist with several scenes of dialogue. They really should have tested this effect out before making the film, because it distracts from the potential emotional impact that some of these scenes may have had. "May have had", had there not been so many other problems with the film.
Problem number two; why so serious? The original film had mythology, yes, but it had a light mythology in service of an entertaining story, not a story that serves only to expound upon a ridiculous mythology. The world of Tron is like Wonderland; you're not meant to spend too long thinking about how, or why, it works, because that's completely beside the point. In Tron Legacy, how the world works is the entire point of the film, and it ultimately just doesn't make much sense. The original film seemed to have a sense of humor about itself, and it propelled you along fast enough so that you'd never get bored.
It's like Andre 3000 says; "Baby, take off your cool". The first film, possibly due to budgetary restrictions, zipped by a lot of interesting designs, leaving you wanting more. Legacy makes sure that you soak up every single set, every vehicle, in super slow motion. Bad guy Rinzler holds up two light discs and poses every time we see him, as if director Kosinski were saying "Oooh! Look at this! Huh?!". It's a neat light show, and makes for a ton of framable stills, but it's ultimately just an attempt to distract you from the lack of action or story.
Thirdly, the action scenes suck. There's no sense of pacing or tension to them. Rewatch the lightbike scene in the original film; it utilizes close-ups of the actors faces, as if they were in a dogfight, to ratchet up the suspense. Here, I can barely keep track of who anybody is. They had to give Rinzler two discs, because that's the only way you can tell the difference between him and Clu (Oh, wait; Clu has dark orange stripes, not red stripes. That's helpful).
The fourth, and most deadly, problem? It's just boring. I had to fight to stay awake for most of this, and I watched it at 5pm. There either isn't anything at stake, or what is at stake is undefinable (Computer warriors are going to take over the world? How? And the ISO's are going to cure AIDS and shit? What the hell is going on?!).
I hate to shit on a movie that's so clearly trying to be good, and had such potential, but they really dropped the ball here. Jeff Bridges and Olivia Wilde are good in their respective roles as Obi-Wan Dudenobi and Hot Chick, but they can't save this mess.
FREDERICK OPINES: ATROCIOUS
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