Review of Tron: Ares – Even Gillian Anderson's Efforts Can't Save This Incredibly Boringly Complex Science Fiction Movie

The matrix of pointlessness is revisited in this tediously complex science fiction movie, closer to a screensaver than an actual film. It's a third installment to the classic Tron film from the early 80s, a film that was groundbreaking and courageously innovative for its day in a way that escapes this film and its forerunner Tron Legacy from the previous decade. The new Tron film nearly comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson playing his mother, in an old-fashioned bit of analogue reality. That's a piece of tough love you might feel like administering to all the producers engaged in this film, and it's sad to see the respected Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so uninspired.

Story Summary of Tron: Ares

The situation currently is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a rival to the virtual reality firm Encom, originally set up in the 1980s gaming period by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn's character, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger's role, acted by David Warner) is headed by the founder’s annoyingly geeky grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to design and create lucrative items such as invincible troops and tanks 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 creations disintegrate after 29 minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence code” which can keep these things alive for ever, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic USB drive. So the dreadful Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares the warrior, the superhuman fighter which can leave the VR world for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of robots, is beginning to show signs of not doing what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith portrays Ares's stoic deputy Athena and unfortunate Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in wise white robes, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Breakdown

And Ares himself – the protagonist of the title – is played by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, beard and subtly omniscient grin, touches that were perhaps created by inputting the words “extremely annoying” into an AI human creation programme. Nobody who remembers the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life will always find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Mr Leto, and I was incidentally very entertained by his expansive (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Leto is unremittingly, persistently terrible in this film, although his performance isn't aided by a limp plot point which is supposed to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Eve Kim's role and subcontract all the badass wickedness to Athena, thus making her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be adorable when Ares the character says how he loves 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode are better than Mozart.

Series Features and Overall Impact

Consistent with the brand-identity of the franchise, there are motorcycles from the VR netherworld which whizz about the place in long straight lines, adhering to the angular layout of antique arcade games (or even dance clubs); a single bike even shoots out a death ray which cuts a cop car in half. But there is zero tension or danger or emotional engagement anywhere. This series currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.