Beginning in 1982, Tron is one of, if not, the weirdest franchises produced by Disney. One of cinema’s earliest films to use extensive computer-generated imagery, Steven Lisberger’s original was a moderate success at the box office but would find new life as a cult film that spawned into a multimedia franchise, ranging from video games to comic books. Although we would get a sequel in 2010 with Tron: Legacy, it ended up having a similar reception as before with mixed reviews, but enough of a cult status for the franchise to thrive for a little bit.
Given that it has never risen among the greater Disney successes, the Tron franchise is this black sheep that the studio has never let go of. Through its recent wave of embracing nostalgia through the countless live-action remakes and the numerous projects from Marvel and Star Wars, Tron is given another shot. Although there were plans to do a direct sequel to Tron: Legacy with Joseph Kosinski returning to direct, Tron: Ares, now directed by Joachim Rønning, goes in a new direction.
Two companies are at war with each other as ENCOM and Dillinger Systems race to bring digital constructs into reality but can only sustain them for 29 minutes before deresolution. As ENCOM chief executive officer Eve Kim (Greta Lee) hopes to find a McGuffin known as the “permanence code” to break the 29-minute barrier with the hope of doing good for the world, Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters) hopes to bring the technology of the Grid for weaponry purposes and seeks the code with his new creation that is Ares (Jared Leto), the perfect expendable solider.
The Tron series has never been that complex. Its themes of technology and artificial intelligence, always felt like window dressing disguised as substance. They always had simple narratives to follow, which is usually about two opposing forces trying to find a thing, of which the Grid becomes a central setting. While that same basic narrative is in Tron: Ares which makes occasional trips to the Grid to remind you what a technical marvel it is, a great deal of action takes place in the real world, which loses an important aspect of the series.
Part of the charm from its predecessors was journeying through the digital world – which you can view as foundational to early cyberpunk around the same time as William Gibson’s Neuromancer – while participating in gladiatorial matches that resemble video games. With more emphasis on corporate espionage, Tron: Ares ditches the games in favor of set-pieces set in our reality that are closer to James Cameron’s The Terminator, such as a well-executed chase sequence with the use of the iconic Light Cycles.
On a surface level, there is a lot to like from a visual and audio standpoint. Along with Jeff Cronenweth’s stunning cinematography, you also have the heart-thumping score from Nine Inch Nails (which may be the best thing about this film) which contributes to the relentless pacing that never lets Tron: Ares take a breather. Whatever problems that Tron: Legacy had, it knew when to slow down and Daft Punk’s score knew when it to stop hitting those hard beats. Because of the rushed pacing, we never get time to know any of the characters and no matter how hard Greta Lee, Evan Peters and Gillian Anderson try, the human element is secondary to the titular Ares.
Putting aside the recent controversies surrounding the actor, Jared Leto has become a problematic screen presence for a number of years, starting with his disastrous turn as the Joker in 2016’s Suicide Squad. By the time you get to Morbius, Leto as a leading man is a sign equivalent to some plague. In the case of his turn as Ares, the program who is trying to understand human emotions, it is not going to turn the heads of his detractors, but it is a subdued performance that is more awkward than anything, especially when the character develops a love of 80s media, most notably Depeche Mode. It the one sequence between Leto and Jeff Bridges reprising his role as Kevin Flynn, both artificial are persons. And yet one is doing better at being more human than the other. Guess which one!
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