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The framework of pointlessness is reloaded in this mind-bendingly dull science fiction movie, more a screensaver than an actual film. It's a threequel to the original movie Tron from the early 80s, a movie that was mould-breaking and courageously innovative for its day in a way that eludes this one and its predecessor Tron Legacy from the previous decade. Tron: Ares almost comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters' character gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson's character playing his mum, in an traditional bit of analogue reality. This is a piece of tough love you might want to administering to all the producers involved in this film, and it's sad to see the respected Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so lifeless.

Story Summary of The New Tron Film

The situation now is that an evil AI corporation with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger has become a rival to the virtual reality firm Encom, first established in the 80s arcade-game era by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn, played by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (initially founded by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger, acted by David Warner) is headed by the founder's odiously nerdish grandson's character Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to design and create lucrative items such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then export them into actual reality using a sort of 3D printer.

The issue is that however fearsome, these creations disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has discovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities permanently, and even keeps it on her person on a very low-tech flashdrive. So the ghastly Julian sets his attack dog on her: Ares, the humanoid uber-warrior which can exit the virtual realm for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of androids, is beginning to show signs of not doing what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith portrays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena and poor Jeff Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Character and Performance Analysis

And Ares himself – the hero of the title – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, facial hair and subtly omniscient grin, details that were possibly designed by typing the words “incredibly irritating” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody 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 critically misunderstood) comic turn in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is unremittingly, unrelentingly terrible in this film, although he isn't helped by a weak storyline which is supposed to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Greta Lee's character and subcontract all the badass wickedness to Athena, thus making her slightly more engaging. It is supposed to be adorable when Ares the character says how he loves 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode are better than Mozart's compositions.

Series Features and Overall Impact

Consistent with the franchise identity of the franchise, there are motorcycles from the VR netherworld which whizz about the place in linear paths, conforming to the angular layout of classic video games (or indeed nightclubs); a single bike even shoots out a lethal beam which cuts a cop car in two. But there is zero tension or jeopardy or emotional engagement throughout. This series currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.