Tron: Legacy Review

Synopsis
Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), computer programmer and president of Encom, disappeared twenty years ago. When his son Sam (Gerret Hedlund) receives a mysterious message from his father’s old arcade, he finds himself transported to the Grid, a world inside the computer. With the help of Quorra (Olivia Wilde), Sam goes on a search for his father and a way to escape back into the real world.

Review
Tron is a cult favorite from the 1980s. It comes as no surprise that with the trend of bringing back old and favorite franchises, particularly over the last decade or so, that Tron would get its own sequel, nearly thirty years later. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the original but I still understood its significance in cinema. In 2010, Tron: Legacy takes audiences back inside the computer with an updated look to match the updated times.

My biggest issue with Tron was the characters. There wasn’t much to them, or the story even, so I didn’t care much about Flynn, Tron, or Crom. This time around, I would say the characters are the strongest part about this film. From the beginning, we learn about Sam’s close relationship with his father and he how distraught he is when his father disappears. As the film goes on, we learn more about their relationship and them individually. Their relationship is fleshed out. By the end of the film, I cared more about either them than I did any of the characters from the previous film.

The costumes from Tron were pretty interesting, with lines running along the outfits differently and in random patterns for each character. This design element is brought back for Tron: Legacy but better realized than it was before. The rotoscopic techniques used in Tron to add the color were distracting and not very crisp. With today’s computer imaging technology, the lines are sharp, creating an effect that is probably more in-line of what Lisberger imagined in 1982. Although the scenes set inside the computer are in color as opposed to the black-and-white of Tron, they do have a gray tone to them that gives it a similar feel without becoming distracting.

When Sam first enters the Grid, he is taken immediately to the Games, an arena reminiscent of what was seen in the previous film. This creates a lot of confusion for both Sam and the audience. I liked this feeling because I didn’t get all the information right away. I was trying to figure things out, just as I’m sure Sam was, and it had me excited. The film gave a burst of excitement before getting to the characterization scenes between Sam and his father. And it gave a glimpse that this was the same world as before but updated, just like an actual computer would be.

For a film called Tron, there is an obvious lack of the character in the film. Hints are dropped throughout the movie as to where he is (and eagle-eyed fans might figure it out based on some visual clues). However, when Tron is finally revealed, it felt anticlimactic. Given his history with Kevin Flynn, I was expecting more. I’ll just leave it at that because going into it any more would wonder into spoiler territory.

De-aging in film has been happening longer than I have realized. I knew it has been used to some effect before, such as in films like X3: The Last Stand and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button but I didn’t think it wasn’t until more recently that it was used to the degree it was used here. A de-aged Jeff Bridges is used for Clu (since most programs in the Tron universe resemble their programmer) back in 2010. Flash forward six years and the process is used again to resurrect Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. I mentioned in my review of that that the effect looks great except for when Tarkin talks. Now knowing this de-aging effect has been around since at least 2010, it is a little more disappointing that this is a problem in Rogue One because that is the same flaw in this film. There is something off with Bridges’ mouth as Clu when he speaks and it removed me from the film.

I thought Tron: Legacy was GOOD 🙂 It fixes the biggest reason I didn’t like the previous film: the characters. They actually get some development this time. There are plenty of Easter eggs and homages to the original classic. Although it doesn’t push the boundaries of CGI and animation as much as Tron did in the early eighties, it looks visually remarkable and has some impressive de-aging, albeit with some imperfections. Tron: Legacy is a worthy legacy of such a popular cult classic as Tron.

Trailer

Cast & Crew
Joseph Kosinski – Director
Edward Kitsis – Screenplay / Story
Adam Horowitz – Screenplay / Story
Brian Klugman – Story
Lee Sternthal – Story
Daft Punk – Music

Garret Hedlund – Sam Flynn
Jeff Bridges – Kevin Flynn / Clu
Olivia Wilde – Quorra
Bruce Boxleitner – Alan Bradley / Tron
James Frain – Jarvis
Beau Garrett – Gem
Michael Sheen – Castor / Zuse
Anis Cheurfa – Rinzler

If you are interested in participating in the Ultimate 90s Blogathon, hosted by Kim from Tranquil Dreams and myself, you can find all the information here.

Tron Review

Synopsis
Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) is a computer hacker who was fired from the company Encom. When searching for proof that his rival in the company, Ed Dillinger (David Warner), stole his code, he gets transported to inside of the computer system. With the help of a security program called Tron (Bruce Boxleitner), Flynn must make his way to the Master Control Program to escape the system.

Review
With movies like Rogue One and Furious 7 literally reviving diseased actors on screen and recent visual marvels like Doctor Strange, it’s truly impressive to see how far CGI has come in cinema. Considering where we are today, it can be a bit jarring to see animation that was done with less computing power than the phone currently in my pocket. But as the old saying goes, it had to start somewhere. There is a lot to like and be fascinated with in Tron but it has its flaws, too.

Tron‘s director Steven Lisberger was ahead of his time when he wrote Tron, particularly in where he saw the future of computers. Being a programmer myself, I always enjoy when movies try to visualize and create a world inside of computer. In the early 80s, personal computers had just become a thing, with the Apple I and Apple II being released only a few years prior to this film’s released. Most people were in the midst of entering a world where computers were more than just an academic tool used in universities. For Lisberger to imagine this world inside this fledgling technology, as in-depth and detailed as he did, is impressive to me.

Now having geeked out about some computer history, I’m going to disappoint a lot of people. There is a very distinct feel to the world inside of the computer compared to the real world. Everything is monochrome with bright colors running through as highlights. I like the idea of the black and white color palette because it mirrors the binary nature of computer data and the color highlights could be imagined as data flowing through everything. Despite the uniqueness about it, I found it to be very distracting. Other movies have used this type of effect before with beautiful results, so I don’t think it was the idea of black and white with color highlights but rather its execution. It’s not very crisp here and it ends up being a distraction.

I don’t really know what it was but I couldn’t get into the story. With this featuring scientists and computer hackers, you would think this would be something I would be into. As flashy as the visuals are, they merely act as a distraction to catch your eye so you don’t notice the relatively flat characters and uneven pacing. The move is only an hour and a half long, so it breezes through the story quickly. With the two worlds, the computer world and the real world, it has two sets of characters to juggle. As a result, no one gets much development.

All the story focuses on is getting Flynn (Jeff Bridges) from point A to point B within the computer. It never stops to breathe, moving from one computer animated display to the next. This movie is more focused on showing off this new technology rather than using it to enhance the story. One of the reasons that Toy Story works so well is because although it was revolutionary in a similar vein as Tron, it told a story first then put the technology on top of that. I feel like I am watching an extended 1980s tech demo when I am watching Tron.

I thought Tron was OK 😐 At the time, films like Star Wars were pushing the boundaries of special effects while Tron was pioneering what was possible with the infant field of computer animation. It’s not hard to see it hasn’t aged well but to some, that turns into part of the film’s charm. I appreciate this movie for its historical significance and what it accomplished in computer animation but for me, I didn’t get into the story or behind the characters. It is quite the dazzling spectacle, unfortunately that isn’t enough this time to carry the film.

Also check out my review for the sequel, Tron: Legacy.

Trailer

Cast & Crew
Steven Lisberger – Director / Writer
Bonnie MacBird – Story Writer
Wendy Carlos – Composer

Jeff Bridges – Kevin Flynn / Clu
Bruce Boxleitner – Alan Bradley / Tron
Cindy Morgan – Lora / Yori
David Warner – Ed Dillinger / Sark / Master Control Program
Barnard Hughes – Dr. Walter Gibbs / Dumont
Dan Shor – Popcorn Co-Worker / Ram
Peter Jurasik – Crom