Hey everyone and welcome to a brand new movie review! This time, I will be diving into the Grid with the latest installment in Disney’s somewhat prolific TRON franchise. This is an odd one in that the first was a very notable bomb back in the day that nonetheless was revolutionary in regards to visual effects and gained a cult following and did very well on home media, while TRON: Legacy was a decades later follow up that wasn’t a huge hit but was able to also gain a fan base and bring the franchise into a modern era, successfully making the franchise’s iconography its own. Now, 15 years after that film and some failed attempts to make a direct follow up to it, we have this… kinda sorta soft reboot of the series that still acknowledges the events of what came before, that really only exists because it was a passion project for Jared Leto out of all people. I myself watched the movies for the first time in preparation for this and call me a fan as I highly enjoyed them and find this world to be among the more imaginative put to film. However, I was kind of more skeptical about this film due to it not being a sequel to Legacy and starring an actor who I’m indifferent towards and sounds like a creep as a person. However, there was enough cool stuff shown in the marketing to at least make me intrigued. Was this able to run over the skepticism like a light cycle? Let’s jump right in and see how well this program functions!
Set fifteen years after the events of Legacy, the two tech giants, ENCOM and Dillinger Systems are in a race in order to see who can bring the digital world into their reality first, something that if achieved successfully could change the world. The former is led by one Eve Kim who is out on her journey to find the Permanence Code that bring constructs into their world for longer than half an hour, while the latter, Julian Dillinger, grandson of the first movie’s antagonist, Ed, is working on essentially making his own military program. He is able to do this with Ares, a new Master Control Program, who Julian sees as the “perfect expendable solider” and has an immense sense of self awareness. When Julian finds out about this Permanence Code, he makes it his mission to take it no matter the costs and sends Ares out to hunt for it, putting Eve in peril.
The common consensus surrounding these films is that they always put the visuals and spectacle first and the stories aren’t much to write home about. While I do agree that these films are strong showcases of what film is capable of on a visual level, I do find myself invested in the stories and characters present and find there to be a lot of heart present. With Ares though, this is one where I can agree with that criticism. This is much more of a kinetic action film where the plot really exists to serve as a way to bridge all of these cool sequences together. It’s a fairly standard Macguffin fetch quest where our characters are all after this powerful item and as a thrill ride it works pretty well. I never found myself bored and I was invested enough in the main conflict to not feel like this was just a bunch of noise happening on screen. Plus, there are some fun ideas explored that provide new elements that this series hadn’t really touched on till this point. The way director, Joachim Ronning, and writer, Jesse Wigutow, portray this war between tech companies is honestly very amusing with the programs literally being portrayed like soldier going on missions by way of hacking.
There is some clever commentary related to the lengths these big corporations will go to create the next big breakthrough, with many doing it for profits and pride. Getting to see the real world interact with the Grid in various ways is fun and something that gives the movie an interesting hook and prevents it from feeling like a retread of the other movies which mainly took place in The Grid. I do think more could’ve been done with that concept beyond being the center of various set pieces as I think one can do a lot with this idea, but the way the rival companies plotline integrates it is at least interesting and made me curious as to how things would turn out. That being said, the script is nothing too special, with there being copious exposition dumps that really only serve to spout a bunch of tech jargon, though there are also some interesting conversations to be had regarding what it means for an AI to develop human feelings and how one would come to question their own existence. Could it have tackled these ideas more? For sure, as on the whole these ideas are presented in a fairly surface level manner, where the movie’s focus on providing non stop spectacle does get in its way often.
The spectacle does work very well at the very least. Ronning is able to bring the world of TRON back in way where we get all of the cool iconography, but also present it in a new way that feels like we are getting something a bit more. The world of The Grid is brought to life spectacularly, this time with a menacingly red coat of paint (very subtle symbolism I know) that looks cool and gives the world Ares’s resides a feel that he is not under his own control. The neon lit cinematography is quite stunning and it is neat getting to see all of the different vehicles, costumes and landscapes that are presented all made to look like they belong in the world of a computer. The scenes set in the real world don’t have quite the same visual appeal, but when the two combine there is something inherently awesome in seeing lightcycles go through the city streets or a Recognizer having air battles with fighter planes, something that is captured so well visually with the needed oomph and scale provided through Ronning’s direction. We also get a very impressively staged recreation of the visual style of the original TRON at one point, which is neat for me as someone who loves that retro look and it actually serves a story purpose, beyond nostalgia. He also does a great job with the action which is a huge boon to this movie’s entertainment factor. S
hout out to Tyler Nelson who was able to compose all of the various shots together in an immensely satisfying manner where all of the chase scenes and combat sequences are able to hit hard and not let up. The oft marketed light cycle chase through the city stands as one of my favorite action scenes of the year, feeling like an exciting theme park ride that really has fun with the concept of “TRON in the real world” with our programs and characters having to navigate city environments. There’s also a thrilling boat chase in the Grid that also functions wonderfully as a symphony of visuals and music that showcase the amount of creativity these films can contain. Speaking of music, if I had to say who the true MVP of this film is, it is Nine Inch Nails. The rock group formed by Trent Reznor had a lot to live up to to follow in the footsteps of previous franchise composers such as Wendy Carlow and Daft Punk (whose score for Legacy is one of my favorite ones in recent memory) and they crush it with their techno theme blaring out and having such a unique sound to it that’s hard to stop listening to. It gives the proceedings an extra level of intensity and fits the world of TRON to a tee. The original song, “As Alive As You Need Me To Be” is an absolute banger and utilized well throughout the film with its motifs being implemented in just the right times.
Despite the elephant in the room in regards to the cast, I did appreciate how much of an ensemble this movie actually is, even if the substance these characters get varies. Might as well get this out of the way, as much as I’m not a fan of Leto as a person, he’s actually pretty good here. Could someone else have done just as good of a job if not better. Absolutely, but his monotone sensibilities are actually put to good use as a non human AI trying to understand human emotions. He delivers the comedic lines surprisingly well (again considering what this character is in the context of the movie) and has decent comraderies with his fellow cast mates, in different ways depending on who he is with. Ares is also the most developed and interesting character of the bunch as we see him go on this journey of self discovery, learning that he is more than he is programmed to be and it is properly fleshed out with Leto being able to express the character’s questioning of his masters while working for him well and it ends up leading to an expected yet satisfying endpoint. Do parts play out like this middle aged fan playing out his childhood fantasy. Very much, but in a vacuum it works as an arc. The main lead though is technically Eve who is a serviceable enough protagonist with a decent motivation of wanting to make this discovery to make her late sister proud and actually make ENCOM into a bigger deal beyond just making video games. That being said, and it pains me to say this, Greta Lee (who I think is a phenomenal actress) fails to give the character much personality and I don’t think she was too well suited here. She has her moments of selling some of the emotion, but there are other times where she didn’t really carry out the heart that her character was trying to convey and most of the time she’s just reacting to all the crazy stuff going around her. It’s not awful work, but I know that Lee is capable of so much better than this.
Working on the movie’s wavelength though is Evan Peters who is clearly having the most fun as Julian. He gets plenty of moments to appropriately ham it up as an eccentric tech bro and it is quite entertaining, but he also is able to bring a bit more nuance, showcasing a deep insecurity as he tries so desperately to restore his company’s and family’s reputation that he ends up unleashing something far too much for this world. It’s surprisingly layered turn and he is able play both Julian confidence and suave in some parts and the recklessness and washed traits very well with both side feeling like they come from the same character. I also appreciated just how antagonistic his relationship with his mother, Elisabeth (played by X-Files star, Gillian Anderson) is as there is no sugar coating just how disappointed she is at her son’s actions and Anderson showcases that and the concern she holds perfectly, with one intended emotional beat taking a brutally honest turn that refuses to let Julian off the hook. I found myself engrossed in these sections of the film and honestly wish it got more of a focus. Meanwhile the likes of Arturo Castro (as Eve’s friend, Seth) and Hasan Minhaj (as ENCOM’s CTO, Ajay), inject some levity to the proceedings and give us a sense of the community ENCOM has made, though it does feel as if the latter had some scenes on the cutting room floor. A stand out for me though was Jodie Turner-Smith, who plays Ares’s second in command, Athena, and she brings such a commanding (makes sense I know) presence, making her authority known and often stealing the spotlight from Leto at points. In all honesty, she could’ve easily played Ares’s role and done a great job as she is able to do a lot with what could’ve been a nothing character and get across so many different facets of her (more than what is on the page) to the point where her arc becomes among the more compelling of the film.
I will say that while I do enjoy this movie on its own terms, I was definitely not huge on how it pretty much ignored the events of Legacy. Don’t get me wrong it absolutely acknowledges what transpired, but there aren’t too many direct callbacks and very little indication of what the main characters are up to while this movie is going on, even though one would have imagine they would have some role to play in this. As a fan of that film, it was disappointing especially since Legacy is the reason TRON even has some sort of pop cultural significance in today’s age, so you’d think there’d be some effort to acknowledge it more, with the original oddly getting more attention in Ares. I just think that this would’ve been better served as a full on reboot rather than trying to go for a half reboot half continuation approach that is more likely to be picked apart by fans. The only real returning character is Jeff Bridges, who comes back as the original franchise star, Kevin Flynn, for a brief, but critical appearance as a digital construct of the programmer. I have to admit, it was nice to see this character back and Bridges is always a wonderful performer to be around, with his of chill, surfer dude demeanor delivering deep philosophical ideas in this part. His conversation with Leto is among the best scenes in the film and where the script best succeeds in exploring some of the ideas it is tackling.
Overall, TRON: Ares is a fun sci fi adventure that provides a consistent amount of enjoyability from start to finish. I found it to easily be the weakest of the three TRON films as it could’ve explored some of its ideas more, the script is nothing too special, Greta Lee didn’t bring her A-game, and I have my frustrations of how it functions as a follow up to what came before. However, it functions well as an entertaining thrill ride with some neat new ideas for this series, spectacular visuals, exciting action, a banger soundtrack, solid performances, and some interesting character stuff. Fans of the franchise will likely be divided and if your not a fan of Leto, then I can’t imagine him essentially taking over this series will satisfy you in any way. However, I think casual moviegoers who want a fun time will find enjoyment here. I don’t think it’s nearly as good as it could’ve been, but neither is it the disaster than some feared it would be and it was cool to get to see at least one of these movies on the big screen. I still think TRON is a very nice series of films that provide so much that even this lesser installment still has plenty to provide. That being said, can we please stop giving Jared Leto so many high profile roles? Even when you put aside all the allegations, this guy doesn’t exactly draw people to seats as shown by the abysmal box office of this film. The part when he said it’s Tronin time was amusing though (Note: this does not actually happen).
Side Note: There’s one mid credits scene that serves as a continuation of a loose plot thread left unresolved by the end of the film and teases what could happen in a potential follow up. It serves as an interesting full circle moment for one of the characters, though given the financial results of this film, it is unlikely that we will ever see what happen next.
Rating: B
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