Tron: Legacy

In 1989, revolutionary software engineer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) abruptly disappeared. Twenty years later, his son Sam (Garrett Hedlund) is a hacktivist loner struggling to make sense of his father’s disappearance. A mysterious page leads Sam back to Kevin’s arcade, where he is sucked into The Grid, the digital world of his father’s creation. On the run from the tyrannical A.I. Clu (Bridges again, digitally de-aged), Sam must reunite with Kevin and return to the real world before the programs do.


When the original Tron was released in 1982, it generated a cult following and critical praise in spite of its confusing plot due to impressive special effects and an inventive premise. This much-belated sequel increases both the visual splendor and the disorienting plotting, to a mixed, though largely favorable result.


Those who enjoyed the original Tron will be pleased to see Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner (as fellow programmer Alan Bradley and his A.I. counterpart, Tron) back in action. However, aside from those two, series creator Steven Lisberger serving as a producer, and Cillian Murphy cameoing as the original antagonist’s son, there isn’t enough continuity here to overwhelm a first-time viewer. This is a definite plus, in that the film is confusing enough as-is. The double-dose of Jeff Bridges is visually jarring, and Clu’s turn to the dark side is extremely abrupt: basically, he turns on his creator when Kevin forsakes him for Isomorphic Algorithms, advanced creations that could potentially unlock tons of human mysteries. How exactly this would happen is anyone’s guess.


Visually, the film captures the look and feel of being inside a 1980s computer game. So strong is the disconnect between that world and ours that it is extremely difficult to accurately describe – picture a lot of black space with brightly colored lines everywhere. That the film can present this world as being awe-inspiring rather than ridiculous is a strong indication of how much money and effort went into the design.


Unfortunately, the film is ridiculous in other ways. This being a Disney production, the acting is prone to cheesiness. Bridges as Clu ventures into cardboard-cutout villainy while Bridges as Flynn channels an aged version of The Dude. Michael Sheen is also excessively campy a David Bowie-esque digital nightclub owner. On the flip side, Hedlund is credible in the lead, Olivia Wilde is passable, and Daft Punk amusingly cameo as DJs in Sheen’s nightclub.


Tron: Legacy is perhaps too conventional in its approach to generate the same kind of analysis that came in the wake of The Matrix films. It is also too complex and convoluted to function as pure entertainment. But as mildly thought-provoking eye candy featuring Jeff Bridges doing Jeff Bridges things, it reaches a solid middle ground.


7.75/10