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The matrix of pointlessness is revisited in this tediously complex science fiction movie, more a screensaver than an actual film. It's a third installment to the original movie Tron from the early 80s, a film that was groundbreaking and boldly pioneering for its day in a way that escapes this one and its predecessor Tron: Legacy from the previous decade. Tron: Ares nearly awakens just once – when Evan Peters' character gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson playing his mother, in an traditional bit of real-world action. That's a bit of firm parenting you might feel like administering to every producer involved in this movie, and it's sad to see the respected Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so uninspired.

Story Summary of The New Tron Film

The situation now is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a rival to the VR company Encom Inc, first established in the 80s arcade-game era by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn's character, played by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (initially founded by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger's role, played by David Warner) is led by the founder's annoyingly geeky grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to develop and produce lucrative items such as invincible troops and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into actual reality using a sort of three-dimensional printer.

The problem is that however fearsome, these creations crumble into dust after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has uncovered the plot-driving “permanence code” which can keep these things alive permanently, and even keeps it on her person on a extremely basic USB drive. So the ghastly Julian sets his attack dog on her: Ares the warrior, the superhuman fighter which can exit the virtual realm for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of robots, is beginning to show signs of disobeying what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance portrays Ares's stoic deputy Athena and poor Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Character and Performance Analysis

And Ares himself – the protagonist of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and subtly omniscient grin, touches that were perhaps designed by inputting the words “incredibly irritating” into an AI human creation programme. Nobody who remembers the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life series will ever find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Mr Leto, and I was incidentally very entertained by his expansive (and widely misinterpreted) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is unremittingly, persistently awful here, although his performance isn't aided by a weak storyline which is intended to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena, thus rendering her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be adorable when Ares the character says how he loves 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode band are better than Mozart.

Franchise Elements and Final Impression

And in keeping with the brand-identity of the franchise, there are motorbikes from the VR netherworld which whizz about the place in long straight lines, adhering to the angular layout of classic video games (or indeed dance clubs); one even shoots out a death ray which cuts a police vehicle in two. But there is no drama or jeopardy or emotional engagement throughout. This series currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.