Tron

TRON - B

TRON: Legacy - B

Imagine a company investing 250 million dollars in a sequel 20 years after the original came out. Also the original was a massive flop that only a very select number of fans have seen. However this is exactly what Disney has done with Tron: Legacy. Disney's strange gamble seems to have payed off with a successful first weekend, mostly due to it's incredibly aggressive marketing campaign. So out of curiosity I decided to watch both the 80's original and the sequel, and see what I made of them. What's shocking is that they are almost exactly the same movie, despite the fact Legacy claims to be a sequel rather than a reboot. This is not just because of the plot, but rather also their strengths and weaknesses also. They have did the same things excellently, but unfortunately they have made the same painful mistakes.

The original Tron follows Kevin Flynn, played by a ultra cool Jeff Bridges, a computer programmer who is accidentally sucked into a computer. While in the computer he is forced to play in a series of gladiator-esque games by a sinister computer program called Master Control, that has sinister designs for the outside world. Now the plot of Tron isn't why you would want to see it. It's writing is at times a little unfortunate, and has a lot of trouble avoiding schlocky 80's action movie cliches. It toys with "2001"-esque ideas about the consequences of technology, but dosn't really do anything with them. Master Control mentions taking over the entire world once, and it really raises the stakes, but then it's never mentioned again. Because of this the entire movie just kind of seems like Jeff Bridges having a good time in a psychedelic world trying to get some copyright information, which is not that compelling. I think the reason why they struggled with this is that they had to humanize really abstract concepts like RAM, which is understandably challenging. When programs talk about their users it almost sounds like the toys in Toy Story talking about their children. But it did begin the development of our cultural understanding of cyberspace, which is definitely something to be applauded.

So Tron: Legacy takes place about 20 years after the original Tron, and Jeff Bridges has gone missing in the grid, leaving his son Sam by himself. So Sam ends up getting sucked into the computer program, and is forced to play in a series of gladiator-esque games by a sinister younger computerized version of Jeff Bridges that has sinister designs for the outside world. Sound familiar? Not only in plot, but also in structure Legacy is identical to the original Tron. This wouldn't really be an issue if the original had a great plot, but Legacy ends up having all the issues of the original. Primarily this is the regrettable writing ("What am I supposed to do?" "Survive!"), but also the characters aren't very developed, so when things stop exploding you have trouble caring.

What everyone should be seeing both Tron's for though is the visuals. Tron was actually the first major movie to come out of Hollywood that extensivly used special effects. It seems that the approach was ahead of it's time, because many animators and critics shunned the technique, and the Oscars disqualified Tron from the visual effects category because they considered the technique cheating. Despite the original being a lot older it still looks fantastic. Because the visuals are so old it actually becomes interesting, unique and really really trippy. The entire movie has a strange neon glow to it, and sticks to bold primary colors which makes it very striking. Even though the CGI is very minimalistic, it's really effective. You may just be seeing a red block chasing a blue block, but you end up irrationally supporting the brave blue block and hating the evil red block. I guess that now we are in a society that has completely embraced CGI and computers, the movie makes a lot more sense.

That's probably why Disney decided to reboot Tron. The visuals in Legacy may not be as innovative as the original, but they still look fantastic. It takes a huge amount of visual references from the original, but still finds it's own beautiful glossy style. It's color scheme is huge expanses of darkness punctuated by flashes of bright neon, and it looks really great. Also some of the action sequences are some of the best I've ever seen. The light-cycle scene blew my mind, and was over way too fast. The only visual thing that disappointed me was the 3D. I could hardly even notice it, and it made my eyes hurt. It's a shame because the 3D could have been fantastic in TRON. Also having Daft Punk score the movie was a masterful choice. They're the most iconic electronic artists out in the world, and their music perfectly fits the futuristic atmosphere of the grid. Another notable part of the movie was Jeff Bridges playing both himself, and a younger computerized version of himself called CLU . This was done by the people who aged Brad Pitt in Benjamin Button and it produces mixed results here. Younger Jeff Bridges suffers from slightly dead eyes, and his face looks like it's been overstuffed with botox. This creepiness works wonderfully when Jeff Bridges is playing the artificial version of himself, but in flashbacks when he's playing the actual Flynn it looks really strange.

So for those anticipating a science fiction masterpiece from either of these movies, you won't find it here. But technically they're both really stunning, and Jeff Bridges acting like The Dude is always welcome. Just sit back and watch the light show and you'll have a good time.