TRON: Legacy (2010) Disney/ Sci Fi-Action RT: 125 minutes Rated PG (sequences of sci-fi action violence, brief mild language) Director: Joseph Kosinski Screenplay: Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz Music: Daft Punk Cinematography: Claudio Miranda Release date: December 17, 2010 (US) Cast: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner, James Frain, Beau Garrett, Michael Sheen, Serinda Swan, Yaya Da Costa, Elizabeth Mathis. Box Office: $172.1M (US)/$409.9M (World)
Rating: ***
HEY EVERYBODY! The following is a rewrite/republish of one of my first reviews as Movie Guy 24/7. I rewrote almost all of it, but left the intro intact. Enjoy.
Finally, it’s arrived! TRON: Legacy, the long-awaited sequel to the innovative 1982 sci-fi adventure set in the world inside your computer, has materialized. And guess what? It’s actually pretty good.
When the original TRON came out, I was a 14YO geek obsessed with movies and video games. If I wasn’t at the cinema, you’d likely find me in the living room playing our Atari 2600. I’d been looking forward to the movie since I saw the teaser for it around Christmas ’81. It came out while I was on my family’s yearly vacation at the shore, something I saw as a forced two-week hiatus from my favorite activity. By the time we came home, it wasn’t playing at any of the local theaters. I had to get my dad to schlep me and my then-gf Julie (NOT a video game fan) to a cinema about 45 minutes away (the Anthony Wayne). It was totally worth it!
I wasn’t exactly bursting at the seams over TRON: Legacy. Belated sequels aren’t always the best way to revisit childhood favorites. They are, for the most part, obvious cash grabs. Still, I was curious to see where the makers- director Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick), writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (Lost)- would take the story. Tech has come a long way since the 80s so it figures that TRON will keep up by setting its tale in virtual reality.
The hero of TRON: Legacy is Sam (Hedlund, Eragon), the son of Kevin Flynn (Bridges, Starman) who mysteriously disappears one night in 1989 leaving Sam with many questions. Twenty years later, he’s the primary shareholder in ENCOM, the company once run by his dad. The guy has issues, natch. He’s a CalTech dropout, a daredevil and a prankster who releases the company’s new operating system on-line for free. He staunchly refuses to step in as CEO; he’s more interested in brooding and looking for his father.
Dad’s old friend Alan Bradley (Boxleitner, Scarecrow and Mrs. King), still with the company, has been a mentor and father figure to Sam since his dad vanished. He tries his best to convince the young man to follow in his father’s footsteps, but to no avail. He then tells Sam about a page he received from a number that’s been disconnected for 20 years- i.e. his father’s old arcade. Sam goes there to investigate and gets sucked into “The Grid” (the computer world) where a few surprises await him.
The new master controller is Clu (a digitally de-aged Bridges), a corrupt system who rules with an iron fist. Sam is forced to play games until he’s rescued by Quorra (Wilde, Alpha Dog), a tough girl who knows his father, referred to as “The Creator” in this world. He’s a wise Obi-Wan type sage who’s been trapped in The Grid these past 20 years. With his son’s arrival, there’s finally a way back to the real world. The trick is getting to “The Portal” before it closes. Clu sets out to stop this from happening.
I’ve only given you a basic overview of TRON: Legacy; I haven’t told you everything about it. I don’t want to spoil it even though that’s a moot point fifteen years later. The story, replete with religious themes and undertones, is pretty good. The visuals are amazing! I like how the unnamed city looks at night with the imposing lit-up buildings and sleek vehicles riding along dark roads. The electronic score by Daft Punk is a perfect fit. I opted to see it in 3D and for a change, the makers know how to use it effectively. The cyberworld is rendered in 3D while the real world is not. It makes perfect sense to do it this way.
The acting is serviceable. It’s always great to see Bridges; he crushes every role he plays. He conveys wisdom as Flynn/The Creator and oozes menace as Clu. Hedlund as Sam is as wooden as Hayden Christensen. He’s okay, but leaves no impression whatsoever. Wilde goes a great job as Quorra, a fierce fighter who….. I’m not saying! Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon) is fun as Zuse, a flamboyant nightclub owner who could be the love child of David Bowie and Frank-N-Furter (from The Rocky Horror Picture Show).
I really do like TRON: Legacy. What really struck me when I saw it in ’10 was how effectively it took me back to my misspent youth (unlike Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). I felt like teenage Movie Guy again. Overall, it’s really cool and entertaining flick that will please fans of the original and, hopefully, the current generation of computer geeks. It pays homage to its predecessors in a few ways, but the one that stands out for me is the use of a Journey song (“Separate Ways”) in the scene where Sam turns the power on in the long-abandoned arcade with video games that somehow still work (?!). As you may recall, there were two Journey songs in the original. It totally took me back. That might be the highest compliment I can pay TRON: Legacy.
