Review: TRON: Legacy
Twenty-eight years ago, before most of the world had heard of the Internet, before most people even had touch-tone phones, Disney inspired an entire generation of would-be computer hackers with the glorious adventure TRON. Now the studio is back with TRON: Legacy, a successor that will surely be a crowd pleaser. This modern update is faithful to the spirit of the original, but lacking in original story elements that will leave some viwers wanting more.
The story revisits Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) and ENCOM about 28 years after the first movie. After defeating the evil MCP and returning to the real world, Flynn's success with his TRON game has led to ENCOM becoming a virtual Microsoft and Flynn running it as the leading shareholder. Then he mysteriously disappears, leaving his juvenile son Sam (Garrett Hedlund) all alone for 20 years, until one night a mysterious message draws him into the world of his father's creation.
From this point, TRON: Legacy becomes a video-game rehash of the original, with light cycles, disc fights, very familiar recognizers (the hovering vehicles from the first movie) ... but lacking in tanks. As with Kevin before him, Sam Flynn must find his way to the exit portal with the help of elite programs while battling armies led by an out-of-control fascist program. Even a little of Flynn's new-age hippie philosophy doesn't serve to improve the story. Seriously, Bridges plays this Jedi-Flynn more like The Dude than I ever expected.
I wish I could say more for the acting, but this is an action film, and the actors are given little that will be memorable. Bruce Boxleitner's appearance is brief, really only a cameo. Bridges, as I mentioned earlier, is something of a Zen Lebowski. Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde are archetypes. The most standout performance delivered here was from Michael Sheen (pictured at right) in his role as Zuse, the foppish nightclub owner and information broker. He is the most convincing "bad guy" in the movie.
Still, story issues aside, I can't help loving this movie. It's TRON! Along with my peers, I've waited for this movie since before some of today's Disney audience's parents were born. I can forgive a few issues and say that kids now will love it just as much as we did as children (and still do). Visually, it's clear this is a different world, and that is one thing the story handles well. We're inside a computer, but it's not running the same OS. Daft Punk delivered a completely original and incredibly listenable score that still manages to bring to mind Wendy Carlos's beloved work in the orignal film.
The greatest success of Tron: Legacy is in the way Jeff Bridges was reverse-aged for scenes of his younger self and his alter-ego CLU. People, you haven't seen anything like this. I'd say this is as revolutionary as James Cameron's 3D in Avatar. Would have been nice if they'd done the same for Boxleitner, but that may have been for budgetary reasons. With the return of Bridges and Boxleitner, I found it a shame there were no other familiar faces. David Warner could have remained in some form. Cindy Morgan returned, at least in voice, for the TRON 2.0 PC game in 2003 but was notably absent here. Barnard Hughes passed in 2006, but Peter Jurasik would have been a welcome third-time costar with Boxleitner.
Disney may have been trying, as some have suggested, to set the TRON: Legacy story up for another sequel. I personally feel it is a satisfying (slightly retcon) conclusion to the original story that needs no additional narrative. This will be the second 3D Blu-ray title I'll want to purchase (after Avatar), and I'm looking forward to seeing the movie again when it opens this weekend. Definitely worth seeing in IMAX 3D, if you have the opportunity. Here in Austin, you can have the IMAX 3D experience at the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum.
P.S. Anyone else seen the TRON Ice Hotel Suite yet, and would you want to stay there?