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The framework of futility is revisited in this mind-bendingly dull sci-fi film, closer to a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. It's a threequel to the classic Tron film from the early 80s, a film that was groundbreaking and boldly pioneering for its day in a way that escapes this one and its forerunner Tron Legacy from the previous decade. Tron: Ares almost awakens just one time – when Evan Peters gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson's character playing his mother, in an old-fashioned bit of real-world action. That's a bit of firm parenting you might feel like administering to every producer engaged in this film, and it's sad to see the respected Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so lifeless.

Story Summary of The New Tron Film

The situation currently is that an evil AI corporation with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a rival to the virtual reality firm Encom, originally set up in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, played by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger, acted by David Warner) is led by the founder’s odiously nerdish grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to develop and produce profitable things such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the VR world and then export them into actual reality using a kind of three-dimensional printer.

The issue is that no matter how intimidating, these things disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has discovered the plot-driving “permanence code” which can maintain these entities permanently, and even keeps it on her person on a extremely basic USB drive. So the ghastly Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares the warrior, the humanoid uber-warrior which can exit the virtual realm for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of androids, is starting to exhibit symptoms of disobeying what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith plays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena and unfortunate Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in wise white robes, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Acting and Roles Breakdown

Moreover, Ares – the hero of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and subtly omniscient grin, details that were perhaps created by inputting the words “incredibly irritating” into an AI human creation programme. No one who recalls the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life will ever find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Mr Leto, and I was also quite amused by his broad (and critically misunderstood) comic turn in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Leto is unremittingly, unrelentingly terrible in this film, although his performance isn't aided by a weak storyline which is supposed to allow him to show flashes of “compassion” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the villainous actions to Athena's character, thus rendering her slightly more engaging. It is supposed to be adorable when Ares the character says how he loves 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode band are superior to Mozart's compositions.

Series Features and Overall Impact

Consistent with the brand-identity of the franchise, there are motorcycles from the virtual underworld which whizz about the environment in linear paths, adhering to the rectilinear design of classic video games (or indeed nightclubs); one even emits a lethal beam which slices a police vehicle in half. But there is no drama or jeopardy or emotional engagement throughout. This series now looks as relevant as an automobile CD system.