It took 28 years, but Disney finally followed up their 1982 sci-fi adventure TRON. What was then a light, colorful foray into computer animation blended with live-action has been replaced by an isolated cyberpunk metropolis. Jeff Bridges returns as Kevin Flynn, the creator of this cyber world. He is trapped inside his own creation for in excess of 20 years, that is until his grown son Sam (Garrett Hedlund) unknowingly enters and assumes a rescue mission.
Everything has changed. Voices as well as other sound effects have taken on the more popular auto-tune/vocoder resonance, the best friend of the Katy Perry. The once blue land is now shadows laced with neon piping. It’s a radically different appearance than any world I’ve seen imagined for a film. Purist may be upset by the changes, but they are genuine and one of the few times that I’ve seen such massively exploited green screen function without trouble. TRON: Legacy makes the Grid out to be a world so different from ours that there is no way to complain about fake sunlight effects because there is no sun.
If you’ve read my review of The Lion King, then you may have picked up on some of the coding used by Disney to transform child films into adult engaging topics of discussion. In not quite as shocking fashion, TRON: Legacy contains an underlying theme supporting intelligent design in the creation vs. evolution discussion. Kevin Flynn is essentially a god who built a world in near biblical fashion. He even managed to create a program—as opposed to a man—in his own image. Once Flynn got the ball rolling, the programs took over and were able to run a civilization. Even though the world is a scientific creation of man that happens to follow a familiar genesis, there is a heavily slanted creationism occurrence when the Isomorphic Algorithms (ISOs) appear on the scene with no scientific reasoning or influence on Flynn’s part. Given the context that the Flynn is merely a programmer, some greater force must have fashioned them. And there you have it, God created life.
The sensory elements take center stage. Performances aren’t bad for the genre, but given the high standards some hold it’s disappointing that characters don’t have more to them. The only one attempting to communicate the onscreen excitement to the audience is Quorra (Olivia Wilde), but in this aspect her exclamations are as believable as the local sportscaster. Michael Sheen has as David Bowe. I didn’t say “dressed as” or “in the appearance like”, he’s one of the few programs acting like a human. Due to this there isn’t a lot of emotion to drive the story. The plot takes the wheel and it’s rather to the point, but at least it’s not calling for a ham-fisted social action—looking at you Avatar.
The score by Daft Punk deserves Oscar and Billboard recognition. It’s a mature Euro club derived sound from the future that livens up every scene. By far the best score I’ve heard since Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003).
I have to complain about the title. The original film had a character named TRON and he was one of the leads. The Grid probably would have been a more effective title at the time, and now the error is compounded. The near absence let alone insignificance of TRON in TRON: Legacy makes little sense if any from a truth in advertising perspective. I wonder if Star Wars would have been such a success with the original title C-3PO. The latter prequel C-3PO Episode I: The Phantom Menace would have surely done it in.
It doesn’t reflect well on me to put style over substance, but TRON: Legacy has so much that it can’t be denied. The action is clearly discernable, even in 3D, but I have to get onto the studio for the pre-title disclaimer, which concedes that not all scenes are 3D. The honesty here isn’t necessary. Otherwise director John Kosinski managed to craft a PG rated Disney film that is actually cool, adult, and stunning. That, friends, is no easy task. ***½
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