TRON: Legacy
The original TRON was quite the cinematic anomaly when released back in 1982, what with its then state of the art computerized FX setting it apart from almost everything else back then (along with Jeff Bridges in his leading man movie star prime), which led many to misunderstand and underrate it in its time. But, as the film’s cult following grew over the years along with the advancement of CGI computer FX, many wondered what a follow-up would be like with the use of all-out modern day technology, and now we know: this 2010 sequel creates a stunning new world that acts as a homage to the original and yet comes across as more imaginative than almost any movie in the modern age, plus it smartly brings back original stars Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner to reprise their roles as the heroic computer geniuses (and their alter egos) to give the whole enterprise some continuity. More amazing is the fact that the recently developed digitized de-aging process is used here to make the two of them (particularly Bridges) look like they did in their 30s, along with their older selves as their human counterparts. The “younger” Bridges in fact is used as the main antagonist of the film, the program named CLU who turned against his creator and took over his digital world known as the Grid, and the overall effect is remarkable yet weird, as we can tell that Bridges has had heavy digital work done to appear youthful, yet we still tentatively buy into it. The plot centers around the fact that Bridges’ computer maven Kevin Flynn has long since disappeared from our world, having become trapped in computer land after CLU led his revolt against him and now hiding out in the unmapped fringes of the landscape in order to protect himself and the outside world that CLU intends to one day invade. Meanwhile in the outside world itself, his grown son (Garrett Hedlund) has become quite the hedonist rich kid, utilizing Bruce Wayne-like tactics to sabotage his father’s company and those who run it in his stead (though thankfully the first film’s gimmick of having nearly EVERY human character have a computer program counterpart is eschewed here). One day Boxleitner comes to him with some disturbing news: he had just received a page from the now disconnected number of Flynn, and encourages his son to go down to his father’s arcade to check it out, and no sooner does Hedlund do so does he find himself zapped into the alternate digital universe created by his old man, where he must face off against CLU and reunite with his dad, who now has some kind of new genetic lifeform (not quite human, not quite computer) as his companion whom it is implied holds the key to changing the course of mankind forever and is played by the gorgeous Oliva Wilde. Bridges (playing two roles), Hedlund, and Wilde are the primary players here, and the fact that they all do well and keep the story grounded adds a lot to the overall effect, though the same cannot be said when Michael Sheen shows up as some kind of nightclub owning program. Sheen shows heavy signs of hangover from playing the all-powerful vampire Aro in the Twilight films, and his hammy, goony turn kinda takes some of the air out of the balloon when he comes onscreen, though the movie picks back up in enough time for the compelling climax. Even then, the admittedly solid script still manages to telegraph the most fateful twist of that climax, though the stunning imagery remains a constant to the end. As usual, we still get the light car races and disc duels of the original, but the themes of a father and son long separated being reunited and the idea that the beautiful but slightly off Wilde character is the salvation of the human race are potent ones, successfully bringing everything together under the watchful hand of first time director Joseph Kosinski. In the end, a deeper, richer entry than its predecessor, no doubt due to the fact that modern movie technology has finally caught up to the promise that the first movie only hinted at…
8/10