Let me get this out of the way before I begin this review. I have no idea why this is called Tron: Ares since Tron isn’t even in the goddamned thing. That’s like making a movie called Batman and not having Batman in it. Heck, no one even says the name “Tron” in the film. Seriously, David Warner gets more screen time than Bruce Boxleitner and David Warner’s fucking dead! I probably wouldn’t have been so miffed if they pulled a “From the World of John Wick” number like they did with Ballerina. (Hell, at least John Wick was in THAT.) Then again, seeing the insidious way they did Tron dirty in Tron: Legacy, I can’t really blame Boxleitner for staying away this time out.
Okay, now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, let’s get down to business. Tron: Ares is fucking badass. It erases the stink leftover from Legacy and honors what came before while simultaneously paving the way for the future. This is the way to do a legacy sequel. (No pun intended.)
Maybe it was the lowered expectations. I was hoping it would be good, but the bad word of mouth and even worse box office made me cool off a little on seeing the flick. I’m kind of glad too since I was truly caught off guard by how great this was. You definitely need to see this on the biggest screen possible with the best sound available to get the maximum impact. Heck, I saw it in a smallish theater and was still blown away by it.
Ares is a clever reversal of the original premise. Instead of having a good guy from the real world being sucked into a computer, bad guys are spat out of a computer and into the real world. That means we get to have Lightcycle races on bridges and crowded streets, Lightjets doing battle with police aircraft, and an enormous Recognizer floating through the air and menacing the city like it was Godzilla.
I kind of liked how hacking took the place of the gaming aspect of the original. When Ares (Jared Leto) is sent on a mission to hack into Encom’s system, it plays almost like a heist movie, which was pretty cool. The action involving Lightcycles, Lightsticks, Lightjets, and even Lightboats are also tons of fun.
Ares (Leto) is a computer program created by Dillinger (a slimy Evan Peters in grotesque tech bro mode) as a soldier of war. Dillinger has found a way to make war machines in the computer and then with a newfangled 3D printer, he can not only bring tanks into the real world, but soldiers like Ares as well. The problem is Ares can only live “off the grid” for twenty-nine minutes before “de-resing”. When Dillinger orders him to kill his competitor (Greta Lee), Ares develops a conscience and rebels against his user.
Words like “dazzling” and “breathtaking” get bandied about in movie reviews, but this is one time when both terms apply. Visually, the film is stunning. It looks like the universe you remember (and in the movie’s best scene, it’s exactly the universe you remember), just with a modern sheen. The scenes both on and off “the grid” are moody and elegantly shot too.
Sonically, it’s something else. The score by Nine Inch Nails captures the same flavor of Wendy Carlos and Daft Punk without duplicating them, all the while remaining totally NIN to the core. Trent Reznor creates a score that fits both the Nine Inch Nails aesthetic while at the same time fitting comfortably within the world of Tron. (Yes, I listened to the score on the car ride home.)
Say what you will about Jared Leto, but speaking strictly about his performance here, he is excellent. He captures the childlike wonderment of a program learning to be human while still kicking plenty of ass in the action scenes. Peters makes for a suitably sleazy villain and (poor box office aside) I hope they make another one so they can follow up on the awesome mid-credit stinger. Gillian Anderson is also quite good as his long-suffering mother. Jeff Bridges is also around for what amounts as an extended cameo, but he has nice chemistry with Leto, and he looks comfortable enough passing the torch to him.
So yeah, I’m kind of bummed this flopped because the set-up for the sequel seemed promising. Then again, Tron was able to buck bad box office and mixed reviews to become a cult hit and spawn a sequel. Twice. Maybe it will happen a third time.
End of line.
No comments:
Post a Comment