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The framework of futility is revisited in this tediously complex sci-fi movie, more a screensaver than an actual film. It's a threequel to the original movie Tron from 1982, a film that was mould-breaking and boldly pioneering for its time in a way that escapes this one and its predecessor Tron Legacy from 2010. Tron: Ares almost comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters' character gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson's character portraying his mum, in an old-fashioned bit of analogue reality. That's a bit of firm parenting you might feel like handing out to all the producers engaged in this movie, and it's unfortunate to see the respected Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so lifeless.

Story Summary of The New Tron Film

The situation now is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a competitor to the VR company Encom Inc, originally set up in the 1980s gaming period by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (initially founded by Encom executive Ed Dillinger's role, played by David Warner) is led by the founder’s annoyingly geeky grandson's character Julian (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to develop and produce profitable things such as invincible troops and armored vehicles in the virtual reality grid and then export them into the real world using a sort of 3D printer.

The problem is that no matter how intimidating, these creations crumble into dust after 29 minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even keeps it on her person on a very low-tech USB drive. So the ghastly Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares, the humanoid uber-warrior which can leave the VR world for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of androids, is starting to exhibit symptoms of not doing what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith plays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena and poor Jeff Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in wise white robes, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Character and Performance Analysis

And Ares himself – the protagonist of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and subtly omniscient grin, touches that were perhaps created by inputting the words “extremely annoying” into an artificial intelligence character generator. No one who remembers the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life series will always find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Mr Leto, and I was also very entertained by his broad (and widely misinterpreted) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Leto is unremittingly, persistently terrible here, although his performance isn't aided by a limp plot point which is supposed to allow him to display glimpses of “compassion” for Eve Kim's role and delegate all the villainous actions to Athena, thus rendering her marginally more interesting. It is meant to be adorable when Ares says how he adores 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode band are better than Mozart.

Series Features and Final Impression

Consistent with the franchise identity of the franchise, there are motorbikes from the VR netherworld which whizz about the place in long straight lines, conforming to the angular layout of classic video games (or even nightclubs); one even shoots out a death ray which slices a police vehicle in two. But there is no drama or danger or emotional engagement throughout. This series now looks as relevant as an in-car CD player.