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The framework of pointlessness is revisited in this tediously complex sci-fi movie, closer to a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. It's a threequel to the classic Tron film from the early 80s, a movie that was groundbreaking and boldly pioneering for its day in a way that escapes this one and its predecessor Tron Legacy from the previous decade. The new Tron film 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 analogue reality. This is a piece of tough love you might feel like handing out to every producer engaged in this movie, and it's unfortunate to see the respected Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so lifeless.

Story Summary of Tron: Ares

The situation currently is that an evil AI corporation with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger Corp has become a rival to the virtual reality firm Encom, originally set up in the 80s arcade-game era by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (originally set up by Encom executive Ed Dillinger, played by David Warner) is headed by the founder’s annoyingly geeky grandson Julian (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to design and create lucrative items such as invincible troops and armored vehicles in the VR world and then export them into the real world using a sort of three-dimensional printer.

The problem is that no matter how intimidating, these things disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has discovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence code” which can keep these things alive for ever, and even stores it on her person on a very low-tech flashdrive. So the ghastly Julian Dillinger sets his attack dog on her: Ares, the humanoid uber-warrior which can leave the VR world for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of robots, is starting to exhibit symptoms of disobeying what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance portrays Ares's stoic deputy Athena and poor Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in wise white robes, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Character and Performance Analysis

And Ares himself – the hero of the title – is played by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, facial hair and faintly all-knowing smile, touches that were possibly created by typing the words “incredibly irritating” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who remembers the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life series will ever find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Jared Leto, and I was incidentally quite amused by his broad (and critically misunderstood) comic turn in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Leto is consistently, persistently awful in this film, although his performance isn't aided by a limp plot point which is supposed to allow him to show flashes of “empathy” for Eve Kim's role and subcontract all the villainous actions to Athena, thus making her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be charming when Ares says how he loves 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode band are better than Mozart's compositions.

Franchise Elements and Final Impression

Consistent with the franchise identity of the series, there are motorcycles from the virtual underworld which whizz about the place in linear paths, adhering to the rectilinear design of classic video games (or even nightclubs); one even emits a lethal beam which cuts a police vehicle in two. But there is no drama or danger or human interest throughout. This franchise now looks about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.