TRON 2010 review
TRON – LEGACY (Dec 2010)
Decades after the original TRON movie, we finally have a sequel. But has it been worth the wait?
STORY
20 years after his Father disappears into the TRON world in the original film, Sam Flynn finds himself (through a short series of quite laughable events) falling into the TRON world too. Forced to fight disk battles in an arena. He is eventually rescued by a female program and brought to the safety of his Dad’s hideout. There he learns the history of the TRON world, and constructs a plan for escape.
Plot-wise, this movie often feels like it’s running thin. Very little depth is there, when so much could have been created within the TRON mythos. Instead the makers opted for more flashy lights and less intelligent plot points. Much of what happens is predictable, and even the poster for the movie itself actually gives away two-thirds of the ending.
VISUALS
Around 20% of the film is in 2D, the rest in 3D. A strange choice by Disney; sure the idea of transitioning from 2D to 3D when the jump from the real world to the TRON world happens looks good in theory, but in practice most of the 3D is so low-key it’s hardly noticeable anyway. At times much of the TRON world just looked like it was 2D as well, especially with the design of the world taking it’s roots from the original, simplistic style – lots of blue and orange lights running all over the place, sharp edges and stark contrasts of white and black between the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ sections of the world make it much harder to create the illusion of 3D depth.
The effects used to make Jeff Bridges look like a younger man again are freaky, and just look plain wrong.
SFX / SOUNDTRACK
Nothing is really memorable about the SFX, they are just there; the gentle hum of the spinning disk ‘weapon’, the rev of the bikes, the blast of the jet engines…. everything is fine and there’s nothing more to say than that.
The soundtrack is created by Daft Punk, and it fits the theme of the movie well. It’s much more orchestral than I expected, but being a movie soundtrack I suppose that is to be expected. I wouldn’t say I was blown away by it, and I would struggle now to actually recall any song from the film that made me want to hear it again.
ACTING
Jeff Bridges. Need I say more? The guy does an amazing job as both old man Flynn and his corrupt-program counterpart Clu – so much so that at times it’s hard to believe that they are the same guy. Flynn, at times,seems to be speaking dialogue more fitting to “The Dude” from Big Lebowski – phrases like “they dont dig this jazz, man” and “you’re messing with my chi” provoked a smirk from many an audience member.
Everyone else in the cast does a fine job, nothing really noteworthy and certainly nothing special which makes me want to keep tabs on their upcoming films with anticipation.
OVERALL
An average story, mixed acting, forgettable soundtrack and poor execution of 3D left me with a lot to be desired about this film. Sure it looks pretty, but like Skyline proved earlier this year, good looks can’t cover for lack of everything else. Massive plotholes and an ending which just smacks of the typical Disney/Hollywood “everything has to be all right for the hero even if it doesn’t make sense” let it down too.
6/10 Glad I saw it but certainly won’t be bothering to watch it ever again.
