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The framework of pointlessness is revisited in this tediously complex science fiction movie, closer to a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. This is a threequel to the classic Tron film from the early 80s, a movie that was groundbreaking and courageously innovative for its day in a way that escapes this film and its predecessor Tron: Legacy from the previous decade. Tron: Ares almost comes to life just once – when Evan Peters gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson portraying his mother, in an traditional bit of real-world action. This is a piece of tough love you might want to handing out to all the producers involved in this film, and it's unfortunate to see the respected Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so uninspired.

Plot Overview of The New Tron Film

The situation currently is that an evil AI corporation with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a competitor to the VR company Encom, first established in the 80s arcade-game era by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, played by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (initially founded by Encom executive Ed Dillinger, played by David Warner) is led by the founder's odiously nerdish grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to develop and produce lucrative items such as invincible troops and armored vehicles in the VR world and then export them into the real world using a kind of 3D printer.

The problem is that no matter how intimidating, these creations disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has uncovered the plot-driving “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities permanently, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic flashdrive. So the dreadful Julian Dillinger sets his attack dog on her: Ares the warrior, the superhuman fighter which can exit the virtual realm for 29 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 plays Ares's stoic deputy Athena's role and poor Jeff Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Analysis

Moreover, Ares – the protagonist of the title – is acted by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and faintly all-knowing smile, details that were possibly designed by inputting the words “incredibly irritating” into an AI human creation programme. Nobody who recalls the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life will always find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Jared Leto, and I was incidentally very entertained by his broad (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Leto is consistently, unrelentingly terrible here, although his performance isn't aided by a weak storyline which is intended to allow him to show flashes of “compassion” for Eve Kim's role and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena's character, thus rendering her marginally more interesting. It is meant to be adorable when Ares the character says how he loves 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode are superior to Mozart's compositions.

Franchise Elements and Final Impression

Consistent with the brand-identity of the series, there are motorcycles from the virtual underworld which whizz about the place in linear paths, conforming to the rectilinear design of antique arcade games (or even nightclubs); a single bike even shoots out a lethal beam which cuts a police vehicle in two. But there is zero tension or jeopardy or emotional engagement throughout. This franchise currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.