Tron: Legacy

I spent countless hours debating wether or not I should write a review of this Tron: Legacy. Generally, and I hope this doesn’t defeat the purpose of writing a drawn-out review, I don’t like to take the time to review movies that I don’t like (the exceptions are those that make me angry), but I felt like I owed it to whoever reads this to write my opinion.

The bottom line (although I write it at the top for some inconceivable purpose) is that Tron: Legacy is not a good movie. Granted, I should’ve seen my dislike of James Cameron’s Avatar as a bellwether of my reaction to Tron, but regardless, I felt that I owed it to movie history to watch this.

I was wrong. Tron: Legacy is no more a landmark in movie history than last week’s local news are pivotal to the liberation of Tibet. Instead, what Disney delivers is a film that honest to goodness believes that it’s good, and so it trudges on with brute strength alone, but halfway into the second act begins to sputter and die.

It has all the right components: a large budget, a talented cast, great music, and stunning special effects. But it appears as though somewhere between the batter phase and the delicious pastry phase something went wrong. From the beginning, there is forgivable blandness, but about forty minutes into the film I caught myself dozing off. There was nothing engaging about the characters, and the plot devices were some of the most ridiculous I’ve seen.

The plot itself was pretty flimsy, too, and wouldn’t stand up to the lightest scrutiny. And it’s not about plot holes; the story is so superficial that it would take true genius to find any. It’s about substance.

That said, once the film breaks free of its own conventions (and it does so quite carelessly) it becomes fun. It is a ride of lights and sounds that made renown film critic Roger Ebert wonder how the experience would be if one were stoned. Suddenly, you are in the Grid, whatever that is, and you’re transported to an obviously artificial world, yet a stunning one, nonetheless.

Once there, I caught some throwbacks to film noir, which I enjoyed, and some references to today’s cyberpunk sub-culture, which I too enjoyed. But these moments were not long-lasting, and their effects were not enough to carry the movie onward.

One thing that caught my attention was the editing of a certain sequence with Daft Punk, who have a glorious cameo, and it made me think that the crew should have focused more on a music video career.

The end of the movie is far-fetched, even for the world created by the film, and some of the plot devices are downright laughable. But somehow, everything culminates at a predictable ending, and you’re free to take back any emotional investment you’d put into the movie due to its nostalgic appeal.

And, on that note, if you didn’t like the original, there’s no way you’ll like this one.