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The framework of pointlessness is revisited in this mind-bendingly dull science fiction movie, closer to a screensaver than an actual film. This is 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 forerunner Tron: Legacy from the previous decade. The new Tron film almost comes to life just once – when Evan Peters' character gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson portraying his mum, in an old-fashioned bit of real-world action. That's a bit of firm parenting you might want to administering to every producer engaged in this movie, and it's unfortunate to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so lifeless.

Story Summary of The New Tron Film

The scenario now is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger Corp has become a rival to the virtual reality firm Encom Inc, first established in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, played by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger's role, played by David Warner) is led by the founder's annoyingly geeky grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to develop and produce lucrative items such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into the real world using a kind of three-dimensional printer.

The problem is that however fearsome, these things disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has discovered the plot-driving “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities permanently, and even stores it on her person on a very low-tech USB drive. So the ghastly Julian Dillinger sets his attack dog on her: Ares the warrior, the humanoid uber-warrior which can exit the virtual realm for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of androids, is beginning to show signs of not doing what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance portrays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena and unfortunate Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in sage-like white garments, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Analysis

And Ares himself – the protagonist 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 inputting the words “incredibly irritating” into an AI human creation programme. No one who recalls the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life series will always find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Mr Leto, and I was also quite amused by his broad (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Leto is consistently, unrelentingly terrible here, 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 delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena's character, thus making her marginally more interesting. It is supposed to be adorable when Ares the character says how he adores 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode band are better than Mozart.

Series Features and Final Impression

And in keeping with the franchise identity of the franchise, there are motorcycles from the virtual underworld which whizz about the place in linear paths, conforming to the rectilinear design of classic video games (or indeed nightclubs); a single bike even emits a death ray which slices a cop car in two. But there is zero tension or jeopardy or emotional engagement anywhere. This franchise now looks as relevant as an automobile CD system.