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The matrix of pointlessness is revisited in this tediously complex sci-fi film, closer to a screensaver than an actual film. This is a third installment to the original movie Tron from the early 80s, a film that was groundbreaking and boldly pioneering for its day in a way that escapes this one and its forerunner Tron Legacy from 2010. The new Tron film nearly comes to life just once – when Evan Peters' character gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson's character playing his mum, in an old-fashioned bit of analogue reality. This is a bit of firm parenting you might want to handing out to every producer engaged in this film, and it's sad to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so uninspired.

Plot Overview of The New Tron Film

The situation currently is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger has become a competitor to the VR company Encom Inc, first established in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (initially founded by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger, acted by David Warner) is led by the founder’s annoyingly geeky grandson's character Julian (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to develop and produce profitable things such as invincible troops and tanks in the VR world and then transfer them into the real world using a kind 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 uncovered the plot-driving “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities permanently, and even stores it on her person on a very low-tech flashdrive. So the dreadful Julian Dillinger sets his attack dog on her: Ares the warrior, the superhuman fighter which can leave the VR world for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of androids, is beginning to show signs of disobeying what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance plays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena and unfortunate Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Acting and Roles Analysis

And Ares himself – the protagonist of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, facial hair and faintly all-knowing smile, touches that were perhaps designed by inputting the words “incredibly irritating” into an artificial intelligence character generator. No one who recalls the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life series will ever find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Jared Leto, and I was incidentally quite amused by his expansive (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Leto is unremittingly, unrelentingly terrible 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 delegate all the villainous actions to Athena, thus rendering her slightly more engaging. It is supposed to be charming when Ares the character says how he loves 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode are better than Mozart's compositions.

Series Features and Final Impression

Consistent with the franchise identity of the series, there are motorbikes from the VR netherworld which speed around the place in long straight lines, conforming to the angular layout of antique arcade games (or indeed nightclubs); a single bike even shoots out a lethal beam which slices a police vehicle in two. But there is no drama or jeopardy or human interest throughout. This series currently appears as relevant as an in-car CD player.