Tron Legacy (2010)

Tron Legacy (2010)
Walt Disney Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: December 17, 2010
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rated PG

by James Klein

I remember seeing the original Tron in the theater back in 1982. I even had the toys and the motorcycle as well and played with them alot (they always got mixed up with my Star Wars and GI Joe guys). And as much as I loved the original film, I had no idea what that movie was about and still really don't quite get it. I had the same feeling watching the sequel 28 years later. "Wow! Awesome! (pause) What's going on?"

The original film was basically about a computer programmer named Flynn (Jeff Bridges) who gets sucked into a video game. The sequel is about Flynn's son whose searching for his father that has been missing since the late 1980's. The son gets sucked into the same game (why he gets sucked in not clearly explained) and he searches for his father. What he finds is his father's counterpart Clu (also played by Jeff Bridges although digitally made to look like Bridges from 1982) who has now taken over the game and has turned evil. Flynn is hiding outside the "grid" along with a young woman who is his protégé. She saves Flynn's son and brings him to her Dad and the three of them must conquer Clu and get back to their world.

Yeah...just go with it. The plot is a confusing mess but the visuals are just amazing and the action scenes are fantastic and well-done. The disc fights, motor cycle chases/crashes and the ending fight with these spaceship looking contraptions are all awesome and mind-blowing. The film is a must see on the IMAX in 3-D. The sound system was so loud that my father had to cover his ears many times. The music by Daft Punk is also very good, adding more enjoyment to the action scenes.

The actors are fine, everyone does a nice job. The odd thing is they bring in Cillian Murphy in an uncredited cameo as Dillinger's son (Dillinger was the villain from the first film) who now works for Encom but yet do nothing with his character. Why even bring him up unless a sequel is already in the works? The character of Quorra as Flynn's protégé is also wasted and seems pointless. She's more eye candy and used just because they needed a woman to be in the film. Every action/sci-fi movie these days needs to have a "tough female" and she is used to serve this purpose. Bridges steals the movie as Flynn/Clu. Flynn is easily the best written character and most developed. Being that he was stuck in a computer game since the 1980's, his dialog consists of alot of 80's slang such as "radical" (think a 1980's version of The Dude from The Big Lebowski) that I found funny and interesting. Even the character of Tron is barely in the film!

I can’t help but have a fondness for these Tron movies. I know they don't make a lick of sense but the films are so beautiful to look at and have plenty of action that I almost forgive these flaws. The movie stinks of 80's-ness, being such a throwback to old sci-fi films of that era. And that is a stink I have long missed. The little boy from 1982 returned for two hours this Christmas as he sat watching Tron Legacy.