It would be a mistake to call Tron a successful movie franchise. Both the first Tron (1982) and Tron: Legacy (2010) ended up being oddly middling releases: Tron earned $50 million on a $17 million budget, sparked a cult following, multiple Oscar nominations, and merchandising sales, but was still seen as a failed IP launch by Disney. Tron: Legacy went big-budget with the franchise ($170 million); it managed to do okay at the box office, but also sparked a whole new Tron wave in pop-culture, with its light suit/cycle aesthetics, digital technology/Virtual Reality subject matter, and that hit Daft Punk soundtrack, secured a Grammy nomination for the film, while the crisp sound design earned it an Oscar nomination. Now comes Tron: Ares, a film that doesn’t seem to recognize irony, that it plays like an AI-generated version of the techno-avant-garde tradition that defines Tron.
The story of Tron: Ares starts by building off the legacy of the series’ lore. After the events of Tron: Legacy, Sam Flynn disappears from public sight along with his mysterious companion Quorra (a program from the Grid, brought to physical life in the real world). ENCOM’s new CEOs are the Kim sisters, but it is only the surviving sister, Eve (Greta Lee), who pulls ahead in the race against the Flynn family’s old rival, Dillinger Systems, and its CEO, Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), grandson of Ed Dillinger (the villain of the original film). Julian has cracked the code on using a digital laser that can manifest digital objects into actual physical objects, be it foods, weapons, or even soldiers. Enter Ares (Jared Leto), Dillinger’s new advanced AI Master Control Program (MCP), and his top lieutenant, Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith). Julian has been using Ares and Athena as test subjects in endless combat simulations, in an effort to close a military contract that will make Dillinger Systems a trillion-dollar company; however, Julian’s focus shifts entirely when Eve Kim becomes the one to finally decipher Kevin Flynn’s buried clues on how to make manifestations of digital objects a permanent process (instead of having a 30-minute time limit).
Julian quickly chooses the nefarious route to success: he sends his AI soldiers after Eve, and a furious chase ensues. However, something that has been evolving within Ares finally takes hold: the “Permanence Code” offers Ares a chance to finally escape Dillinger’s Grid and the never-ending cycle of conflict, death, and rebirth. The rogue program makes a desperate bet that turning on his creator, protecting Eve, and helping her toward her goal will also save his own life. However, it’s not only Julian Dillinger who is scorned by Ares’ betrayal, but also the programs the MCP trained to be his warriors. Athena takes it especially personally and decides on her own volition to bring the Grid’s war to the real world.
Tron: Ares is as straightforward and hollow as a blockbuster sci-fi-action flick can be. The beats are entirely predictable; the story by David DiGillo and Jesse Wigutow never digs past the surface of any of the seemingly heady sci-fi concepts it’s dabbling in, be it AI sentience, questions about the nature of “love” and the “soul,” or warnings about a corporate technoarchy that could soon run amok. The performances are a very mixed bag, ranging from some charismatic actors playing dynamic and entertaining characters (Greta Lee, Arturo Castro, and even a scene-chewing Evan Peters) to drab and boring “stoic” performances from typically charismatic talents like Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) and Jodie Turner-Smith (The Acolyte). Jared Leto is (once again) the most baffling performance on the screen: Ares is almost a non-character, resigned to being a blank slate for most of the film (albeit with soulful, calculating eyes and mannerisms). The character’s Pinocchio-style “evolution” is a muted subplot (at best); when Ares monologues about loving Depeche Mode and ’80s synth-pop music, it’s a bizarre and jarring swerve for the character. But by the climactic moment where Ares is making an actual case for why Depeche Mode deserves to be as beloved as Mozart, it’s hard to take anything about Tron: Ares or Leto’s performance seriously. At all.
Thankfully, director Joachim Rønning (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales) does not require you to have a functioning brain to enjoy this ride. Tron: Ares seems like a perfect multi-level integrated product (keyword), wowing viewers on a movie screen only as a setup for the eventual theme park ride (and all that merch) to follow. In that sense, Ares is a successful commercial for a new era of Tron IP and tie-in products; Rønning gives theatergoers (and especially premium format ticketholders) their dollar value in visual spectacle, and Disney spared no expense ($180 million) making sure those signature Tron visuals were once again up to par. Of course, no one doubted that Nine Inch Nails duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross would deliver on the soundtrack; however, their sonic themes are much darker, slower, and more macabre than the upbeat techno-house rhythms of Daft Punk, and Ares, as a whole, reflects that tonal shift, for better or worse.
If nothing else, Tron: Ares makes a much more versatile case for what Tron movies can do with weaponry, vehicles, costuming, and action sequencing across both digital and physical worlds. And, based on the ending and mid-credits teases, Tron aims to be a much more active blockbuster franchise going forward. It’ll have to be, or the real-world rise of AI may soon make this entire franchise obsolete.
Tron: Ares is now playing in theaters and premium formats. It’s rated PG-13 for violence/action. You can discuss the film on our ComicBook Forum!
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