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The framework of pointlessness is reloaded in this tediously complex sci-fi movie, more a screensaver than an actual film. It's a threequel to the original movie Tron from the early 80s, a movie that was groundbreaking and courageously innovative for its time in a way that escapes this one and its forerunner Tron Legacy from 2010. Tron: Ares almost awakens just once – when Evan Peters' character gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson's character playing his mother, in an traditional bit of real-world action. This is a bit of firm parenting you might want to handing out to every producer engaged in this movie, and it's unfortunate to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so lifeless.

Plot Overview of The New Tron Film

The scenario now is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger has become a competitor to the VR company Encom, originally set up in the 1980s gaming period by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn, played by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger, played by David Warner) is led by the founder's odiously nerdish grandson Julian (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to design and create lucrative items such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then export them into the real world using a kind of three-dimensional printer.

The issue is that however fearsome, these things disintegrate after 29 minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence code” which can keep these things alive permanently, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic USB drive. So the ghastly Julian sets his attack dog on her: Ares the warrior, the superhuman fighter which can exit the virtual realm for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of robots, is beginning to show signs of not doing what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith portrays Ares's stoic deputy Athena and unfortunate Jeff Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Acting and Roles Analysis

Moreover, Ares – the protagonist of the title – is acted by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, facial hair and subtly omniscient grin, details that were perhaps created by inputting the words “extremely annoying” into an AI human creation programme. Nobody who recalls the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life will ever find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Jared Leto, and I was also very entertained by his broad (and critically misunderstood) comic turn in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is unremittingly, persistently terrible here, although his performance isn't aided by a limp plot point which is intended to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Eve Kim's role and subcontract all the badass wickedness to Athena, thus rendering her slightly more engaging. It is supposed to be charming when Ares says how he adores 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode are better than Mozart.

Series Features and Final Impression

Consistent with the brand-identity of the franchise, there are motorbikes from the VR netherworld which whizz about the place in linear paths, adhering to the rectilinear design of antique arcade games (or indeed nightclubs); one even emits a death ray which cuts a police vehicle in half. But there is no drama or danger or human interest anywhere. This series currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.