Disney’s TRON franchise is an interesting phenomenon, a real head-scratcher. In the span of 43 years, the once-known money machine Disney produced three movies and an animated TV series based on this franchise, with the argument that it has cultivated a loyal sci-fi fanbase. The facts are a little more complicated than that. In 1982, the first TRON movie was released and was “gently” celebrated as a visual spectacle with a solid soundtrack (composed by Wendy Carlos). However, the movie failed to meet expectations at the box office, but cultivated a cult following on VHS and other home video options over the years. In 2010, Disney unveiled a sequel to the original movie with TRON: Legacy, building on the narrative elements from the prequel. The movie was also “gently” celebrated as a visual spectacle with a now iconic soundtrack, this time composed by Daft Punk. The movie had a moderate success at the box office, but gained another cult following among new fans. Now, 15 years later from the release of that film, Disney has released TRON: Ares, the third entry in the franchise. As seems to be tradition, it seems to be appreciated for its state-of-the-art visual effects and its solid soundtrack (composed by Nine Inch Nails), but not for its story. However, the early numbers reveal that the movie is a box office failure…Do I need to go on? You get the picture!
Where I’m concerned, although I was never a huge fan of the franchise (I watched both previous entries only once), the early marketing materials from TRON: Legacy had my attention back in the day. The visuals and the soundtrack grabbed me instantly, and I was looking forward to seeing that movie in theatres (that was during the 3D mania). I even watched the first film to be well-prepared for Legacy. A feast of both sights and sounds, yes, but the overall delivery found a way to be boring. After that, I never really re-visited the franchise…until now. So how does TRON: Ares compare to its predecessors?
The plot of TRON: Ares is pretty easy to follow overall, even for newcomers to TRON. Since the events of the original TRON, during which computer programmer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), working for tech giant corporation ENCOM, built a computer-generated world known as The Grid. Trying to get back control over his program from ENCOM’s corporate greed, he triggers his digitization to The Grind, integrating himself in the video game and having to face a powerful Master Control Program to free all the other users and avatars in this cyberworld. Legacy followed pretty much the same plot, but this time with Kevin’s son Sam (Garrett Hedlund) jumping into The Grid to deliver his father from a powerful avatar identical to him.
Many years later, in the timeline of TRON: Ares, ENCOM has been taken over by a corporate duo – sisters Eve (Greta Lee) and Tess Kim (Selene Yun). Both sisters and their immediate rival, Dillinger Systems, have been fighting over the control of The Grid. However, the new frontier is now to be able to transfer AI elements from The Grid (avatars, weapons, tanks, aircraft, etc.) to the real world to reach absolute military dominance. Small problem…once the AIs are energized to the real world, they can only remain “alive” for about 29 minutes. To fix this problem, Julian Dilliger (Evan Peters) of Dillinger Systems creates the ultimate combat program code-named Ares (Jared Leto) and his partner Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith) to pursue Eve Kim, sole owner of ENCOM, following her sister’s death, in both the real world and computer world to gain access to the permanence code. This is the code that will allow AI beings to be fully integrated into the real world indefinitely. Apparently, Eve Kim found that permanence code before everyone…but how?
If this review is not your first read on the movie, then you’ll know by now that it is not highly popular with both audience members and critics alike, ranking it mostly as the worst installment in the franchise so far. BUT….you might need to ask yourself this question first before judging this film: what are you looking for in a TRON movie in the first place?
This franchise is basically two things: amazing visuals and a kick-ass soundtrack…period. Some fans on Letterboxd are even calling the TRON movies long music videos for the band behind the soundtrack, Ares is no exception to that rule. This time directed by Joachim Ronning (Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales), I’ll be as bold as to say that the third opus is perhaps as good as TRON: Legacy. Since I understood what I was getting into, I had a very good time with this film, and I’m looking forward to seeing it again at home, on a 4K TV with the Dolby Atmos surround sound. Yeah…I guess I’m an easy audience. I was visually astonished by the quality of the visual effects in IMAX, and I’m listening to the Nine Inch Nails soundtrack on repeat ever since.
Heavy on action compared to the previous films, Ares can call itself an entertaining movie at least; it avoids the mistake of being boring (a big reason why I was disappointed in Legacy). There is a specific chase scene involving lightcycles in the streets of Vancouver (doubling as Seattle) that is absolutely great. However, the film makes another mistake that makes it difficult to call it a sci-fi masterpiece. Keeping it short, the plot of the movie is very thin and the characters half-baked, making it hard to cheer for them at all. This is especially true with Greta Lee as Eve Kim. Although I love the actress’s work in Past Lives and The Morning Show, I think she might have been miscast in this – I did not buy her as a tech mogul at all. The same can be said about her comic-relief partner (Arturo Castro) and the company CEO (Hasan Minhaj), who are neither convincing nor funny. On their end, the antagonists are incredibly “one-note” in their delivery, making their impact on the film quite static. There is a confusing non-spoiler cameo if you’ve seen the trailers that still proves effective, though: Jeff Bridges comes back as Kevin Flynn during one nostalgic scene.
Now, taking into account recent allegations, there’s an elephant in the room to consider – his name is Jared Leto. A known award-winning actor who is far from being a movie star, placing him as a main protagonist at the head of a blockbuster, proved to be a risky decision. This is maybe part of the reason why the movie fails to reach its audience. Leto confirmed to be a massive fan of the TRON franchise, so he was also involved as a producer and advocated for the movie to be made. Now, placing the allegations aside for a moment, this actor never really impressed me and even disappointed me on many occasions – the best example is his horrendous version of The Joker in Suicide Squad (2016). However, in the skin of Ares, an AI program who slowly finds a conscience along the way – I will say that he was quite convincing, making it (perhaps) his best role since his Oscar win for Dallas Buyers Club (2013). So that’s what, take of it as you will.
Overall, if you already know that TRON is a bizarre franchise that offers brilliance in music and visual effects instead of script writing and storytelling, you’ll be fine…you might even have a great time! I know I did, and I don’t mind style over substance when the movie is able to keep me entertained long enough. It’s the case here, so I do recommend that you try and catch it in theatres on the biggest IMAX screen you can find. It is an audiovisual feast for both eyes and ears.
Now, considering the almost disastrous box office returns, it’s difficult to determine if there will be a sequel to TRON: Ares. There is a post-credit scene that tells us otherwise, but anything is possible at this point.
GRADE: 7/10
Just for the fun of it, here’s my current ranking of the three TRON movies, even though they resemble each other quite a bit.
1. TRON: Legacy (2010)
2. TRON: Ares (2025)
3. TRON (1982)