Until the awesome previews, I was skeptical about a "Tron" sequel. What can I say except I dug the 8-bittiness of it. Also, it took me nearly 20 years to understand all of the nuances of the first film. After accomplishing that, what would "TRON Legacy" offer a recovering code junkie?
In 1989, Encom
CEO Kevin Flynn goes missing. Some speculate his demise while his partner
Alan Bradley believes he is exploring the digital fronts. Either way,
his son Sam has grown up without him, and is now a despondent majority
shareholder who tries to compromise the corporation that is run by the
likes of Edward Dillinger.
After his last
stunt, Alan informs Sam that his father paged him from the old arcade
that had been closed for 20 years. Sam goes to investigate, and winds
up finding the teleportation laser. As a result, he is transferred to
the Grid, the digital universe that is ran by the megalomaniacal program
CLU.
CLU was developed
by Flynn to create the perfect digital world. Tired of being restricted
to the Grid, he wants to take on the real world. To do that, he need
Flynn's data disk to allow him to use the portal to the real world.
By bringing Sam to the grid, he hopes to draw Flynn out of hiding. The
only problem with the plan, Flynn may be ready him.
"TRON Legacy"
is "Matrix" smart. It does not take a nerd to understand it,
so the geek elite may feel betrayed. Otherwise, it is a pretty solid
flick, easy for anyone to get into and ideal for 3-D screens or raves.
Again nerds may feel left out. Especially since the film lacks a George
Lucas love story.
If
there is
any trouble in terms of action sequences, it is that there is
too much
action. Keeping with the environment of the first "Tron",
there is little in terms of backgrounds. The world is vast, but feels
pretty small, so some of the scenes feel crowded, especially
with the
Virtual Boy like streak effects of the vehicles. It still
looks great
in 3-D, but does it translate to 2-D?
Aside from
that flaw, the only weakness is that Sam, Garrett Hedlund, is not very
interesting. Dare I say, Sam is Anakin like. Not to say that Tron was
an enthralling character, but Bruce Boxleitner pulled of being a bad
ass, and the Alan Bradley alter ego gave him a dynamic nature. Sam does
not have the foil, so he needs to do something to be unique. Being the
stereotypical rebel does not cut it.
The rest of
the characters are unique and fun (especially Michael Sheen getting
to try and be the flamboyant Brit). Fantasy films call for actors to
not be "normal," and they all succeed.
If "TRON
Legacy" was more careful with their Kung Fu and throw the first
film's fan more than a Journey sound byte, it would have been perfect.
It should have been made for the fans, but you really cannot hold anything
against a good Jeff Bridges movie. "Crazy Heart" was lame,
but Bridges was fantastic, so cannot argue against his power.
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