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The matrix of futility is revisited in this mind-bendingly dull science fiction movie, more a screensaver than an actual film. This is a third installment to the classic Tron film from 1982, a film that was mould-breaking and courageously innovative for its time in a way that eludes this film and its predecessor Tron: Legacy from 2010. Tron: Ares almost comes to life just once – when Evan Peters gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson portraying his mother, in an traditional bit of analogue reality. This is a bit of firm parenting you might feel like administering to all the producers involved in this movie, and it's unfortunate to see the respected 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 evil AI corporation with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger Corp has become a rival to the virtual reality firm Encom Inc, originally set up in the 80s arcade-game era by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn's character, played by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger's role, acted by David Warner) is headed by the founder’s annoyingly geeky grandson's character Julian (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to design and create lucrative items such as indestructible soldiers and armored vehicles in the virtual reality grid and then export them into actual reality using a kind of 3D printer.

The problem is that no matter how intimidating, these things crumble into dust after 29 minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even stores it on her person on a very low-tech USB drive. So the ghastly Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares the warrior, the humanoid uber-warrior which can leave the VR world for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of robots, is beginning to show signs of disobeying what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance plays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena and poor Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Acting and Roles Analysis

Moreover, Ares – the hero of the film's name – is acted by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, beard and faintly all-knowing smile, details that were possibly designed by typing the words “extremely annoying” into an artificial intelligence character generator. No one who recalls the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life series will ever find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Mr Leto, and I was incidentally quite amused by his expansive (and widely misinterpreted) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is consistently, unrelentingly awful in this film, although he isn't helped by a limp plot point which is supposed to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Eve Kim's role and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena's character, thus making her marginally more interesting. It is supposed to be adorable when Ares the character says how he loves 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode band are better than Mozart's compositions.

Franchise Elements and Final Impression

And in keeping with the franchise identity of the franchise, there are motorcycles from the virtual underworld which whizz about the environment in long straight lines, adhering to the rectilinear design of classic video games (or indeed nightclubs); one even emits a death ray which cuts a cop car in two. But there is no drama or danger or human interest throughout. This series currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.