After Nearly three decades of waiting Tron fans have finally had their prayers answered by director Joseph Kosinski. The Sequel comes to us graced by not one but two versions of Jeff Bridges playing both Kevin Flynn (current age) and Clu (CG younger version), his son Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) and the beautiful Quorra (Olivia Wilde). This Action Adventure set in present time pics up the story left off from the original Tron but with far superior technology at its disposal and a brand new cast to go along with it.
The film begins with Kevin Flynn telling of the triumphs hes accomplished on the grid as well as the future it could bring to his young son Sam. After promising to show him the grid someday he leaves and never returns. Distraught and confused by his fathers disappearance Sam grows up not knowing his father and falls into difficulty fitting into the company his father created. Late one night after sabotaging his own company’s newest release of a program Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner), Kevin Flynn’s closest friend, receives a page coming from Kevin’s old arcade. After going to investigate Sam is transported to the grid where he is immediately captured and put into the games, which programs battle for survival. After surviving the early rounds he finds himself face to face battling the games current champion. Upon realizing that Sam is not a program but a user, Clu (CG Jeff Bridges) the self made ruler of the grid, challenges Sam. The battle involves the light cycles which results in him being narrowly saved by Quorra (Olivia Wilde). Sam is taken by Quorra to meet his father who has since given up trying to escape from the grid. Sam unwilling to admit defeat leaves, against his fathers wishes, in search of Zuse (Michael Sheen) who betrays him. After another rescue this time involving his father they escape and make their way to the portal back to their world. One in which is again filled with many perils.
Of all the things in tron to be discussed the most important would have to be the use of CG to create a human character. Clue and the young Kevin Flynn were both computer generated versions of a younger Jeff Bridges. The quality was amazing and an excellent alternative to finding another actor to play both roles and trying to find someone that looked similar to the actor he was portraying. It was a remarkable way to incorporate a new idea and new technology together in a film which computers were the main focus and a way to show that anything is possible. The costumes are by far a large improvement from the first Tron which involved the Actors wearing all white suits with blue lines which editors then had to painstakingly paint over every frame in the film to achieve the glow they wanted. These were traded for a black suit with glowing lines no doubt done with CG. The suits were also much more elaborate, the helpmate were done away with on most characters except for those programs re purposed for Clu’s army. Some characters wear capes while others wear colors more reminiscent of the first film. The weapons were upgraded from plain Frisbee disks (ID disks) with paint on them to a fully glowing sleeker design, as well as the addition to glowing red batons.
As for the movie in general i find that i was unable to find that father son coexistence between Sam and Kevin, but then again it is possible they were going for that type of approach, him being so long without his father. However the reunion of the two left more to be desired. However this aside the entirety of the movie maintained my attention with both action packed sequences and a storyline that kept me interested though confused at times. This is defiantly an excellent continuation of the Tron franchise and I highly recommend watching it if you enjoyed the first.
Yea I most definitely enjoyed this movie. One of the coolest movies I have ever seen. I never saw the first buy I can say even without seeing it that this sequal blows it out of the water. I thought that Jeff Bridges did a perfect job at all three parts. The younger, digital version of himself, the older, evil version of himself, and the actual character himself as the father. He played them all off very convincingly. I saw this movie in Imax and 3D and so I can be the first one to say definitely, if you can, see this movie in Imax and 3D. It is freakin amazing.
The special effects are the best part of this movie. Nobody likes it when a new face replaces a famous actor’s character. The CG’ed young Jeff Bridges for me demonstrates a great deal of care for the fans. The Grid has a lot of detail, even by giving peeks into how programs live their lives. I enjoyed how the 3-D effects take place only in the Grid, which gives the movie a “Wizard of Oz” effect. If you are into CG effects or if you are any type of dork/nerd, it will be literally impossible for you to not like this movie visually. Personally my favorite visual effect comes up any time a program dies. Slain programs burst into cubes of random strings of code. Tron Legacy provides the best effects of someone dying, since the “Blade” movie series.
I also would like to note that Daft Punk did a fantastic job with the soundtrack. The background music throughout the movie might take the crown as my favorite feature, which leads into my big complaints with the movie.
Unfortunately the music and special effects are the best part of this movie. I don’t like movies that rely on “eye candy” for applause. The movie will stun you visually, until several years from now movies in general have better visual effects. I believe the Tron brand will survive due to the fan base, but it won’t because of its storyline and acting.
The acting at times made me laugh. Every time Kevin Flynn witnesses something visually amazing in the movie, I honestly thought Jeff Bridges would digitally transform into the Dude from The Big Lebowski. If you have seen both movies you will understand, because Kevin Flynn’s dialogue and Jeff Bridges’ delivery together make me think of bowling everytime. None of the other actors demonstrate real range either. I’m understandable that the program characters may not have a large character arc or range, but even Garrett Hedlund’s performance of Sam Flynn seemed flat. He never really convinced me that he felt anguished about his missing father, or the roller coaster of emotions one would expect him to have after finally interacting with his father again.
The movie is worth seeing eventually because it does entertain. Next year if I’m bored on a Sunday and USA/TNT plays it I’ll be stoked, but don’t spend $20.00+ to see it in iMax 3-D now (that’s how much my area charges). It’s just not worth $20.00 to see today, which I find unfortunate because the visual effects are the best part. Actually scratch that, the best aspect of the movie goes to the music. The soundtrack can’t cost more than a movie ticket, so I recommend just purchasing that and postpone watching it until Blu-Ray.