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The framework of pointlessness is revisited in this tediously complex science fiction film, more a screensaver than an actual film. It's a threequel to the classic Tron film from the early 80s, a movie that was mould-breaking and courageously innovative for its time in a way that eludes this one and its forerunner Tron Legacy from the previous decade. The new Tron film almost awakens just one time – when Evan Peters' character gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson's character portraying his mother, in an old-fashioned bit of analogue reality. That's a bit of firm parenting you might want to handing out to every producer involved in this movie, and it's sad to see the estimable Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith's character 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 unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a competitor to the virtual reality firm Encom, first established 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, acted by David Warner) is headed by the founder’s annoyingly geeky grandson Julian (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to design and create lucrative items such as invincible troops and armored vehicles in the VR world and then transfer them into actual reality using a sort of 3D printer.

The problem is that no matter how intimidating, these things disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can keep these things alive for ever, and even keeps it on her person on a very low-tech USB drive. So the ghastly Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares the warrior, the superhuman fighter 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 plays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena and poor Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in sage-like white garments, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Analysis

And Ares himself – the hero of the title – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and faintly all-knowing smile, details that were perhaps created by typing the words “extremely annoying” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who remembers the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life series will always find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Mr Leto, and I was also quite amused by his broad (and critically misunderstood) comic turn in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is consistently, unrelentingly terrible here, although he isn't helped by a weak storyline which is supposed to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena, thus rendering her slightly more engaging. It is supposed to be charming when Ares the character says how he loves 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode are better than Mozart.

Franchise Elements and Overall Impact

And in keeping with the franchise identity of the series, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which speed around the environment in long straight lines, conforming to the angular layout of antique arcade games (or even dance clubs); a single bike even shoots out a death ray which slices a cop car in two. But there is no drama or jeopardy or emotional engagement throughout. This series currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.