Tron: Ares starts with an evil tech CEO named Dillinger (Evan Peters) waving his arms and making big sweeping pronouncements about the latest advances in AI. Why immerse yourself in AI virtual reality when you can now bring virtual reality into the tangible, 3D world? Specifically, he says to his military industry investors, his technology can literally laser-print virtual soldiers into 3D physical manifestations, creating an endless, 100% replaceable fighting force.
These prototype super-soldiers Ares (Jared Leto) and Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith) are the perfect war machines: super-human in strength, intelligence, and (of course) good looks. What Dillinger doesn’t tell his potential investors: these physical incarnations of AI have a problem of disintegrating into a pile of ashy pixels after only 29 minutes.
In contrast, good tech mogul Eve Kim (Greta Lee), who now runs Dillinger’s competitor ENCOM (founded by Jeff Bridges’ Kevin Flynn in the original Tron), knows that this technology can be used for good. She just has to dig around in Flynn’s 1980s floppy disks for the “permanence code” that would solve the deterioration problem. And when she finds it, she just needs to keep it out of Dillinger’s code-tattooed hands.
Meanwhile, super-soldier Ares decides he wants to become a real boy after a startling experience witnessing red-blooded empathy from cutie-pie Eve. This sensation causes a glitch in his matrix, and it’s now up to Ares to protect Eve from the all-or-nothing onslaught of Dillinger and his quickly evolving technology of chaos… 29-minute countdown be damned.
There’s a lot of silliness in Tron: Ares. For instance, if your super-soldiers are printed replicas of AI beings, why do they gasp for air when they come online? Why do they seem to cry in pain when their limbs are seared off? And why create a model soldier with a beard and long, wet Jesus-hair? I guess Leto’s flawless, ageless face is an avatar of human perfection, but it seems like those stringy locks would just get in the way of all those speedy motorcycle chases and martial arts-style spins.
Greta Lee does her best in a thankless role, and Turner-Smith looks inherently badass, even if her eye makeup changes several times within a scene. Jeff Bridges gets to show up for a short moment just to tie this film to the original, and to give the filmmakers an excuse to have a throwback to the low-fi 80s graphics (which still look really cool). And if simply referencing the 80s seemingly every other moment isn’t enough, the inclusion of Rubik’s cubes, arcade games, and the name-dropping of Depeche Mode drives it home with a hammer.
The propulsive, ear-bleedingly awesome Nine Inch Nails soundtrack and eye-popping visuals make you feel like you are experiencing something amazing, but there is an inherent lack of soul or engagement in Tron: Ares. It’s just as though, oh, I don’t know… you are watching a big-screen manifestation of a video game. It’s basically a dazzling two-hour music video that would look great playing on a big screen TV at a club or bar—it’s great to look at, but doesn’t demand or invite any sort of thoughtful attention.
In other words, if you are planning on seeing Tron: Ares already, by all means shell out the extra bucks to see it in IMAX. But if you are hoping to see some fresh, innovative thought-provoking sci-fi, by all means skip it.
