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The framework of pointlessness is reloaded in this tediously complex sci-fi movie, more a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. This is a third installment to the original movie Tron from the early 80s, a film that was mould-breaking and courageously innovative for its day in a way that escapes this one and its forerunner Tron: Legacy from 2010. The new Tron film nearly comes to life 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 piece of tough love you might feel like administering to every producer involved in this film, and it's unfortunate to see the respected Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so lifeless.

Story Summary of Tron: Ares

The situation currently is that an evil AI corporation with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger has become a competitor to the virtual reality firm Encom, first established in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn, portrayed 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 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 export them into actual reality using a sort of three-dimensional printer.

The problem is that however fearsome, these creations crumble into dust after 29 minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has uncovered the plot-driving “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even keeps it on her person on a extremely basic USB drive. So the ghastly Julian Dillinger deploys his enforcer on her: Ares the warrior, the superhuman fighter which can exit the virtual realm for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of robots, is beginning to show signs of disobeying what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance plays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena's role and unfortunate Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in sage-like white garments, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Acting and Roles Breakdown

And Ares himself – the hero of the title – is acted by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, beard and faintly all-knowing smile, details that were perhaps designed by typing the words “incredibly irritating” into an artificial intelligence character generator. No one who recalls the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life series will always find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Jared Leto, and I was also quite amused by his broad (and widely misinterpreted) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is consistently, persistently awful in this film, although he isn't helped by a limp plot point which is supposed to allow him to show flashes of “compassion” for Greta Lee's character and subcontract all the villainous actions to Athena's character, thus rendering her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be charming when Ares the character says how he adores 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode band are better than Mozart.

Franchise Elements and Overall Impact

Consistent with the brand-identity of the franchise, there are motorcycles from the virtual underworld which speed around the environment in long straight lines, adhering to the rectilinear design of classic video games (or even dance clubs); a single bike even shoots out a lethal beam which slices a police vehicle in half. But there is no drama or danger or human interest anywhere. This series currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.