Movies

“The grid. A digital frontier. I tried to picture clusters of information as they moved through the computer. What did they look like? Ships? Motorcycles? I kept dreaming of a world I thought I’d never see. And then one day… I got in.” (Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn)

            Twenty-eight and a half years after the 1982 cult classic was released to the masses, its sequel sees the light of day.  Jeff Bridges returns as the infamous computer programmer that was the CEO of Encom, a massive corporation comparable to our Microsoft.  The film starts with a digital representation of Bridge’s younger self, Kevin Flynn who was the protagonist of TRON, tell his son Sam the grandeur story of his scourging struggle to overthrow his nemesis in the world that he had constructed.  A world he had dreamed of creating inside of a digital world called “The Grid”.

            Legacy starts with news reels from various tele-casts riddling the nation and world of Kevin Flynn’s disappearance, leaving his Encom empire to his son Sam; thus beginning a new digital excursion.  Sam is portrayed as the typical stock twenty-something hooligan (played by up-and-coming actor Garret Hedlund) that you would expect to see in a pop-corn blockbuster; but he makes a decent wake of things throughout the duration of the film.  Bruce Boxleitner makes a return as co-starring character “Alan”, the creative force behind the TRON program that fights for the “Users” or in all technicality; the human race.

            In the beginning of the film, you learn that Sam’s father, Kevin, has been trapped inside The Grid for over twenty years and has aged greatly; but his evil counterpart has not.  Kevin created a digital copy of himself to take over construction of The Grid while Kevin was gone.  But, of course, what do all twins do? They wreak digital havoc with their own mind’s agenda.  Kevin Flynn’s digital copy is given the name “CLU” and turned against him; becoming an all-powerful computer program that controls The Grid, forcing Kevin into hiding and trapping him within his own creation. Along the way Sam meets a neophyte ISO or Isomorphic Algorithmic program by the name of Quorra, thus paving the way for the love interest played by Olivia Wilde.  ISOs are the basis for the story as CLU is in ideals to destroy all ISOs as he sees them as imperfection although they are the key to science and could change everything for the greater good.  It’s just a shame that this very unique plot couldn’t have evolved into a much more sweeping and captivating story that was begging to be seen.

A film of this magnitude no doubt had reason for a 127 minute duration, but upon watching it you may ask yourself why.  It shines greatly in few places and stumbles in its dialogue, which was very much needed to support such a vast science fiction masterpiece.  The characters were poorly portrayed and under developed, but you can’t help but fall in love with them regardless of the awfully written script; especially after seeing the original cult classic from 1982.  The special effects soar with the return of Disc Wars and Light Cycle battles, which seemed few and far between considering they are a staple for the TRON franchise.  But, the light cycles and discs popped with brilliantly blue high-lighted effects that fans had all been craving for and newcomers bedazzled to the core of their retinas; painting a canvas of science fiction and wonderment in their minds twenty-eight years in the making.  The 3D effects were worth seeing once, but the fad is slowly wearing on movie culture and is overstaying its welcome as soon as it walked in the door, but the film’s effects were some of the best brought to the big screen.  Even though the effects were stunning, there will always be problems; one example being CLU.  CLU as said, is a digital copy of Kevin Flynn, therefore heavy CG was needed to capture a young Jeff Bridges’ facial features and expressions, which did not work all too well even with our current technology.  The effects made CLU look like a body double with a rubber mask on; although you may take it the way most fan boys might have; “he’s a program, so why wouldn’t he look rubbery and robotic?”, that may help you cope with it.

Negativity aside, the acting was not a bad part of the film seeing as the actors did not have much to work with as far as a script goes.  Jeff Bridges is always at the very least a decent actor and newer actors Hedlund and Wilde do a decent job at playing their respective parts as Sam and Quorra; CLU was voiced by Bridges as he is a digital rendition of his younger self.  The film’s length could have been cut to size at about the hour and forty mark, but overall did not cause too much bother.  There is a good film here, if you are a fan of the original you have probably already seen it and if you have not yet you may want to watch the original film first to gain appreciation for the concept, but it is not entirely necessary as the gaps are filled in briefly for the viewer throughout the film.

As for the score, the French techno duo Daft Punk, came together and proved themselves master creationists of the genre with this soundtrack alone. This soundtrack blazes trails for what others should sound and feel like to their respective films. Using their electronics infused with a live orchestra Daft Punk makes for a melting pot of sweeping melodies and in-your-face neo-House jams.  The tunes created for the duration of TRON Legacy are cerebral to the core and provide such grand tracks throughout the film as the popular “Derezzed” and “The Game Has Changed” as well as “Castor”.  During each scene in Legacy, there is a new and interestingly buzzing track resonating with Daft Punk’s lifting creativity that makes them shine even more so than they already have over the past decade.  This score serves up a perfect science fiction taste with a side digital jargon, breathing life into a sequel that was twenty-eight years in the making.

Tron: Legacy gets 3 light-cycles out of 5.