I often think that with films like this one should just go to the cinema, bucket of pop corn in one hand and walkie cup of coke in the other, sit down and just be entertained for a couple of hours, then back to the real world. But of course we all nit pick here and there, even with films made for pure entertainment, so here is my nit picking together with what I liked about Tron's sequel.
Let me start with the special effects. Tron Legacy is a film that makes more sense being 3D than most contemporary films that are so just for the sake of the (rebooted) novelty. The film is not entirely 3D, there are parts filmed in 2D that benefit from some depth enhancement, but the real 3D effect is enjoyed in the middle part of the film, inside the "grid", the artificial world. Something that will dazzle your eyes is the bright neon lights that define this artificial dimension. And of this alternate reality I can safely say it was rather impressive. We have all seen a fair amount of films with action scenes made more and more breathtaking by the help of CGI. Anything that defies the law of gravity and tricks the eye is welcome in action films, and in Tron Legacy there is a fair amount of that. Unfortunately I would say, however impressive, there is no novelty in the execution. Let me explain myself, when Matrix introduced us to "bullet time" I went "wow!" It was new, it was impressive, it enhanced the action, it was creative. Here there is a very creative use of something retro, and I guess there was no escaping that, in the end Tron is tied to the arcade days. The action is impressive for the scale and the use of special effect, yet it's not new, it doesn't make you go wow. I am not saying I didn't like it, I loved it, but it was too 80s, it could have gone beyond anything that has been seen and done to date, but it just stopped at the 3D. I feel that by being a sequel the creative team got slightly inhibited. Almost as if the "grid" was the limit and they stayed within that limit without daring a bit more.
As for the story, don't expect deep phylosophical revelations or something that will blow your mind. The story is clearly aimed at a young audience. There are a few lines that made me cringe to say the least, but I'm sure the average 13 year old kid will find them very inspiring. All in all, it could have been worse, story wise. It's one of those trite moral tales about not playing God because perfection isn't and can never be man made. People are more important than machines and I-Robot (to say nothing of Frankenstein) echoes over and over throughout. Nice try Flynn, shame your dream backfired on you, well, you are only human after all, now teach your son a moral lesson... that is the message.
Jeff Bridges is definitely the biggest draw for me. I mean that guy oozes coolness. You just have to listen to his voice to melt on the spot. He's awesome, he has an amazing presence, he's badass and he's sweet, he's strong and he is weak, he's cerebral and he's instinctive. Shame his part is undereveloped. They took the easy route of making him a creator with almost divine powers in this world he created from nothing. But I don't understand for example, where does the water come from? Did he create it? This place is a digital dimension, right? It looks like a barren, dark, volcanic waste land, a bit like the world after whatever cataclysm must have hit the Earth in the future world of the Matrix, but of course it's not the Earth, it's a different dimension. Anyhow, they somehow have water and they must rear pigs in a farm there somewhere because they eat roast pork with veggies at one point. So big suspensions of disbelief are required there.The one thing I didn't appreciate, although it looked so cool and right, but unfortunately it's another safe bet and it has been widely used before, is the Japanese style / Monk style costumes they gave to Bridges's character Flynn. It's so iconic in Star Wars, you take a look at Obi One and you know he owns it. Here this seems a major rip off. Not to mention that Flynn is practically turned into a Jedi at the end, force and all.
But where's Tron in Tron Legacy? He's there... only not as you might expect. He is this kind of a patrol elite soldier / ninja / gladiator who has been reprogrammed by Clue (Flynn's clone basically, and his nemesis here) and only appears in the convenient moments. We also lose tracks of him in a rather anticlimax-ish sort of way as he drowns in the water after the big fight at the end. He might die, he might not, I guess we might find out if they make another sequel, which they might as well make once they cash in on this.
My most favourite thing in the film (if you know me a little, need I say?) were the motorbikes. I mean, they look awesome and if I just suspend my disbelief enough to think I could enter a video game and live and breathe in it, I would want nothing else but to ride one of those neon lit babies up and down the "grid" all day.
I enjoyed the film. It's a good pop-corn flick, but go prepared to sit through some old fashioned action story and a lot of cliché moments and lines.
