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The matrix of futility is reloaded in this tediously complex sci-fi movie, more a screensaver than an actual film. This is a threequel to the original movie Tron from 1982, a film that was mould-breaking and courageously innovative for its time in a way that escapes this film and its predecessor Tron Legacy from the previous decade. The new Tron film nearly comes to life just once – when Evan Peters gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson's character playing his mum, in an traditional bit of analogue reality. That's a bit of firm parenting you might want to administering to every producer involved in this film, and it's sad to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so lifeless.

Story Summary of Tron: Ares

The scenario currently is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger has become a competitor to the VR company Encom, first established in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, played by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (initially founded by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger, acted by David Warner) is led by the founder’s annoyingly geeky grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to develop and produce profitable things such as invincible troops and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into the real world using a sort of three-dimensional printer.

The problem is that however fearsome, these creations disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has discovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can keep these things alive permanently, 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 superhuman fighter which can exit the virtual realm for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of androids, is starting to exhibit symptoms of not doing what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance plays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena's role and unfortunate Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Acting and Roles Analysis

Moreover, Ares – the protagonist of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and subtly omniscient grin, touches that were possibly created by typing the words “extremely annoying” into an artificial intelligence character generator. No one who remembers the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life series will ever find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Mr Leto, and I was incidentally very entertained by his expansive (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Leto is consistently, persistently terrible in this film, although he isn't helped by a weak storyline which is supposed to allow him to show flashes of “compassion” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena, thus making her marginally more interesting. It is supposed to be adorable when Ares the character says how he loves 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode band are better than Mozart.

Series Features and Overall Impact

And in keeping with the franchise identity of the franchise, there are motorcycles from the virtual underworld which whizz about the place in linear paths, conforming to the rectilinear design of antique arcade games (or indeed dance clubs); a single bike even shoots out a lethal beam which cuts a police vehicle in two. But there is no drama or jeopardy or human interest throughout. This series currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.