After nearly 30 years, Disney has finally pulled audiences back onto The Grid. Tron: Legacy picks up with a scene showing Kevin Flynn’s (Jeff Bridges) last night with his son, Sam (Garrett Hedlund), before he mysteriously disappears from the face of the earth. The story then jumps forward approximately 20 years to the current day, showing a 26-year old Sam Flynn who, although he holds the controlling share, has no interest in his father’s company aside from pulling an annual “prank” on the board of directors.
Shortly after he returns home he is visited by Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) who was a friend of Kevin’s. Alan stands as the only person in the world who doesn’t believe that Kevin Flynn just up and disappeared due to a scandal with his claims that he would revolutionize the future of computing. Alan tells Sam that he has received a page from Kevin’s old office and that he thinks Sam should check it out. Sam finds his father’s hidden offices and is sucked into the grid through the laser in the same way his father was.
The Grid has been revamped and is a feast for the eyes. The suits and technology have been updated to a more current look and although there is a more “modern” feel to the world as a whole, it still manages to remain familiar and reminiscent of the original Grid.
The Light-Cycle Race
From this point on, the action picks up, but the story never really takes off. The exposition about how the grid came to be is nice, but not very complete. The rules of The Grid are never really established, nor are the powers that Kevin has as it’s “maker”. It’s made obvious throughout the movie that Kevin has powers outside those of the programs, but it’s never really made clear what these powers consist of, or what limitations are imposed in The Grid to begin with.
The technology used to make this movie is amazing and lends to some impressive action sequences, which really become the movie’s saving grace. The technique used to “make” Clu is exceptional. Clu is essentially a younger version of Kevin Flynn as he was created during one of Kevin’s early forays into The Grid, and programs do not age. Jeff Bridges performed all the scenes using motion capture to gather his expressions and actions, he was then superimposed over another actor and was “de-aged” using similar technology to that used in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and is quite impressive, as without knowing beforehand that the character is mostly digital, Clu looks very real.
He looks so real... and evil
The writers throw around a lot of ambitious phrases about revolutionizing the future of computing, the miracle and the way to save the human race. While this could be used to good effect, it mostly falls flat with the rest of the story. There are already rumors of a sequel, and we seriously hope that if one is made, Disney will take the chance to tell a compelling and entertaining story, instead of just making a flashy movie with a lot of special effects that will wow the audience, but otherwise doesn’t impress. Tron: Legacy has the framework of a good movie with the solid special effects and action sequences, but the lack of story really stops this from being more than just a “wow, look what they can do with a computer” type of film.
Overall Score: 6/10
