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The matrix of pointlessness is reloaded in this mind-bendingly dull sci-fi film, more a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. It's a threequel to the original movie Tron from the early 80s, a movie that was groundbreaking and courageously innovative for its day in a way that eludes this film and its forerunner Tron Legacy from 2010. 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 mother, in an traditional bit of real-world action. That's a bit of firm parenting you might want to administering to all the producers involved in this film, and it's unfortunate to see the respected Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so lifeless.

Story Summary of Tron: Ares

The situation currently is that an evil AI corporation with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger Corp has become a rival to the VR company Encom, first established in the 1980s gaming period by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (initially founded by Encom executive Ed Dillinger's role, acted by David Warner) is led by the founder’s odiously nerdish grandson's character Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to develop and produce lucrative items such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the VR world and then transfer them into actual reality using a kind of 3D printer.

The problem is that however fearsome, these things crumble into dust after 29 minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence code” which can maintain these entities permanently, and even keeps it on her person on a extremely basic USB drive. So the dreadful Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares, the superhuman fighter which can exit the virtual realm for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of androids, is beginning to show signs of disobeying what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance plays Ares's stoic deputy Athena's role and unfortunate Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in wise white robes, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Acting and Roles Breakdown

Moreover, Ares – the hero of the film's name – is acted by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, beard and subtly omniscient grin, details that were perhaps created by inputting the words “incredibly irritating” into an artificial intelligence character generator. No one who recalls the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life series will always find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Jared Leto, and I was incidentally quite amused by his expansive (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Leto is consistently, persistently awful here, although his performance isn't aided by a weak storyline which is intended to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Eve Kim's role and subcontract all the villainous actions to Athena, thus rendering her marginally more interesting. It is supposed to be charming when Ares 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 VR netherworld which whizz about the place in long straight lines, adhering to the rectilinear design of antique arcade games (or even nightclubs); a single bike even shoots out a death ray which cuts a police vehicle in half. But there is zero tension or jeopardy or emotional engagement throughout. This series now looks about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.