Myviewing's Movie Review of TRON: Legacy

TRON: Legacy review
Myviewing - wrote on 12/19/10

As human beings fascinated by film, chances are we are all indoctrinated by Disney at one point in our lives. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of how. Some of us may have grown up on the cla ssic films, became fascinated with newer ones, some however have dabbled in the more obscure parts of Disney. One of those frontiers is the milestone in computer generation filming that is TRON. Released in 1982, TRON is isn't really a work of Sci-fi widely known for its story but being one of the first films of its kind to use computer generated imaging. It in fact inspired John Lasseter of Pixar fame to see the potential within this subject. Whether or not the story was anything deep or too ahead of its time or anything of the sort is quite up for debate, I have my own theories but that's another day. While it may not have achieved the same level of notoriety as other Sci-fi franchises, it did garner enough to inspire its own dedicated fanbase be it for its distinct art st yle andintriguing premise and allow for fan premises such as games and books and some demand for a sequel as well.

Moving forward 28 years, it's happened. Whether or not TRON really did deserve a sequel or need one is something anyone could argue for days on end, but what isn'tdebatable is the number of possiblities open for what the new standard of 3D brings and the huge advancements made in CGI over the past three decades. Now it's all a question of just how much is the film worth seeing?

In an attempt to remain spoiler free of either film, Tron: Legacy takes place 27 years after the original in which Sam Flynn, the son of Kevin Flynn of the original, is haunted for many years about thedisappearance of his father. One day, Alan Bradley pays Sam a visit saying that he had been paged a message from Kevin that he was still alive and needed help. In order to do so, Sam visits the old arcade that his father ran and finds everything that is needed in order to bring him into The Grid, the very cyber world itself. That's what I have for the story and I don't really want to spoil too much of it.

Visually, I really don't think I can do any justice to what the film looks like. It's been 28 years and the budget is more than 10 times bigger than the original, the sky is the limit. The light cycles you may have loved are back and now are now longer restricted to 90 degree angles. Not only this, but entirely new vehicles have been introduced and make for some really neat action sequences from start to finish. Also the 3D is a pretty nice tough, it adds to the video-game feel behind the Grid universe. If you're curious, the 3D is only used in between the start and finish which takes place in the Grid so the 3D isn't used too much to the point of it being a gimmicky feel. Overall I'd say it's a professional use of 3D probaly on the same level as last year's Avatar.

The acting in the 1982 original was exceptional, Legacy in comparison is actually not too bad.A numberof actors from the original reprise their roles in this new film. Jeff Bridges has aged considerably well, though I personally don't think he really qualifies too much for his other role. Garrett Hedlund has come quite a way from Troy and isn't too bad of a new actor, though I'd say Olivia Wilde is probably the one to provide a consistantly good performance when it's none of the older actors.

Finally onto the overall story. As said before, the original isn't exactly known for being a giant leap forward in terms of storytelling, and to a certain degree neither is this sequel. That's not to say however that it's a poorly told story that doesn't have any depth, if anything it's moreso a gathering of interesting but half-baked ideas. Anyone who's a die hard fan of the original will also spot a healthy amount of fan service pretty much around every corner. There is still the fascinating God-Human relationship of Users and programs persistant, but also a new element that with enough thought couldbring up some new questions of the Grid and possibly some new story elements as well. It's also because of this problem with the story that throughout a great deal of the film, the story ends up getting lost in its action and glitz but not to the point of losing its focus entirely. Probably the only other problem I really have with the film is that the ending is unfortunately rather anti-climatic and unresolved in some areas. I don't know if it's supposed to be this way or if nobody bothered trying to iron out the ending, but this is an unfortunate part to what has been a sty lish adrenaline pumpingadventure.

At the end of the day, would I recommend Tron: Legacy to anyone? Despite its problems, I actually would. If you're a fan of the original, the only quesion is really, why did you bother with this review? If you ever wanted a sequel, you got it now go see it. If not, then you know what to do... and I hope it doesn't involve IMDB. For everyone else, I would also recommend checking out the original if only to have a base idea of what the Tron universe is like but if you're only looking for a film with interesting new ideas or just an old fashioned exercise in effects and action, Tron: Legacy doesn't alienate new fans with a need to view the original. As I have stated, there are some interesting new ideas for science fiction within this film, but many of them are half-baked (Who knows, maybe other films later on in years will try and traverse these questions?). Thus if you go in expecting a story as concise and crisp as say this year's Inception, you'll have to endure a bit of dissapointment. At the end of the day though, that's actually part of why I'd recommend it. New ideas for future films, and just a plain old fun effects film that will make many a Tron fan gitty. As for the future, we'll see if anything else is in store for the Tron universe in later years, hopefully having something good for a franchise with the potential to grow bigger than ever thought possible.