Film review: TRON: Legacy (2010), directed by Joseph Kosinski
So, TRON (1982) was groundbreaking for its special effects. Come 2010 and the franchise reboot, and there’s nothing groundbreaking at all.
Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) has gone missing, leaving the company in the hands of Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) and Flynn’s son Sam (Garrett Hedlund), who, through some clues and what have you, eventually manages to get sucked into the virtual world just like his father once did.
In the computer world, he encounters Clu (Bridges), who Flynn put there to make a utopia, but instead Clu has become a dictator and Flynn is in hiding with the mysterious Quorra (Olivia Wilde) and everything is dark and oppressive and full of green screen action.
Michael Sheen also makes a guest appearance as Castor a.k.a. Zuse.
How unimpressed have I sounded so far? Very? Yup, that’s about right. Sure, I managed to understand the film better, having seen TRON just before this, but everything that was great about TRON isn’t not a part of this film. Yes, of course, the special effects nowadays beats the 1982 film hands down, but back then, the graphics were amazing and hadn’t been done before. Now, we’re so used to CGI that there’s nothing impressive about what’s happening.
Everything is just a long, dull CGI spectacular without much of a plot. Really. That seems to be the main reason for this film – to showcase what you can do with computers. Sure, the CGI is spectacular, but the film seems to focus on the effects and not the story.
The flashbacks to Sam’s childhood and his dad … well, it’s painfully clear it’s a CGI version of Bridges. When Sam is in the virtual world and encounters Clu, yup, it’s CGI Bridges. Bridges himself, the older model, is like the Dude in cyberspace. Except the Dude doesn’t make me fall asleep.
TRON is actually pretty good, especially because of when it was made. TRON: Legacy is meh. I would’ve liked to see more of Boxleitner. Tron (the character) was golly gee such a surprise. Sam was bland and I fail to even remember what he looked like. His personality was stereotypical as well. Wow, he has a motorcycle and is a bit of a daredevil, that has never been done before, ever.
Saying that, I like Jeff Bridges. Not CGI Bridges, Jeff Bridges. And Bruce Boxleitner. And the occasional nods to the original film. But umm, this film? It’s just a CGI fest without substance. It could have been a lot better, but it isn’t. Not one for the DVD collection. The Flynn Lives extra on the Blu-ray was actually more intriguing.
As for ratings, Mr T says 2.5 to 3, because he liked what they did with it, and he’s a big fan of the original. Me personally, it’s just a 2 out of 5 pugs, because I couldn’t even manage to stay awake for some of it.
