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The matrix of pointlessness is reloaded in this mind-bendingly dull science fiction movie, more a screensaver than an actual film. It's a threequel to the classic Tron film from the early 80s, a movie that was groundbreaking and courageously innovative for its day in a way that eludes this one and its forerunner Tron: Legacy from the previous decade. The new Tron film almost awakens just one time – when Evan Peters' character gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson's character playing his mum, in an old-fashioned bit of real-world action. This is a bit of firm parenting you might feel like administering to every producer engaged in this film, and it's sad to see the respected Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so lifeless.

Story Summary of The New Tron Film

The situation now is that an evil AI corporation with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger has become a competitor to the VR company Encom Inc, first established in the 80s arcade-game era by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, played by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (originally set up by Encom executive Ed Dillinger's role, acted by David Warner) is led by the founder’s annoyingly geeky grandson Julian (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to design and create lucrative items such as invincible troops and armored vehicles in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into the real world using a kind of three-dimensional printer.

The problem is that however fearsome, these things crumble into dust after 29 minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has discovered the plot-driving “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities permanently, and even keeps it on her person on a very low-tech USB drive. So the dreadful Julian Dillinger sets his attack dog on her: Ares, the superhuman fighter which can leave the VR world for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of robots, is starting to exhibit symptoms of disobeying what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance plays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena and unfortunate Jeff Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in wise white robes, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Character and Performance Analysis

And Ares himself – the protagonist of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and subtly omniscient grin, details that were perhaps designed by inputting the words “extremely annoying” into an AI human creation programme. No one who remembers the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life series will always find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Jared Leto, and I was incidentally quite amused by his expansive (and critically misunderstood) comic turn in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is consistently, unrelentingly terrible in this film, although his performance isn't aided by a weak storyline which is supposed to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena, thus rendering her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be charming when Ares the character says how he adores 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode are better than Mozart.

Series Features and Overall Impact

Consistent with the brand-identity of the series, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which whizz about the environment in long straight lines, conforming to the angular layout of classic video games (or indeed dance clubs); one even emits a lethal beam which cuts a cop car in two. But there is zero tension or danger or human interest throughout. This series currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.