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The framework of pointlessness is revisited in this tediously complex sci-fi film, more a screensaver than an actual film. This is a threequel to the original movie Tron from the early 80s, a movie that was mould-breaking and courageously innovative for its time in a way that escapes this one and its forerunner Tron Legacy from 2010. Tron: Ares nearly comes to life just once – when Evan Peters' character gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson playing his mother, in an traditional bit of real-world action. That's a piece of tough love you might feel like handing out to all the producers engaged in this film, and it's unfortunate to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so uninspired.

Story Summary of The New Tron Film

The situation now is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the unsubtly gangster-ish 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, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (originally set up by Encom executive Ed Dillinger's role, played by David Warner) is headed by the founder’s odiously nerdish grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to design and create lucrative items such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then export them into actual reality using a sort of three-dimensional printer.

The problem is that however fearsome, these things disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has discovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can keep these things alive for ever, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic flashdrive. So the ghastly Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares the warrior, the superhuman fighter which can exit the virtual realm for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of robots, is starting to exhibit symptoms of not doing what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith portrays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena's role and unfortunate Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in wise white robes, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Breakdown

And Ares himself – the hero of the film's name – is acted by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, facial hair and subtly omniscient grin, details that were possibly created by typing the words “incredibly irritating” into an artificial intelligence character generator. No one who remembers the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life will always find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Jared Leto, and I was also very entertained by his broad (and critically misunderstood) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is consistently, persistently awful in this film, although his performance isn't aided by a weak storyline which is intended to allow him to display glimpses of “compassion” for Eve Kim's role and subcontract all the badass wickedness to Athena, thus making her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be adorable when Ares says how he loves 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode are superior to Mozart.

Series Features and Overall Impact

And in keeping with the franchise identity of the series, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which whizz about the place in linear paths, conforming to the angular layout of classic video games (or indeed nightclubs); one even emits a death ray which slices a police vehicle in half. But there is no drama or jeopardy or emotional engagement throughout. This series currently appears as relevant as an in-car CD player.