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The framework of pointlessness is reloaded in this tediously complex sci-fi film, closer to a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. This is a third installment to the original movie Tron from the early 80s, a film that was mould-breaking and boldly pioneering for its day in a way that eludes this one and its forerunner Tron Legacy from 2010. Tron: Ares nearly awakens just once – when Evan Peters' character gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson portraying his mum, in an traditional bit of real-world action. This is a piece of tough love you might feel like handing out to all the producers involved in this movie, and it's sad to see the estimable Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so lifeless.

Plot Overview of Tron: Ares

The situation currently is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a competitor to the VR company Encom Inc, first established in the 80s arcade-game era by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn's character, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (initially founded by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger, 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 invincible troops and armored vehicles in the VR world and then transfer them into actual reality using a sort of three-dimensional printer.

The issue is that no matter how intimidating, these creations disintegrate after 29 minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has discovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence code” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic USB drive. So the dreadful Julian Dillinger sets his attack dog on her: Ares, the humanoid uber-warrior 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 disobeying what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith portrays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena and unfortunate Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Acting and Roles Analysis

Moreover, Ares – the hero of the film's name – is acted by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, beard and subtly omniscient grin, touches that were perhaps designed by typing the words “incredibly irritating” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who remembers the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life series will ever find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Mr Leto, and I was incidentally quite amused by his broad (and critically misunderstood) comic turn in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Leto is consistently, unrelentingly awful here, although his performance isn't aided by a limp plot point which is supposed to allow him to display glimpses of “compassion” for Eve Kim's role and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena's character, thus making her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be charming when Ares the character says how he loves 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode band are superior to Mozart.

Franchise Elements and Final Impression

And in keeping with the brand-identity of the series, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which speed around the place in long straight lines, adhering to the rectilinear design of antique arcade games (or even nightclubs); one even emits a death ray which slices a police vehicle in half. But there is zero tension or danger or human interest throughout. This series currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.