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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. 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 time in a way that escapes this film and its predecessor Tron Legacy from the previous decade. Tron: Ares almost comes to life just once – when Evan Peters gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson playing his mum, in an old-fashioned bit of analogue reality. That's a bit of firm parenting you might want to administering to every producer engaged in this film, and it's unfortunate to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so lifeless.

Story Summary of The New Tron Film

The situation currently is that an evil AI corporation with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger Corp has become a rival 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 (originally set up by Encom executive Ed Dillinger, acted by David Warner) is headed by the founder’s annoyingly geeky grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to develop and produce lucrative items such as invincible troops and armored vehicles in the VR world and then export them into actual reality using a kind of three-dimensional printer.

The problem is that no matter how intimidating, these creations crumble into dust after 29 minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has uncovered the plot-driving “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic USB drive. So the dreadful Julian sets his attack dog on her: Ares, the superhuman fighter which can leave the VR world for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of androids, is starting to exhibit symptoms of disobeying what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith portrays Ares's stoic deputy 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 Breakdown

And Ares himself – the protagonist of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, facial hair and faintly all-knowing smile, touches that were perhaps designed by typing the words “extremely annoying” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who recalls the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life series will ever find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Jared Leto, and I was incidentally quite amused by his expansive (and widely misinterpreted) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Leto is unremittingly, persistently awful here, although his performance isn't aided by a weak storyline which is supposed to allow him to show flashes of “compassion” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the villainous actions to Athena, thus rendering her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be adorable when Ares the character says how he loves 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode band are better than Mozart.

Series Features and Final Impression

Consistent with the franchise identity of the series, there are motorcycles from the virtual underworld which speed around the environment in linear paths, adhering to the rectilinear design of classic video games (or even dance clubs); a single bike even shoots out a death ray which slices a cop car in half. But there is no drama or danger or emotional engagement throughout. This franchise now looks as relevant as an automobile CD system.