Review of 'Tron: Legacy'

A follow-up the sleeper classic Tron movie from 1982 this is highly stylized and re-visualised of the original work but follows on from the original story. Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) is at a bit of a loss in his life disagreeing with decisions made by the board of the company he now heads. The company was founded by his father Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges reprising his role from the original Tron) who has been missing for quite some time. After receiving an unusual message Sam visits the long abandoned Flynn's Arcade only to be digitally transferred into the world his father created – The world of Tron. It is here he discovers not all is as it seems and with his guide Quorra (Olivia Wilde) he seeks to make sence of it all and somehow return to his reality. It comes as no suprise that Flynn Sr has been trapped in the reality of his own creation fighting against an avatar he created to make this world “ideal”. And so the foe is identified…How/will they escape this damanged Eden?

The original Tron was one of the first movies to make use of digital/computer effects so it is no surprise that this later movie utilises the latest these techniques have to offer to bring a truly spectactular vision to the screen. The soundtrack from Daft Punk adds to the modern, menacing world we see.

In addition to Jeff Bridges it was good to see Bruce Boxleitner also returning to this sequel as Adam and Tron. It does help to make this feel like a continuation rather than re-telling of the original story. This new story is a very good follow-up to the original and does bring something unique to the franchise with levels of complexity added to what was, admitedly, a fairly shallow effort the first time out (basically an excuse to put some neat-o effects on the screen). I am not sure I completely bought the angst supposedly experienced by Sam – I more felt that he was a bit of a spoiled child who liked to play with adult toys (such as his motorcycle) – Did not have a lot of sympathy with that.

I was surprised to find my companion enjoyed this movie despite not being completely familiar with the original. I did feel that this is a bit of a “fan boy” film with much of the initial audiences certainly populated with fans of the original – But her reaction shows me that this film may yet have an audience elsewhere as well.

I can't give this movie top marks as the acting was a bit wooden (on all counts) and there is a lot of pontificating on topics that appear to have little relevance to the story. Of course, there is also the fact that I could not really feel sympathy for anyone here except, perhaps, Kevin Flynn…

Rating: “Really good but I have some issues”

Review Date: 2011-01-07

Directed by: Joseph Kosinski

Studio: Walt Disney Pictures

Year: 2010

Length: 125 minutes

Genre: Science Fiction

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1104001/

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