Tron Legacy - 8/10
(potential small spoilers!)
I’ll
start by saying that I haven’t seen the original 1982 film Tron, so I wasn’t
going into this with any nostalgia or protective feelings. I know that a lot of
fans of the original were left cold by this new one. I can’t comment on whether
the original was better, but I thought this one was very enjoyable.
The
first and most overwhelming thing that needs mentioning about Tron is the
music. Holy crap, the soundtrack for this film is awesome! In fact, the music
alone pushes it up a whole star rating for me. And I don’t normally pay
attention to movie music. When other people are raving about how amazing the
score for a particular film was, I’m the one who can’t even remember it. Unless
it’s actually a musical, I tend to think of film music as something that adds
atmosphere but remains largely in the background.
But
all the way through this film I couldn’t stop noticing how amazing the music
was. Combined with the visuals, the experience was intense. Those visuals were
stunning, really creating a sense of a unique, computerised world evolving on
its own terms. I loved how important light was; it seemed to power the whole
world while also providing beautiful shots and a constant ethereal glow that
matched the mood of the world so well. The design of the sets and costumes, the
beautiful architecture of the world, and the general feel of it all was amazing.
The synthesised music felt 80s and modern at the same time, and very computery,
with heart-pumping beats that suited the electric, cyber-punk atmosphere
perfectly. At the same time, there was a mysterious, haunting and almost
religious quality to both music and visuals, connecting to the idea of the users
as ‘gods.’ Bizarrely, the music and visuals reminded me so much of the Mass
Effect series, I have to wonder if someone in the process was influenced by the
games? Or perhaps the games were influenced by the original Tron, if that had a
similar look and sound? Either way, it just added a whole new level of awesome
to the movie for me.
Unfortunately,
the story didn’t come anywhere close to matching the style of the film. It was
pretty bog standard for an actiony-sci-fi. Hero falls into strange new world,
has to find a way out while escaping the evil bad guy who’s trying to stop him.
Evil bad guy is also trying to take over the world, and to exterminate a whole
new race for good measure. There’s the obligatory love interest, the search for
a missing father, growing up and accepting responsibility, etc. It felt a
little lazy to be honest. Not bad, by any means, but it could have been better.
Having
said that, however, there were some nice touches. There are some amazing action
sequences and fight scenes, particularly in the games at the beginning of the
film. The acting was good. The aforementioned obligatory love interest was really
likeable, and the romance was kept to an absolute minimum. I’m not saying
romance is bad, but it can all too often be the ruin of an otherwise-good
action movie that it has no real place in. The bad guy was also surprisingly
sympathetic. There were some ironic moments of real humanity in him when he
revealed his feelings of betrayal, and Jeff Bridges acted both roles so
brilliantly. CLU is not just Flynn’s flawed creation, he is Flynn, and embodies all of his mistakes and naivety. Flynn knows
this, but there is nothing he can do to help him. CLU sees Flynn as a father
figure, a friend and a creator who turned on him for doing the very thing he
was created to do. This is a more complex villain than most action or sci-fi
movies attempt to create. There are also some interesting religious overtones
that work all the better for not being forced down the viewer’s throat.
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