Tron: Ares Review – Despite Gillian Anderson's Efforts Fails to Save This Incredibly Mind-Bendingly Dull Sci-Fi Movie

The framework of pointlessness is reloaded in this mind-bendingly dull science fiction movie, more a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. This is a third installment to the classic Tron film from 1982, a movie that was mould-breaking and boldly pioneering for its day in a way that escapes this film and its forerunner Tron: Legacy from 2010. Tron: Ares almost awakens just once – when Evan Peters gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson playing his mother, in an old-fashioned bit of analogue reality. This is a piece of tough love you might feel like administering to all the producers engaged in this film, and it's unfortunate to see the respected Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so lifeless.

Story Summary of Tron: Ares

The scenario now is that an evil AI corporation with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger Corp has become a competitor to the VR company Encom Inc, originally set up in the 80s arcade-game era by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, played by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (initially founded by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger, played by David Warner) is led by the founder's annoyingly geeky grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to develop and produce profitable things such as indestructible soldiers and armored vehicles in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into the real world using a kind of three-dimensional printer.

The problem is that however fearsome, these things crumble into dust after 29 minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has discovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence code” which can keep these things alive for ever, and even stores it on her person on a very low-tech USB drive. So the dreadful Julian Dillinger deploys his enforcer 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 androids, is starting to exhibit symptoms of not doing what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance plays Ares's stoic deputy Athena's role and unfortunate Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in wise white robes, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Character and Performance Analysis

Moreover, Ares – the hero of the title – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and subtly omniscient grin, details that were possibly created by inputting the words “extremely annoying” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who remembers the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life series will ever find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Jared Leto, and I was incidentally quite amused by his broad (and critically misunderstood) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is consistently, unrelentingly terrible here, although he isn't helped by a weak storyline which is intended to allow him to show flashes of “empathy” for Greta Lee's character and subcontract all the badass wickedness to Athena's character, thus making her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be adorable when Ares says how he loves 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode band are superior to Mozart.

Franchise Elements and Final Impression

Consistent with the brand-identity of the franchise, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which whizz about the place in long straight lines, conforming to the angular layout of classic video games (or indeed nightclubs); a single bike even shoots out a death ray which slices a cop car in two. But there is no drama or danger or emotional engagement throughout. This franchise currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.