Tron: Legacy almost operates as a litmus test for how much we will tolerate in our tent-pole filmmaking. Just how much bad dialogue, poor acting, inexplicable plotting, and emotionally-vapid characterizations will we accept as long as we've been convinced that the film is "cool"? How little actual content will we demand in exchange for $300 million light shows disguised as motion pictures? We casually accept seemingly intentional mediocrity in our franchise films, from The Flintstones to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, holding our nose but making these films into smash hits. I am reminded of Patrick Stewart's monologue towards the end of Star Trek: First Contact. "The line must be drawn here. This far, and no further." If we as moviegoers accept this artless, soulless confection as a suitable example of big-budget filmmaking, then we deserve everything we get in the following years. The apparent absence of any attempt at quality renders even the (only occasionally) pretty pictures impotent and dull. And make no mistake; Tron: Legacy is a stunningly dull would-be movie.
A token amount of plot: Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) is the only son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), a revolutionary computer programmer who disappeared over 20 years ago after claiming to be on the cusp of a world-changing discovery. The younger Flynn spends his time living more or less off the grid and occasionally sabotaging his father's former company, which has been turned into a mega-corporation in his father's absence. After inexplicably receiving a message from his father's long-abandoned office, Sam uncovers a portal to an alternate universe that his father created, a virtual reality where programs compete in gladiator games to the death, and the secrets of Kevin Flynn's legacy are waiting to be unearthed.
On the plus side, one does not have to have seen the original 1982 Tron to view this sequel. There are a few token nods to the original film (including a guest star in a quick cameo as the son of David Warner's original villain), but the picture stands on its own with helpful dollops of exposition to initiate the uninformed. Alas, that is one of the few bright spots to be found. The plotting is shallow and occasionally incoherent, with blatant thefts of everything from Star Wars to Batman Begins. The plot, such as it were, involves a malicious program (Clu, also played by a digitally de-aged Jeff Bridges) that yearns to escape into the real world after conquering "the grid." But the dialogue is so clunky and the acting is so inexplicably broad that we realize that very little storytelling has occurred between the opening set-up and the action climax.
Even Jeff Bridges is weirdly off of his game. Clu hems and haws like a 1980s Legion of Doom reject, and the CGI makes Bridges look like a character in one of Robert Zemeckis's motion-capture cartoons. He even comes with an emotionally-needy sidekick in the form of James Frain's Jarvis, who serves mainly to explain the machinations without actually offering any information. Bridges-as-Flynn can't seem to decide how seriously to take all of this, often doing a slight nod to "The Dude." A big problem comes in the form of Hedlund. Not only is his obnoxious, pointlessly cocky hero genuinely uncharismatic, but Hedlund delivers the kind of bad performance that feels edited around, as if director Joseph Kosinski knew that his central bit of casting was a botch (his line readings and his facial expressions both merit unintentional chuckles). Olivia Wilde plays a companion of sorts to Kevin Flynn. While she exists mainly as doe-eyed boy bait (mission accomplished) and a love interest for Sam, her character gets a few humorous moments as she discusses her desire to see the outside world. Michael Sheen briefly shows up with a campy and obnoxious riff on Merovingian from The Matrix Reloaded.
But, say you, one doesn't pay to see Tron: Legacy to be concerned about horrible acting, sloppy plotting, and inexplicably lousy dialogue. One goes for the visual fireworks and high-tech action, right? Well here's the kicker: Tron: Legacy is an ugly looking film with very little action. While the trailers highlight moments of neon-lit fantasy worlds and eye-popping designs, the majority of the film exists in a cloudy, muddy haze. The colors on the various uniforms stand out as a contrast to the murky grays, blues, and blacks that make up the video game world. Heck, even my wife remarked that it resembled a black-and-white film, and not in a good way. Much of the last two acts seem like they were shot inside John Carpenter's The Fog. As for the 3D, it is frankly only a little more impressive than any given post-conversion film released over the last year. Sure, the 3D is noticeable, but there is so little action that it barely serves any purpose.
Speaking of action and/or adventure, most of what you get has already been revealed in the previews. There are two notable action sequences around the 30-minute mark, including an admittedly dazzling motorbike chase that nonetheless feels stolen from Spy Kids 3D: Game Over. After that, the film slows to a crawl with nearly an hour of useless exposition and anticipation of action that rarely if ever arrives. There is a brief skirmish that closes out the second act, including one fight scene that, I kid you not, takes place entirely off screen. The big finale is visually impressive, but is at least partially cribbed from the two main space dog-fights from Star Wars. In the 125-minute movie, there are perhaps 15 minutes worth of action sequences taking place in the "Tron universe." The rest of the last two acts consist primarily of watching Jeff Bridges (good version and bad version) argue about how to prevent Jeff Bridges (good and bad version) from succeeding in his respective goal.
Had the film delivered on a visual level, one might excuse the utter lack of anything resembling attempted quality in the more artistic areas. But not only does Tron: Legacy fail as a screenplay, an acting exercise, and a drama, it fails miserably as an exciting piece of science-fiction and as an action-adventure. The video game visuals wear out their welcome after the first half-hour, as little of interest actually occurs in this world, and most of the scenes lack beauty or even color. The plot is of no interest, as nothing that happens inside the computer world is of any consequence to the outside world (the overriding story is basically "escape from the Grid"). With little action, a genuinely unpleasant visual palette, and nothing else to hold our attention, Tron: Legacy is one of the duller blockbusters in recent memory.
What's disturbing about this picture is its shortcomings are so apparent that it appears to be wearing its flaws like a badge of honor. Like certain politicians and pundits who take pride in their ignorance, as if its a sign that they are "just like regular folks," Tron: Legacy basically dares us to accept a film with almost nothing of value, because we've been told that it's the next big thing. Its sheer laziness on every level feels like a cynical experiment, a way to test if audiences will bite at anything that has enough special effects and marketing dollars thrown at it. Most bad movies make me a little sad. Tron: Legacy made me angry. It is one thing to try and fail, but those behind this would-be franchise starter seem almost proud that they failed to even try.
Grade: D-
Follow Scott Mendelson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ScottMendelson
This is the most accurate Tron Legacy review I've seen so far. I fully expected the plot to be lame and the acting to suck, but I loved the original movie and I figured there'd be some decent action scenes on the IMAX 3D screen. Wow, was I wrong. Like this review said, there was probably 15 total minutes of action and soooooo much overacted dialogue.
I almost fell asleep halfway through and wanted to walk out, but I stayed in anticipation of what had to be a really cool climactic battle at the end. Turns out the end was just as boring as the rest of the movie. It's a shame, too, because the disc battle and light cycle scenes at the beginning were amazing, but that was the peak of the movie.
My own qualm (and it's a small one) is that Tron himself (and conversely Bruce Boxleitner) did not get more billing in the movie. I would have liked to see more of Tron's 'badass' skills displayed. He was bested several times in the movie, first by Olivia Wilde's 'doe-eyed' character (but with the great one liner: "made it"), then by Sam and twice by CLU! That shouldn't happen. Tron is the consummate 'security program' and 'king of the games'; he should be nearly impossible to defeat in conventional 'grid' combat.
One would hope that anyone who does reviews for popular publications such as Slate and the Huffington Post would demonstrate some base level of professionalism and common decency in their comments. Mendelson does neither. Indeed it is one thing to try and fail, but this would-be reviewer seems almost proud that he failed to even try.
Bruce Monson
In truth the story was actually quite good and a logical continuation from the original Tron. The graphics were spectacular and made for vivid (and colorful) rendition in 3D. The acting was good as well. I didn't have any moments where I was consciously distracted by the performances, let alone the dialogue which, again, was logical and cohesive to the plot. And to say that the CGI work--which transformed Jeff Bridges back into a younger man--was somehow lacking in quality, or an example of "sheer laziness," or an "utter lack of anything resembling attempted quality in the more artistic areas" is astounding.
To any reasonable person it should be readily apparent that TRON: Legacy is no run-of-the-mill production just thrown together haphazardly with the hopes of suckering the public into theaters. It was a labor of love dedicated to the original cult classic, and in that it easily succeeded.
Overall the film had a Matrix-meets-Bladerunner feel to it. And that's a good thing. Perhaps it's the dark undertones both of those classics displayed; something Mr. Mendelson ("murky," "like John Carpenter's The Fog") apparently cannot appreciate.
Like another commenter, I signed up SPECIFICALLY to respond to the irresponsible and frankly ridiculous review given by Scott Mendelson.
He is so far off the mark I have to wonder if we were watching the same movie! I can only fathom that instead of going to see Tron: Legacy he somehow wandered into a Bizarro World megaplex and sat through Shaquille O'Neal's painful movie debut in KAZAAM!
Either way Mendelson's "D-" (D-MINUS!!!) rating says much more about the reviewer than the movie under review.
I'm not a professional movie reviewer, but I do think I'm intelligent enough to recognize 'good' when I see it. And Tron: Legacy is without doubt a very good movie.
Granted, I didn't leave the theater in a state of euphoric shock as I did after Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) or the original Matrix (1999), and frankly no other movie since then has blown me away on that level, not even the recent mindbender 'Inception'. But neither did I go away shaking my head in disgust, as I did after the recent 3D remake of Clash of the Titans which literally put a downer on my wife and mine's monthly "date day."
Mr. Mendelson doles out an endless barrage of invective: "artless," "soulless confection," "horrible acting," "sloppy plotting," "inexplicably lousy dialogue," "an ugly looking film with very little action," "absence of any attempt at quality," etc., etc., ad nauseam.
Continued in next post...
I beg to differ on the visuals- I certainly do. I thought that the visuals carried the film and really propelled it to the extent that a sucker for good narrative such as myself was drawn in. Yes, the visuals are minimalist but this is a subjective question for a viewer. They are executed with utmost finesse and elegant in the stark tones of the grid. I found the visuals to be revolutionary at many levels and find it extremely disappointing to see a critique likening them to dog space fights and did I read that correct- SPY KIDS!!!
The visuals coupled with the score by Daft Punk was for me a revelation and one that allowed to look past a weak script very successfully so.
I consider myself to be a discretionary viewer- one that is familiar with Aronofsky and Nolan from the go ,is a David Lynch fan and enjoys quirky offbeat movies to the utmost. I surely like to rub Transformers/Potter/Twilight fans the wrong way (perhaps that earns me any credibility?).
Like many movie buffs, I tend to take critic opinions quite seriously and can think of more than a couple occasions wherein a single review has essentially determined course as to whether I took the time to spend a good two hours in a theatre.
I am with you one hundred percent on a deficient story- one that hadn't evolved satisfactorily over the course of 28 grand years... and I am also with you on the bad acting and diminutively developed characters.
You guys have to be kidding me if the previews and trailers suggested otherwise. One look at the film lead and I understood that this Hedlund guy wasn't going to wow your socks off. Bottom line: this movie is all about the grid and the visuals and daft punk and the grid and the visuals and daft punk..and so on.This is all about the dazzle and flashy pop culture conundrum.That isn't always a problem.....
Pacing was good, it followed and contined the plot of the first one just fine, and the action sequences were plenty entertaining.
As for the visual effects, they were consistent with the tron "techno-minimalist" motif established with the first movie, spruced up a bit with the update. You're free to dislike it--everyone has their own taste--but if you didn't like it to begin with why watch the movie at all? Its like saying you hate desert movies and then going to watch Lawrence of Arabia.
Sci-fi fans and people who enjoyed Tron will enjoy this movie.
My friendly challenge is to PLEASE (and I don't mean this sarcastically) post a message again, after you have seen the film and if you still believe the review was "off" then say so, and if you believe you were "off" or partly "off" in your pre-defense of the film but would now like to criticize it more..............well, THOSE would be interesting posts..............
good review.
It's funny reading/hearing reviews that are based around the general masses as the target audience. Like any other cult followings, this film is aimed at the large fan base of the original and that cult following.
It's a good thing I never listen to critics or I don't think I'd EVER visit the theater!
I've seen the movie, and this review is pretty spot on. Cult followers will find things to like, but it's a bore and the script is terrible.
make sense? and they will try to reap benefits from the loss the movie if it flops by making a double pack with tron and tron legacy.
I've seen the movie, and this review is pretty spot on. Cult followers will find things to like, but it's a bore and the script is terrible.
Nothing having to do with the "quality" of either film...
I will pass. Probably won't even rent it when it comes out in Jan. 2011 on DVD. I AM looking forward to Bridges in True Grit. I adore the man, always have. OMG. I just had a horrid vision, de-aging Dennis Quaid for InnerSpace. HELP!