Tron: Ares

In anticipation of Tron: Ares, I rewatched the original Tron (it definitely shows its age, but still earns a solid 8/10 from me for the impact it had on the genre) and Tron: Legacy (still my favorite of the three). Naturally, my expectations for Ares were high.

When I heard Jared Leto had been cast as one of the leads, I was disappointed-he's never really delivered for me, with his Joker performance being the low point. Surprisingly, though, he impressed this time. He was convincing, grounded, and even held his own in scenes with Jeff Bridges.

What Tron: Ares ultimately lacks, however, is soul. Unlike the previous films, I couldn't connect or empathize with any of the characters. What's left is a dazzling visual experience-absolutely worth seeing in IMAX 3D-with a pulsing, energetic soundtrack.

But once the credits roll and you step out of the theater, it's completely forgettable.

Greetings User! Tron is a... unique IP, to say the least. When it released in 1982 there was nothing like it. Rotoscoping, green screen, hand drawn backgrounds and CGI mixed in with live action footage? It hadn't been done, not on that level, and it released to... middling reviews. Many praised its visuals and soundtrack whilst others complained that the narrative was flawed; some said it was too complex, others claimed it was too shallow. Whatever the case, the movie has since garnered a pretty significant cult following and is considered a classic in its own right. Then... it happened again. Tron: Legacy. Visually stunning, excellent soundtrack (many consider it to be the GOAT) but again it was found lacking in its script and was met with middling reviews and has since grown exponentially in popularity, many remembering it as on par or even better than the 82' original. Jump forward another fifteen years or so and here we are, with another gorgeous neon bathed movie with an excellent soundtrack that people can't seem to be able to make their minds up on how they feel about the contents of its script. It almost seems a right of passage at this point, but I imagine Tron: Ares like its predecessors will enjoy its fare share of devotees. The movie features a whole bunch of nods to 82' and Legacy, some of these are more welcome than others and I feel like it can sometimes feel a bit caught up in the past but it's clear at least that these people respect the series and that's more than can be said for a lot of blockbuster sequels released by major corporations in recent years. As I said, the visuals and soundtrack are sublime and though I didn't really connect with any of the users and programs in Ares the way I did with Kevin, Sam, Tron, etc. Nobody was egregious enough to stop me enjoying this movie. If you enjoy Tron as a franchise there will be things for you to enjoy here. I'm giving Tron: Ares a strong 6 to a light 7/10.

Hope you enjoyed reading this review, I'm hoping to do a deep dive of reviews for entire franchise (games and shows included) so if you're interested in those, check them out. End of Line.

I don't write reviews often, but I feel like I need to on this one. After seeing the critic reviews for TRON: Ares, I thought it would be a boring (or at least empty) movie. However, I found the storyline interesting, and found myself paying attention for the duration of the film.

As some might remember, TRON: Legacy was met with terrible reviews when it came out back in 2010, and audiences received it poorly as well, making it a box office flop. Now, however, I think most will agree that it's a classic. Unfortunately, I fear the same may happen with TRON: Ares. Just to be clear: I liked it a lot. The soundtrack was good, the visuals were stunning, and the acting was solid. Could it have been "better"? Sure, but a movie of this nature could realistically only peak at about an 8/10, so being a 7/10 is really good. GO SEE IT! It's absolutely worth the ticket price to see it in 3D or IMAX.

Tron: Ares totally drops the ball on continuing the legacy of Tron: Legacy, ignoring what actually made the franchise special in the first place. Instead of diving deeper into the cool ideas about the digital world and humanity, the movie gets stuck in empty nostalgia and dull corporate drama. The story's flat, the characters have no real soul, and there's zero visual innovation. The plot feels shallow, the emotions don't land, and even Jared Leto's performance just adds to the overall blandness.

The only thing that really stands out is the killer soundtrack by Nine Inch Nails, seriously, it's the one part that gives the movie any kind of pulse. But beyond that, it feels like a directionless project, a half-hearted rehash with nothing new to say.

In the end, it's a perfect example of how a classic franchise can lose its way when it relies too much on nostalgia instead of creativity. Rather than taking risks or exploring the big questions left by Tron: Legacy, it seems to be trying to play safe and ends up being a forgettable watch.

I'm a big fan of the Tron franchise and I was skeptical of this film as I'm not a big Jared Leto fan at all and I don't like him as a person so I didn't want to take that into account for the film. I think overall the movie is quite decent for the most part and there's some absolutely astonishing and riveting visuals which just left me honestly shocked at how incredible they truly were in this film. There's some absolutely gorgeous scenes throughout the movie with the amazing visuals. The soundtrack for this movie is absolutely amazing as well and it feels absolutely incredible with the stunning visuals throughout the movie as well and I love how loud the soundtrack is as well! I think Jared Leto gives a decent performance and although I don't like him as a person he's definitely solid in the film and Greta Lee is also pretty good too in this film. Let me get into my negatives now there's some pretty bad writing for the most part and some of it's laughably bad with how bad some of it is especially in some specific scenes which I know weren't meant to be funny but they absolutely were hilarious due to this bad writing. The story is also all over the place and it just feels so incredibly plain and predictable and I hated how predictable this movie truly was and I felt like it was just trying to be too simple with this story. Also the villain in this movie played by Evan Peters is pretty laughably stupid and just not that interesting as well due to the fact he's a complete idiot. I just don't like the direction this film went at all and I feel like they are trying to set up some multiple movies here and maybe I'll be interested to check it out but man it's just disappointing after all these years to get this film compared to the first two Tron movies. This is still a decent film but left me severely underwhelmed and I hope whatever direction they go in is better than this.