jswraven

A lot of reviewers are giving Tron: Legacy 10 start "despite its flaws."

Great visuals? Yes. Appropriate music? Sure.

But, the story is a bit forced and the dialog is downright BORING. Perhaps Disney could have shaved $5 million off the marketing budget and spent it on writers instead. This is a momentous movie--give us some momentous dialog.

Instead, we get Jeff Bridges (Kevin Flynn) acting The Dude. That was fine in "The Big Lebowski" and even "The Men Who Stare at Goats"--yet, it feels out of place here.

Garrett Hedlund (Sam Flynn) plays every rebellious young man from every recent movie (think Chris Pine as Kirk in "Star Trek" and Shia LeBeouf as Mutt in the last "Indiana Jones"). Angry, bored, talented. Yawn.

Cillian Murphy plays Edward Dilinger (son of original "Tron" nemesis Ed Dillinger). He gets a few lines, then that plot thread vanishes. Why is he even in the movie?

Yes, the movie was entertaining. Go see it in the theater, have some popcorn, be entertained. But 10 stars? Hardly. You won't remember more than two lines from the movie by the time you recycle your 3D glasses.

Caught a preview event last night.

First, let me say the production values of this movie are top notch. The casting, cinematography, sound, and editing were all very professional. The acting was top notch. This is not a fly-by-night operation.

Now, on to the story. It's based on a true story of a boy fighting cancer and his effect on the lives of the people around him. Most of the characters in the film are Christians (Protestant/evangelical, though non-denominational). An awkwardness in Christian movies--one that this film cannot overcome--is the need to highlight prayer as an action. At one point, a church pastor says offers to pray for another, non-church going character. The pastor then proceeds to place his hands on the man and pray out loud for him. Even as a Christian in a theater full of Christians, I was uncomfortable.

At one point in the movie, the mother of the boy with cancer yells, "Stop quoting Bible verses to me!" Yes! This is how many people feel around Christians. The writers had a gem here that they could have explored with a skeptical audience. However, it was too little, too late in the movie. People uncomfortable with Jesus and prayer as themes will have already left the movie.

I think the movie is not supposed to be so much "seeker friendly" as it is supposed to be a resource for people who are in some way affected by cancer (have cancer, know someone who has cancer, etc). That's okay, but it seems the great amount of talent, effort, and money used will ultimately result in a movie that sits on the library shelves of churches across the country.

Bottom line: "Letters to God" is a good movie that I can't recommend to my non-Christian friends.

I was not familiar with the "graphic novel" that League is based upon, but I did find the concept rather intriguing. Victorian Era literary characters thrown together in an adventurous industrial dawn. Nice.

The movie gives a fine introduction to the concept. I was interested for the first fifteen minutes or so. I like adventure--and we haven't seen Alan Quartermain since Richard Chamberlain's closet 80's.

But, a great idea with a decent story-premise cannot be held together entirely by Sean Connery's name and Peta Wilson's looks. The effects are obviously digital, and not often well done--digital fire that looks like digital fire is unimpressive. The plot takes an expected and pointless turn, then wanders off into drivel. Even half-way through the movie I figured that I could just watch it for adventure's sake and not think too hard about what was going on... wrong.

After all the characters make their introductions, we get the cookie-cutter moments of doubt and self-demons (onboard The Nautilus), before we again wander into drivel. While I do not expect "character development" in an action/adventure/fantasy movie, I would expect some consistency--I'm thinking specifically of "Mr. Hyde."

For a let-down summer movie, I would normally recommend a "wait for the video/DVD." However, I think the shortcomings of the digital effects will be more apparent on home entertainment centers.

Disappointing. I cannot give it higher than a 5.