Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Movie Review: Tron Legacy

My break has been busier than expected, hence the lack of music reviews. I will instead give a review of "Tron: Legacy", which I saw in theaters yesterday.

WARNING: SEVERAL SPOILERS AHEAD

"Tron: Legacy" begins in 1989, a few years after the events of the original "Tron". Kevin Flynn has become CEO of ENCOM and has a young son named Sam, whom he tells tales about his experiences on the grid. Suddenly, Flynn vanishes one day, leaving Sam alone. Fast-forward about twenty years to Sam (played by Garret Hedlund) who is the typical rebellious, slightly embittered son who is not willing to take over his father's empire and only plays pranks on ENCOM and tries to avoid the law. One night, Sam is told that a message was sent from Flynn's abandoned office, so he goes to the old arcade to investigate. While there, Sam is digitized like Flynn was years ago and ends up in pretty much the same situation: a program has gone rogue and is controlling the system strictly, and Sam can only stop it if he can get home through the portal before it closes. He meets up with his father, who has been sought after by the villain C.L.U., and Quorra (played by Olivia Wilde), a unique program who dreams of being human, and together the three make a hazardous journey to the portal.

I do not remember much of the original "Tron" except that the graphics were cool, despite being done in the early 80's. However, from what I do remember of it, it was completely different from this new version. While the special effects are cool, they look a little too realistic, not like the old graphics which reminded the audience that Flynn was in a different world. An entire city has been built to house the programs, most of which are idle and do not do anything beyond being entertained in some fashion or other; this makes for a completely different setup from the original, but it also means that there is great inconsistency between the two in terms of world-building.

The plot itself is rather skewed and full of holes. Sam arrives in the grid but ends up in a digitized version of his dad's arcade, so why does he have to travel all the way beyond the grid to get to the portal if that is his only way home? Flynn has been in the computer world for years (he states elsewhere in the film that minutes in our world mean hours in the digital world), so why did he age like a normal human being if the time is messed up? C.L.U is trying to dominate the world, but how does he have the inside influence to be able to get word to Sam? The plot itself is rather strange with a large rabbit trail of Sam trying to get help from Zuse (played by Michael Sheen), which ends in disaster when the program betrays him and results in a large club fight and then Sam, a wounded Quorra, and Flynn barely escaping to make their way towards the portal; it seemed like a rather useless situation, only put in there for the sake of being a cool fight scene. The side plot of Quorra's true identity was also weird, as was her desire to be human and experience things like sunrises. There was also a great amount of predictability to the plot, such as Tron's fate (he was supposedly killed by C.L.U years ago though Flynn never saw it happen), Flynn's death, and Sam deciding to become the CEO of ENCOM at last.

The characters were nothing special. Sam was the typical stereotyped son who got jilted by his father and so doesn't want to do his job but later changes his mind; he had a smart-alack personality, but it was nothing memorable. Flynn was odd in that he suddenly became Buddhist or Zen while inside the grid, and so now he sits around in silence "listening to sound". Quorra was not special either, and it was predictable that she and Sam would get together more or less at the end. C.L.U. was not a memorable villain, and his goal of taking over the human world was rather weird and did not make much sense.

The special effects were cool, but to me they were a little too modern and too realistic-looking. When I remember the original "Tron", I recall the graphics being pretty cool despite being done in the early 80's, but they helped to establish the strangeness of the world and reminded the audience it was different. Here, the special effects are a little too real and a little too sleek-looking; after all, Flynn was trapped in 1989, so why did the rest of the world look like the digital world would? Still, the graphics were neat.

A redeeming point in the movie is the soundtrack, done by French electronic band Daft Punk. The soundtrack is excellent, at times sounding like Vangelis, Hans Zimmer, or John Powell and then at other times turning into catchy techno music. It was truly well-done, and I have been enjoying listening to it on rhapsody.

In conclusion, "Tron Legacy" was only an ok movie. The plot was filled with holes and did not make much sense, though the effects were cool and the soundtrack amazing.

I give it 2 and 1/2 stars out of five.

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