Tron: Legacy
Tron: Legacy, the sequel to the original Tron movie released in 1982 lives up to its predecessor in all its glaring neon glory. With stunning visuals (especially in3D) which pay respectful homage to the original and a rocking, rave-like soundtrack (courtesy of 90’s house band Daft Punk) the film transports you back to the “grid”, a computer platform of stark, geometrical simplicity where users and programs pit themselves against each other in a series of “games” designed to wipe each other out.
The original Tron was groundbreaking in almost every aspect of its production and while there may not be much groundbreaking occurring in Tron: Legacy, you will be dazzled by its sheer brilliance of bright neon lights and almost impenetrable scale. The film really is Disney’s flagship for its future in 3D.
The story itself is fairly basic. Sam enters the Grid which has been taken over by CLU who has imprisoned his father Kevin and is building an army to rule the world. Sam must convince his father to return home and save both worlds. There’s some nice exposition that helps to build the events of the missing years that fits in well to the overall story, but the premise is a tried and true formula that we have seen plenty of times before. Yet you don’t seem to notice how simple it is behind all the eye popping visuals and mind altering sound track! It would have been nice to see the writers scratch the surface a little more with the characters and their motivation, but in all honesty, if you are a fan of the original, you are going to be happy with a basic storyline.
And the point is that it’s the visuals that you’re going for, not the story. Like Avatar, Legacy is all about enjoying the feast for your eyes rather than the food for your brain, and where Tron gave us light-cycles that left a blaze of light in their wake like a highlighter was spewing ink behind them, Legacy offers you the same thing – only better! Instead of “straight” lines, the light cycles give off a beam of colour that has a fluidity and life to it that you can only imagine the original creators would have wished for.
Every colour represented is a bright neon or stark white and stands out against the black, lifeless backdrop of the city which has grown into a sprawling metropolis. The assumption the viewer needs to make is that as with any computer platform that evolves to become bigger and better than the one before, so too has the Grid and where once a landscape of squares and geometrical shapes existed, now a sunning vista exists.
What is impressive is the addition of new vehicles and new concepts on how they work. The Light Cycles that were a staple of the original return with renewed conceptual design which sees the bike and user become one with each other. Not to give much away, but the idea behind how the user “enters” the vehicles is quite a unique idea.
Daft Punk electrify our ears with a retro/futuristic beat of synthesiser music as a soundtrack. It is said that the duo share a similar obsession about the original Tron movie and that the soundtrack to the film has inspired them. Who else better then, to make a pure electro soundtrack the heartbeat of this film? It’s even fitting that they have a decent cameo appearance.
Performances in the film are ok, nothing Award-worthy, but Brit actor Michael Sheen is the stand out as Zuse, a futuristic version of David Bowie (on crack). Worthy of applause though is director Joseph Kosinski who helmed a massive film of enormous proportions – and has never directed a film feature film. Disney trusted him with $200 million of their money to build and create the new world of Tron and help launch them into the 3D stratosphere.
As said earlier, Tron” Legacy is a feast for your eyes, not for your mind. Don’t go in expecting much, but you might leave looking forward to the future.
Good for kids over 7
No swearing
No extreme Violence (no blood but plenty of programs being "derezzed")
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