TRON: LEGACY (2010)

To people of a certain age, namely around mine, this film needs little introduction. In 1982, children brought up on arcade machines and Atari consoles were given a film that was for them. An adventure set inside a computer, 'The Grid', it looked like a video game and therefore watching it felt like being in a game. Visual effects that were, at that time, state of the art transported us into a virtual reality world and, even for some of it's faults, film makers are still trying to recreate that sensation with countless video game adaptations. And failing. Now almost 30 years on, we are treated to a sequel - a new generation, but more importantly the old guard (my lot), are given access to The Grid again.



There has been a lot of anticipation for this release, people desperate to see what today's technology can do to the world of Tron, in Imax and 3D. The task of bringing it into the 21st Century was entrusted in an unknown director, Joseph Kosinski and a team of writers without a notable credit, other than TV between them (although Lisberger and MacBird are back from the original and credited as being responsible for 'characters), a bit of a risk I'm sure you'll agree.  The big coup that they manage though is the retention of Jeff Bridges. He plays Kevin Flynn again, but also stars, in digital form, as Clu, Flynn's creation to create the perfect system in The Grid that turns rogue. The digital Bridges looks just as he did 28 years ago and is a remarkable creation by the effects team. However, when Clu is moving around, or more importantly speaking, you can tell that he is CGI and it becomes slightly distracting. He is not as seamless as Gollum or Dobby, but knocks the living daylights out of Jar Jar Binks.

The plot is as you would expect, a bit daft and nonsensical but it gets us into the action and provides a conflict to kick the film along. Flynn's son Sam (played as unintentionally wooden as possible by Garrett Hedlund) stumbles across the Tron machine in the arcade and is thrown into a Grid-wide battle between Flynn and Clu. There is a genocide story in there which is now a standard device for action-adventures that need to be child friendly, it's essentially good vs evil. We know who we are siding with, simple.

What we are then treated to is a mixture of spectacular visual scenes involving bikes, planes, fist fights inter-spliced with contemplative scenes where Jeff Bridges sounds a lot like 'The Dude', good but a) seen it before and b) oddly out of place. It's worth saying that the action does look great, when characters die, they dissolve into small pieces (similar to the coins in Scott Pilgrim, but much more effective and better looking), and the cityscapes and panoramas look fantastic. However, when 'stuff' isn't happening it really is dull. It reminded me of the disappointing philosophy of Matrix 2 and 3, blah, blah, blah......It's not as though I'm a simpleton who needs something to blow up to keep me interested, it's just this particular brand of waffle was just too bland to bear. Kosinski thought it would be acceptable to have these long scenes but have something pretty in the background that might distract us for long enough for them to get away with it. Nope, I need a bit more than a modern looking apartment with stars outside to make me blissfully unaware of what people are saying.

Having said that, it does a good job at being faithful to the tone and pace of the original and it finishes with a real fizz and a bang, so much so that I left the cinema thinking I had been more entertained for a sustained period than I actually had. Sneaky....Plus it has a great cameo performance from Michael Sheen, very Bowie-esque, and a cracking soundtrack from Daft Punk.

If you liked the original Tron there will be enough goodwill in the bank and there is enough here to mean that you will enjoy yourself, but there will be a little part of your brain that can't help but feel disappointed. If you didn't like the original, I wouldn't bother, there's not enough here to convert you to a 'User'.....

Quick note on two things, firstly 3D - this is another example where I didn't think 3D added anything whatsoever. After watching Toy Story 3 in 3D, and forgetting it was in 3D (if this happens what is the point?), here I was once again, getting irritated with the glasses and struggling to see what all the fuss was about. The effects would still have been impressive in 2D. Avatar and Piranha 3D are still the only two to have made it worthwhile. Secondly, I saw it at the HMV Curzon in Wimbledon, lovely little cinema, very reasonably priced and another great alternative to the horrible multiplexes....vote with your feet people.