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The matrix of futility is revisited in this tediously complex sci-fi movie, closer to a screensaver than an actual film. It's a threequel to the classic Tron film from 1982, a film that was mould-breaking and courageously innovative for its time in a way that escapes this one and its forerunner Tron Legacy from 2010. Tron: Ares nearly awakens just once – when Evan Peters' character gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson's character playing his mum, in an traditional bit of analogue reality. That's a piece of tough love you might want to handing out to all the producers engaged in this film, and it's unfortunate to see the respected Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so uninspired.

Plot Overview of Tron: Ares

The scenario now is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger has become a rival to the virtual reality firm Encom, first established in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (initially founded by Encom executive Ed Dillinger's role, played by David Warner) is led by the founder’s annoyingly geeky grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to design and create lucrative items such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the VR world and then export them into the real world using a kind of three-dimensional printer.

The issue is that no matter how intimidating, these things disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has discovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence code” which can keep these things alive for ever, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic flashdrive. So the ghastly Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares, the humanoid uber-warrior which can leave the VR world for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of androids, is starting to exhibit symptoms of not doing what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance portrays Ares's stoic deputy Athena and unfortunate Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Acting and Roles Analysis

Moreover, Ares – the protagonist of the title – is acted by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, facial hair and faintly all-knowing smile, touches that were possibly created by typing the words “extremely annoying” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who recalls the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life series will always find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Mr Leto, and I was incidentally quite amused by his broad (and critically misunderstood) comic turn in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is unremittingly, persistently awful here, although his performance isn't aided by a weak storyline which is intended to allow him to show flashes of “compassion” for Eve Kim's role and delegate all the villainous actions to Athena, thus making her marginally more interesting. It is meant to be charming when Ares says how he adores 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode band are better than Mozart.

Franchise Elements and Overall Impact

And in keeping with the franchise identity of the franchise, there are motorbikes from the VR netherworld which speed around the place in long straight lines, adhering to the angular layout of antique arcade games (or even nightclubs); one even shoots out a death ray which cuts a police vehicle in two. But there is zero tension or danger or human interest throughout. This series now looks as relevant as an in-car CD player.