First things first - you'll note at the beginning of the film that some of it is in 2D and some of it is 3D. We're not sure why this happened, but we're guessing that it partly had to do with Jeff Bridges animated alter-ego, Clu as well as a strategy change after Avatar's box office results last year. The film would have been better had it been filmed entirely in 3D - perhaps they'll have a chance to change that later.
The story is not a revisioning - but an actual sequel - 28 years in the making. In that time the vast majority of the personal computer, internet and mobile technology revolutions happened - so comparisons to the original film are hard to make given our hindsight. The plot seemed terribly thin throughout the movie and the actors had a hard time making the most of it. We never quite understood the references to the first Tron because quite frankly we forgot most of it and the effort to faithfully connect the two films may have been a wasted effort for most of us.
The special effects however were quite extraordinary. Not since Blade Runner have we run across a film that looked this interesting - if only it had sounded half as interesting it would have been an instant classic.
Jeff Bridges gets animated in Tron Legacy - Too bad
his acting was less animated
his acting was less animated
We like Jeff Bridges, a lot. But we were a bit confused about his performance in Tron Legacy. At times he seemed as though he were phoning it in while practicing his new John Wayne trumping western character for the soon to be release True Grit. The fact that he was playing two characters, one a computer animated version of his younger self, points to a future in Hollywood where no actor will ever grow old again and some actors may come back from beyond. That's both cool and creepy at the same time. In this film the animation was close, but still not 100% lifelike - we watched Against All Odds (from 1984) last night to make comparisons and the virtual Jeff didn't quite match the real one.
The rest of the cast was adequate, but just. It was great to see Bruce Boxleitner again - in anything - but Flynn's son was kind of boring and the cyber babes while undeniably hot were somewhat two dimensional even when they were 3D. Michael Sheen made an odd and flashy appearance which seemed reminiscent of a mix between the Matrix and David Bowie - his attempt at breathing life into the plot was ultimately unsuccessful.
We still enjoyed the movie for the sheer visual, visceral experience of it - the characters were an afterthought - the story relatively unimportant. Those who make movies ought to have some vision... (the folks who made the original Tron did to some extent but that didn't carry over this time).
We vote that the screenwriters for this Tron be "DeRezzed"
Copyright 2010, Raving Reviews
