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The framework of pointlessness is reloaded in this tediously complex science fiction film, closer to a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. It's a threequel to the classic Tron film from the early 80s, a movie that was groundbreaking and courageously innovative for its time in a way that eludes this one and its predecessor Tron Legacy from the previous decade. Tron: Ares almost awakens just one time – when Evan Peters gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson playing his mother, in an traditional bit of real-world action. This is a bit of firm parenting you might want to handing out to every producer involved in this movie, and it's sad to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so uninspired.

Plot Overview of The New Tron Film

The situation now is that an evil AI corporation with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger has become a rival to the virtual reality firm Encom Inc, originally set up in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, played by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (initially founded by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger, acted by David Warner) is headed by the founder's annoyingly geeky grandson Julian (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to develop and produce profitable things such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into the real world using a kind of three-dimensional printer.

The issue is that no matter how intimidating, these creations disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has uncovered the plot-driving “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities permanently, and even keeps it on her person on a very low-tech flashdrive. So the dreadful Julian Dillinger deploys his enforcer on her: Ares, the superhuman fighter which can exit the virtual realm for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of androids, is beginning to show signs of not doing what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith plays Ares's stoic deputy Athena and poor Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in wise white robes, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Breakdown

And Ares himself – the hero of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, beard and subtly omniscient grin, touches that were perhaps designed by typing the words “incredibly irritating” into an AI human creation programme. No one who recalls the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life will always find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Jared Leto, and I was incidentally very entertained by his expansive (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Leto is consistently, persistently terrible in this film, although he isn't helped by a weak storyline which is intended to allow him to show flashes of “empathy” for Greta Lee's character and subcontract all the badass wickedness to Athena's character, thus making her marginally more interesting. It is meant to be charming when Ares the character says how he loves 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode band are superior to Mozart's compositions.

Franchise Elements and Overall Impact

Consistent with the brand-identity of the series, there are motorcycles from the VR netherworld which whizz about the place in linear paths, adhering to the rectilinear design of classic video games (or indeed dance clubs); a single bike even shoots out a death ray which cuts a police vehicle in half. But there is zero tension or jeopardy or human interest anywhere. This series currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.