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The matrix of futility is reloaded in this tediously complex sci-fi film, more a screensaver than an actual film. This is a threequel to the original movie Tron from 1982, a movie that was mould-breaking and courageously innovative for its day in a way that escapes this one and its predecessor Tron Legacy from 2010. The new Tron film nearly awakens just once – when Evan Peters' character gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson playing his mother, in an old-fashioned bit of analogue reality. This is a bit of firm parenting you might feel like administering to every producer engaged in this movie, and it's sad to see the respected Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so lifeless.

Story Summary of Tron: Ares

The situation now is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a competitor to the virtual reality firm Encom Inc, originally set up in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn, played by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (initially founded by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger's role, played by David Warner) is headed by the founder's annoyingly geeky grandson's character Julian (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to design and create profitable things such as indestructible soldiers and armored vehicles in the VR world and then export them into the real world using a kind of 3D printer.

The issue is that no matter how intimidating, these creations disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence code” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even keeps it on her person on a very low-tech USB drive. So the dreadful Julian Dillinger deploys his enforcer on her: Ares, the humanoid uber-warrior which can leave the VR world for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of robots, is starting to exhibit symptoms of disobeying what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance plays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena's role and unfortunate Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Acting and Roles Analysis

Moreover, Ares – the hero of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and faintly all-knowing smile, details that were possibly created by inputting the words “incredibly irritating” into an AI human creation programme. No one who recalls the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life series will ever find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Jared Leto, and I was also quite amused by his broad (and critically misunderstood) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is consistently, persistently awful here, although his performance isn't aided by a limp plot point which is supposed to allow him to display glimpses of “compassion” for Eve Kim's role and delegate all the villainous actions to Athena, thus making her slightly more engaging. It is supposed to be adorable when Ares says how he loves 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode are superior to Mozart.

Series Features and Final Impression

And in keeping with the franchise identity of the series, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which whizz about the environment in long straight lines, adhering to the rectilinear design of antique arcade games (or even nightclubs); one even shoots out a death ray which cuts a cop car in two. But there is no drama or jeopardy or emotional engagement anywhere. This series currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.