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The matrix of pointlessness is revisited in this tediously complex science fiction film, more a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. This is a threequel to the original movie Tron from the early 80s, a film that was groundbreaking and boldly pioneering for its time in a way that eludes this one and its forerunner Tron Legacy from 2010. The new Tron film nearly comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters' character gets a slap 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 every producer involved in this film, and it's unfortunate to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so uninspired.

Story Summary of The New Tron Film

The situation currently 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 80s arcade-game era by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (initially founded by Encom executive Ed Dillinger's role, acted by David Warner) is led by the founder’s odiously nerdish grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to develop and produce profitable things such as invincible troops and armored vehicles in the VR world and then transfer them into actual reality using a kind of three-dimensional printer.

The issue is that however fearsome, these creations disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence code” which can maintain these entities permanently, and even stores it on her person on a very low-tech USB drive. So the dreadful Julian Dillinger sets his attack dog on her: Ares the warrior, the humanoid uber-warrior which can exit the virtual realm for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of robots, is starting to exhibit symptoms of not doing what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith portrays Ares's stoic deputy Athena and poor Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in sage-like white garments, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Analysis

And Ares himself – the hero of the title – is acted by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and faintly all-knowing smile, details that were perhaps created by typing the words “incredibly irritating” into an artificial intelligence character generator. No one who recalls the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life will ever find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Mr Leto, and I was also very entertained by his expansive (and critically misunderstood) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is consistently, persistently awful here, although his performance isn't aided by a limp plot point which is intended to allow him to display glimpses of “compassion” for Eve Kim's role and subcontract all the villainous actions to Athena's character, thus rendering her marginally more interesting. It is supposed to be charming when Ares says how he adores 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode are better than Mozart's compositions.

Series Features and Overall Impact

And in keeping with the franchise identity of the series, there are motorbikes from the VR netherworld which whizz about the environment in long straight lines, conforming to the angular layout of classic video games (or even nightclubs); a single bike even emits a lethal beam which cuts a police vehicle in half. But there is no drama or jeopardy or human interest throughout. This series now looks about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.