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The matrix of futility is revisited in this tediously complex sci-fi film, closer to a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. It's a threequel to the original movie Tron from 1982, a film that was groundbreaking and boldly pioneering for its day in a way that escapes this film and its forerunner Tron Legacy from the previous decade. Tron: Ares almost comes to life just once – when Evan Peters' character gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson's character playing his mother, in an traditional bit of real-world action. This is a piece of tough love you might feel like handing out to all the producers engaged in this movie, and it's unfortunate to see the estimable Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so uninspired.

Plot Overview of Tron: Ares

The scenario currently is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger has become a competitor to the virtual reality firm Encom Inc, originally set up in the 80s arcade-game era by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger's role, acted by David Warner) is led by the founder’s odiously nerdish grandson's character Julian (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to design and create profitable things such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then export them into the real world using a sort of three-dimensional printer.

The issue is that no matter how intimidating, these things crumble into dust after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has discovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence code” which can keep these things alive permanently, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic flashdrive. So the dreadful Julian 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 time-honoured way of robots, is starting to exhibit symptoms of not doing what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance plays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena and poor Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Analysis

Moreover, Ares – the protagonist of the film's name – is acted by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, beard and faintly all-knowing smile, details that were possibly created by typing the words “incredibly irritating” into an AI human creation programme. No one who recalls the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life will always find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Mr Leto, and I was also quite amused by his expansive (and critically misunderstood) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is consistently, persistently awful in this film, although his performance isn't aided by a limp plot point which is supposed to allow him to show flashes of “compassion” for Eve Kim's role and delegate all the villainous actions to Athena, thus making her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be adorable when Ares says how he adores 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode band are superior to Mozart.

Franchise Elements and Overall Impact

And in keeping with the brand-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 indeed dance clubs); a single bike even shoots out a lethal beam which slices a police vehicle in half. But there is zero tension or danger or emotional engagement anywhere. This franchise now looks about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.