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The matrix of pointlessness is reloaded in this mind-bendingly dull science fiction movie, closer to a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. This is a third installment to the original movie Tron from the early 80s, a film that was mould-breaking and boldly pioneering for its time in a way that escapes this film and its forerunner Tron Legacy from 2010. The new Tron film 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 every producer involved 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 The New Tron Film

The scenario now is that an evil AI corporation with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger Corp has become a rival to the VR company Encom, first established in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger, acted by David Warner) is headed by the founder’s odiously nerdish grandson Julian (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to develop and produce profitable things such as indestructible soldiers and armored vehicles in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into the real world using a sort of three-dimensional printer.

The issue is that no matter how intimidating, these things disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has uncovered the plot-driving “permanence algorithm” 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 warrior, 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 disobeying what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance plays Ares's stoic deputy Athena's role and poor Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Character and Performance Analysis

Moreover, Ares – the hero of the title – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and faintly all-knowing smile, details that were perhaps designed by typing the words “extremely annoying” into an artificial intelligence character generator. No one who recalls the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life series will always 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 Leto is unremittingly, persistently awful here, although he isn't helped by a weak storyline which is supposed to allow him to display glimpses of “compassion” for Eve Kim's role and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena's character, thus making her marginally more interesting. It is meant to be adorable when Ares says how he adores 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode are superior to Mozart.

Franchise Elements and Overall Impact

And in keeping with the brand-identity of the series, there are motorcycles from the virtual underworld which speed around the environment in linear paths, adhering to the angular layout of antique arcade games (or indeed dance clubs); one even shoots out a lethal beam which cuts a police vehicle in half. But there is zero tension or danger or emotional engagement anywhere. This series now looks about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.