In this move, TRON stands for Tropes Recent Or New. What plot there is, is so derivative as to be a check list of elements from recent popular science fiction films, classic (some might say hackneyed) general tropes, and bits from the original TRON.
The graphics while pretty and updated nicely to a 2010 look, are ultimately exactly what you would expect from a TRON done today with today's equipment. No less, but sadly also no more. 3D animation holds the power to show us things we've never imagined before. Be it Avatar, or Speed racer, those movies had fresh new looks that excited me as a viewer and took me someplace new. The world of TRON:Legacy however is a familiar one to anyone who knows the original TRON. Watching this was sort of like playing the "updated" version of a classic game. Yes the detail is much better, but there really isn't much "new" here to excite you.
As for the patchwork thing we might loosely call a "plot", it too has lots of the familiar to it. Much of it seemed lifted from The Matrix series, which the film-makers have already admitted they studied. The "Zen in an artificial world" thing was very present, and the female lead was what you would get if you slammed the female lead of the original TRON against Trinity in the Matrix. (Although I ultimately found trinity a much more interesting character.)
The car she drives when we meet here is pretty much a "digital bat mobile" with much of the same look and abilities as seen in the second recent batman movie. Again however, I found the original more interesting.
The character of Zeus again seemed lifted with only minor changes from The Merovingian in the matrix. Dressed in all white, he is effeminate where as the Merovingian was french-- not much difference to most Americans. The are both served by pale white servants-- the merovingian by the albinos and Zeus by Nordic blonde. And they both are trying to play both sides against the middle, albeit again the Merovingian does it in a much more interesting manner.
The bad guy, CLU, a reflection of the senior Flynn's vanity literally born from a Digital mirror, is a product of creator hubris-- a plot element so old we can trace this trope back to the Greeks. TOld to create a "perfect digital world" he becomes fascist dictator with all the expected nods to Hitler and the Nazis.
The rest of the plot is by the numbers predictable, mostly skipping the "first time" in the "tell it three times" rule and just handing us really obvious visual clues of what was soon to be "revealed".
Totally missing from the film is the explanation of how "Tron" turns "bad". Near the end of the movie Flynn senior Asks rhetorically, "Tron what happened to you". At that moment I thought "Yeah I've been wondering the same thing for an hour..." Its never answered.
Finally, the writers missed an excellent opportunity to add 3 words to the movie that by themselves could have deepened the film significantly. In the end CLU, asks his creator, "Didn't i do what you told me to?" and then asks "Why would you destroy all this for him?" Referring to Flynn junior. To which the Senior Flynn responds, "He is my son."
The next words SHOULD have been from CLU's mouth -- "What am I?"
Alas, they weren't.
The graphics while pretty and updated nicely to a 2010 look, are ultimately exactly what you would expect from a TRON done today with today's equipment. No less, but sadly also no more. 3D animation holds the power to show us things we've never imagined before. Be it Avatar, or Speed racer, those movies had fresh new looks that excited me as a viewer and took me someplace new. The world of TRON:Legacy however is a familiar one to anyone who knows the original TRON. Watching this was sort of like playing the "updated" version of a classic game. Yes the detail is much better, but there really isn't much "new" here to excite you.
As for the patchwork thing we might loosely call a "plot", it too has lots of the familiar to it. Much of it seemed lifted from The Matrix series, which the film-makers have already admitted they studied. The "Zen in an artificial world" thing was very present, and the female lead was what you would get if you slammed the female lead of the original TRON against Trinity in the Matrix. (Although I ultimately found trinity a much more interesting character.)
The car she drives when we meet here is pretty much a "digital bat mobile" with much of the same look and abilities as seen in the second recent batman movie. Again however, I found the original more interesting.
The character of Zeus again seemed lifted with only minor changes from The Merovingian in the matrix. Dressed in all white, he is effeminate where as the Merovingian was french-- not much difference to most Americans. The are both served by pale white servants-- the merovingian by the albinos and Zeus by Nordic blonde. And they both are trying to play both sides against the middle, albeit again the Merovingian does it in a much more interesting manner.
The bad guy, CLU, a reflection of the senior Flynn's vanity literally born from a Digital mirror, is a product of creator hubris-- a plot element so old we can trace this trope back to the Greeks. TOld to create a "perfect digital world" he becomes fascist dictator with all the expected nods to Hitler and the Nazis.
The rest of the plot is by the numbers predictable, mostly skipping the "first time" in the "tell it three times" rule and just handing us really obvious visual clues of what was soon to be "revealed".
Totally missing from the film is the explanation of how "Tron" turns "bad". Near the end of the movie Flynn senior Asks rhetorically, "Tron what happened to you". At that moment I thought "Yeah I've been wondering the same thing for an hour..." Its never answered.
Finally, the writers missed an excellent opportunity to add 3 words to the movie that by themselves could have deepened the film significantly. In the end CLU, asks his creator, "Didn't i do what you told me to?" and then asks "Why would you destroy all this for him?" Referring to Flynn junior. To which the Senior Flynn responds, "He is my son."
The next words SHOULD have been from CLU's mouth -- "What am I?"
Alas, they weren't.