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The framework of futility is reloaded in this mind-bendingly dull science fiction movie, 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 day in a way that eludes this one and its forerunner Tron: Legacy from the previous decade. Tron: Ares nearly comes to life just once – when Evan Peters' character gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson portraying his mum, in an traditional bit of analogue reality. This is a piece of tough love you might want to handing out to every producer engaged in this film, and it's sad to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so lifeless.

Plot Overview of Tron: Ares

The scenario currently is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger Corp has become a competitor to the VR company Encom Inc, first established in the 80s arcade-game era by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn, played by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (originally set up by Encom executive Ed Dillinger, played by David Warner) is headed by the founder’s annoyingly geeky grandson Julian (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to develop and produce profitable things such as invincible troops and armored vehicles in the virtual reality grid and then export them into actual reality using a kind of three-dimensional printer.

The problem is that no matter how intimidating, these things crumble into dust after 29 minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has uncovered the plot-driving “permanence code” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even keeps it on her person on a very low-tech flashdrive. 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 29 minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of robots, is starting to exhibit symptoms of disobeying what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance portrays Ares's stoic deputy Athena's role and unfortunate Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Analysis

Moreover, Ares – the hero of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and subtly omniscient grin, touches that were possibly designed by inputting the words “incredibly irritating” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who remembers the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life series will ever find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Jared Leto, and I was incidentally quite amused by his broad (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Leto is unremittingly, unrelentingly terrible here, although he isn't helped by a weak storyline which is intended to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Greta Lee's character and subcontract all the villainous actions to Athena, thus rendering her marginally more interesting. It is supposed to be adorable when Ares says how he adores 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode are better than Mozart's compositions.

Franchise Elements and Overall Impact

And in keeping with the franchise identity of the series, there are motorcycles from the virtual underworld which speed around the environment in long straight lines, adhering to the angular layout of classic video games (or indeed nightclubs); one even shoots out a death ray which cuts a police vehicle in two. But there is zero tension or danger or emotional engagement throughout. This series now looks as relevant as an automobile CD system.