Right off the bat, I'm going to have to admit i was not a huge fan of the original Tron movie. Which is probably why I, despite all the hype, was caution when it came to getting enthusiastic about the new movie. I expected some good effects and pretty lights, but an otherwise shallow CGI-Dependant movie (i.e. Avatar). Thankfully, what i got instead was an orgy composed of a substantial plot, strong acting, a perfect soundtrack, and, of course, more shiny beautiful lights than i know what to do with.
Now the protagonist of Tron: Legacy is Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the son of Kevin Flynn, who was the main character of the original film. This was the first movie I'd ever seen with Garrett Hedlund, and i was impressed with his performance. His character seemed to have a rather small range of emotions, and Hedlund himself seemed, at times, to have gone to the same school of facial expressions as Keanu Reaves, but that may not be his fault as much as the writers/directors. who knows? Regardless, Hundlund has got a promising future ahead of him as an actor.
What i see as one of this movies greatest strengths is how well they make use of Jeff Bridges. He's an outstanding actor, and Disney knows that, which is probably why he plays two of the main characters. At the same time. Now, personally speaking, I've always liked the idea of taking an actor and having him play both the protagonist and the antagonist, because you get a good reflective foil (if you have good writers, that is). Also, it's cool to get to watch someone duke it out with themselves. What they did with (one of) Bridges' character, Kevin Flynn, however, i'm not sure i'm a fan of. They turned him from super-scientist into a pacifist monk in a Jedi robe. Now I'm not one of those people with a grudge against spirituality of any sort, but this movie did seem to get a wee bit preachy at times. The subplot with the Isomorphic Algorithms, coded beings that essentially come into existence on their own behalf, was a concept i liked until they had Flynn go on about how they were some kind of higher power and their existence would revolutionize religion and philosophy as well as science. Bridges' other character, Clu, had everything a good anti-hero needs. He had his army, his world domination plans, his own convoluted logic as to why what he was doing was right, and at least one parallel could be drawn between him and Hitler. Clu was possibly the best done part in the movie, for all the reasons just stated, and he required the least character development, being a computer program. At times, he did seem to be a little bit simple minded, considering the incredible program he was supposed to be, but no ones perfect i suppose.
Finally, there's Kevin Flynn's apprentice, Quorra (Olivia Wilde). I haven't been looking forward to this, mainly because i love Olivia Wilde as an actress, but Quorra left a lot to be desired. Other than one incredibly predictable plot twist, Quorra contributed very little to the movie as a whole and seemed to be included as eye-candy as much as anything else. With all the good use they got out of Jeff Bridges, Disney really did waste Olivia Wilde, and that was probably the most disappointing part of this movie.
Something that i feel needs commenting on is Daft Punk's contribution to the movie. As you may have heard, they were placed in charge of the movie's soundtrack. They also make a cameo appearance in the movie. In my opinion, their involvement in this movie is a major part of what made it great.
Overall, this movie greatly surpassed my low expectations. The acting was superb, the soundtrack was great, the visuals were mind-blowing, but the plot was somewhat lacking and the movie as a whole was rather predictable. One thing i should point out is that the tie-in to the original was well done, with just enough exposition to bring someone from the original to this movie, and enough to bring in someone who had never seen the original.
tl;dr :
Plot: 7/10
Acting: 8.5/10
Soundtrack: 9/10
Effects: 9.5/10
Overall: 8.5/10Publish Post
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