Tron Legacy

Now clearly this is not a beginning to the top 100 movies of all time. Just my review of Tron sequel that many people have been waiting quite a while for.

Now for starters, the original Tron movie, was by no means a commercial success. The arcade game made more revenue than the movie did. For any movie even nowadays that would not be a success. Some of us though have fond memories of watching it when we were kids, and enjoyed the experience and the idea that someone could be sucked into a video game world. Also much of the sequel definitely plays on knowing what happened in the past as well as re-using some dialogue to add to the connection between the two.

Several people have asked me if they should watch the original first, and I say yes and no. Yes because it will give you a better understanding of the movie as a whole, and it will give you a clear understanding of who Tron is, something that is not terribly well explained in Legacy. I say no because it may ruin those memories of Tron being a good movie, it is not. The dialog is pretty bad. Tron even says at one point, "We've made it. This far." It was not in response to anything, or a really particularly distinct point in their journey, terribly awkward and not well thought out.

Now on to Tron Legacy. It was made with the old movie in mind, but with the imagination that only todays technology could fulfill. For starters the look and feel of the movie is very very good. Convincing yet still you know that you are in a digital world. The movie starts off very fasted pace, and pushes into the digital world almost as fast as they can. In doing that they do not develop Sam's character very much. Sam Flynn, played by Garrett Hedlund, is of course Kevin Flynn's, Jeff Bridges, son. I did not remember his face off the top of my head, but after looking he played the youngest brother in Four Brothers. Garrett preformed very well, even though his character was not given much depth to begin with.

Everything you expect from Tron is there, lightcycles, identity disks, recognizers, and even the tanks make a brief appearance. Even though Legacy wanted to pay its dues to the old fans and the original movie, they dont get caught up in giving us the same thing just with a new skin. It is something that has been done with some success for other franchises that have been brought back as of late, Transformers and Star Trek most notable, than give enough to the purists to keep them moderately pleased, and an overall experience that can appeal to any audience regardless of prior knowledge or interest in the universe.

The movie stays pretty fast paced throughout. It slows down a little at times to try and keep the story up to speed, but action scenes are this films vehicle to advancing you from one place to another. My favorite scene is the light fighter dog fighting near the end of the movie. The light cycle race is cool, but this was awesome. If was a fitting action sequence for the movie and if you are not satisfied by then, the movie lost you an hour ago.

Overall i really enjoyed the movie. It probably would have been better off as a summer action type movie, rather than a Christmas time movie, which is usually more family oriented and light-hearted. It gave the Tron fans enough to really tie the movies together, and it was so complicated that any newcomer to the name Tron couldn't follow this film. The acting performances were good enough, even Olivia Wilde who in the previews just looks like a pretty face, turns in a good effort playing her role.

My rating: 3.9/5 Its a good fluff movie, it is a good ride, you just want more when its over. It wont win any oscars acting awards, but that soundtrack is pretty much a lock for best musical score. Daft Punk did and amazing job putting the mood into the movie with the score.