Tron: Legacy

Hollywood seems to have an obsession with remaking everything from the 80's. Old TV shows, cartoons and the occasional movie sequel over twenty years later. I feel that this is the product of a new batch of Hollywood executives who grew up in the 80's who all of a sudden had a nostalgia spree after watching an episode of VH1's I Love The 80's. I can only hope that we won't have to suffer through a live action version of "Thundercats."

Anyways, "Tron: Legacy" is the sequel to the original "Tron" that came out in 1982. A movie whose graphics would make "Tron: Legacy's" target demographic pee their pants at the absolute terribleness of it. In the original Tron, Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) was sucked into the world of the computer, where programs exist in human form and carry out their functions in a sped up time frame. Kevin Flynn comes out of the computer world, founds the company ENCOM, and bases all of its financial success on an arcade game he developed from the computer world's gladiator like games. In "Legacy" Kevin Flynn gets trapped inside the computer by a program he created  called CLU (Also Jeff Bridges) which stands for Computer...Linear...Uranium or something. I never really found out. His son, Sam Flynn (Garret Hedlund) after assuming his dad has been dead for like fifteen years accidentally gets sucked into the computer world and has to find a way for both of them to get out.

When watching movies I tend to base the quality of the film on a simple question: What in the world is going on? If I can't answer the question it probably wasn't a very good movie. I have no idea what was going on in this film. Why do computer programs take the form of humans and play ultimate death frisbee? What are isometric algorithms? Does Sam realize that he fell in love with a computer program? Well, we can't blame him on that one, Olivia Wilde is very, very pretty.

"Tron" is a beautiful movie. I didn't see it in 3D but I was still very impressed. The colors were vibrant and it gave the film a very good feel to it. The light bike races and the high speed air chase were beautifully rendered. "Tron" also succeeds on an audio level. Every sound was a new, wonderful experience and the soundtrack by Daft Punk was incredible, I highly recommend it. Any movie that has a Daft Punk cameo should be way better than this.

Newcomer Garrett Hedlund is actually one of the bright points in this film. His acting was very good and his little quips within the film provided much needed comic relief. Sam is thrust into an ultimate death frisbee game with a program that decides to pull out TWO ultimate death frisbees and Sam remarks, "That can't be legal." Sadly, to my disappointment one of the worst parts of the film is Jeff "You're messing with my Zen man!" Bridges. He is funneling too much of his Big Lebowski character and "The Men Who Stare At Goats" character. Stop trying to be a hippy Mr. Bridges. Be the badass lawman from "True Grit." Coincidentally one of the best portions of the film is the other Jeff Bridges. In the creepiest yet most interesting way imaginable they made Jeff Bridges younger. I couldn't turn away from the younger Jeff Bridges. The face and mannerisms were perfectly filmed and rendered. In some cases it got weird and fake but overall it was a very good attempt and I know it will be used in the future.

Very good visuals and an incredible soundtrack can't save a plot or script that gives the audience brain freeze. Tack that on to a movie that is a half hour too long and you've got yourself a sad, beautiful dud.


2 out of 4 stars

-Christopher O'Connell