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The matrix of futility is revisited in this mind-bendingly dull sci-fi movie, closer to a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. It's a third installment to the original movie Tron from 1982, a movie that was groundbreaking and courageously innovative for its day in a way that escapes this one and its forerunner Tron: Legacy from the previous decade. The new Tron film nearly comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters' character gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson playing his mum, in an old-fashioned bit of analogue reality. This is a bit of firm parenting you might want to administering to all the producers engaged in this film, and it's sad to see the respected Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so uninspired.

Story Summary of Tron: Ares

The scenario currently is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger Corp has become a rival to the VR company Encom Inc, originally set up in the 80s arcade-game era by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger's role, acted by David Warner) is headed by the founder’s annoyingly geeky grandson Julian (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to design and create profitable things such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then export them into the real world 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 discovered the plot-driving “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even keeps it on her person on a extremely basic flashdrive. So the ghastly Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares the warrior, the superhuman fighter which can exit the virtual realm for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of robots, is starting to exhibit symptoms of disobeying what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance portrays Ares's stoic deputy Athena's role and poor Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in wise white robes, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Analysis

And Ares himself – the protagonist of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, facial hair and subtly omniscient grin, touches that were possibly designed by typing the words “extremely annoying” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who recalls the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life series will always find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Jared Leto, and I was also very entertained by his broad (and critically misunderstood) comic turn in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is unremittingly, persistently terrible here, although he isn't helped by a weak storyline which is supposed to allow him to show flashes of “compassion” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena's character, thus rendering her marginally more interesting. It is meant to be adorable when Ares says how he adores 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode band are superior to Mozart.

Franchise Elements and Final Impression

And in keeping with the brand-identity of the series, there are motorbikes from the VR netherworld which whizz about the environment in long straight lines, conforming to the rectilinear design of classic video games (or indeed dance clubs); one even emits a lethal beam which slices a police vehicle in two. But there is no drama or jeopardy or emotional engagement throughout. This franchise currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.