TRON: Ares, 2025.
Directed by Joachim Rønning.
Starring Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Gillian Anderson, Jodie Turner-Smith, Jeff Bridges, Hasan Minhaj, Cameron Monaghan, Arturo Castro, Sarah Desjardins, and Elizabeth Bowen.
SYNOPSIS:
A highly sophisticated Program, Ares, is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission.
In an attempt to be topical and relevant, director Joachim Rønning’s TRON: Ares brings the digital world into reality, with rival CEOs searching for a permanence code that will prevent them from evaporating after 29 minutes. There are gestures about the rise of AI spoken in a tone of uncertainty, within a movie so out of touch it has no pulse on anything, including the gaming industry. Something hilariously called Space Paranoids is somehow a hot franchise despite sounding like an arcade game from the 1980s. This is a film that aspires to be of the moment, yet is written (by Jesse Wigutow, who conceived the story alongside David DiGilio) in a manner that is insulting, refusing to update any aspect of the series for a modern world.
Even the core premise of two CEOs racing to find this code is tone deaf. It doesn’t matter if one of them is well-intentioned albeit oddly welcoming of what can be accomplished with AI if used the right way (although AI is only mentioned a couple of times across the running time, rest assured the ending is more maddening than M3GAN 2.0′s nudge towards coexistence), or if the ENCOM Corporation has always been a part of these movies. Expecting anyone to care about a corporate battle in this day and age is misguided, especially given the bare-bones yet mouthful of introductory exposition intended to elicit involvement, as if it were the Nintendo/PlayStation wars of the 1990s all over again.
New Dillinger Systems CEO Julian (a cartoonishly evil and all-around bad performance from Evan Peters) is seeking the permanence code for more nefarious reasons, eager to keep his Program, Ares (Jared Leto) in the real world permanently (as the code implies) to make a fortune selling him off as a militarized super-soldier (his speech about doing so also feels ripped straight from RoboCop). He is also a shady businessman, trying to hide the current 29-minute limit from his investors for as long as possible, with his mom, Elizabeth (Gillian Anderson), occasionally chiming in about how in over his head he is, stating the obvious that he is not in control as much as he thinks he is.
This is partially because Ares is already becoming sentient, curious about rain, and developing emotional responses such as empathy (he is also a huge Depeche Mode fan despite Nine Inch Nails providing the score). His crew of algorithmic humanoid programs, consisting of Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith, all menacing scowls and a complete nothing of a character), haven’t experienced any such feelings yet. It’s not even clear why Ares is becoming more human, other than to drive the plot forward. Nevertheless, Ares is tasked to go into the real world and locate new ENCOM CEO Eve (Greta Lee), who, through no help from her dopey comedic relief companion (played by Arturo Castro), has found the mythical code and has brought a tree in from the digital world that has been standing for five hours without any signs of degradation.
Admittedly, the first half of TRON: Ares has some propulsive momentum, functioning as a string of action sequences with almost no downtime in between them, switching between worlds and aspect ratios. Given the film’s nature, it’s expensive, with detailed CGI to show for it. Vantage points from the sky of characters riding their Light Cycles and leaving trails of orange or red across heavily congested downtown streets is a striking sight and something new for the series. The 29-minute time limits also provide a sense of urgency, which is often elevated by thumping, energizing music from Nine Inch Nails. They must have new music over every scene, as if the filmmakers know it’s one of the only components with a pulse.
From there, the already generic plot becomes more of a focus as Ares learns more about Eve, which, in turn, makes his wish to become permanent in reality stronger. Having lost the code, Ares and Eve embark on a new quest to find it again while keeping it away from Julian, who is now relentlessly sending Athena after them. There is a lot of noise, uninspired action, cameos, unearned sequel-baiting, and nothing of thematic or topical intrigue done with parts of the digital world blending into our own. Instead, TRON: Ares is all recycled storytelling and tropes, with nothing worthy of the spectacle the film aims for or Trent Reznor gracing the soundtrack.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder
