tron: legacy (2010)
Yeah, I know, what did I expect? It's TRON. But if there's one thing I can't resist it's satisfying my curiosity every 6 months when the big blockbuster is revealed, shelling out my $16 (or whatever with the 3D) and seeing what all the hype is about. It happened with Avatar, it happened with Iron Man 2, hell it even happened with Transformers. Each worse than the last. The Tron movie, on the other hand, comes with a little clout. Daft Punk on the soundtrack, Jeff Bridges as our hero and villain, Kitsis and Horowitz (2 of Lost's best writers) on the script. (I know, I know, this is all the crap I was feeding myself) At least it'll have action right? Wrong. What begins as a pretty damn good action flick degrades when throwaway sci-fi nonsense from the 80's suddenly tries to get serious. Oh they also forget to tell one of the actors that this isn't a BladeRunner sequel .. . But what I was looking for here was a break in form, to be honest, I shouldn't be pissed when I get by-the-numbers. It begins with Nolan-esque tones as our hero performs bad-assery in the real world. It's not long before he's made his way accidentally into the world of Tron. At this point I'm shocked by the strong lead character as opposed to some blubbering Shia LaBeuf look-alike, and they've already featured Journey and the Eurythmics, the film is turning out to be a good visual ride. The world inside the computer is seemingly rendered without limits, it's imaginative and ever-changing, like, y'know, you'd imagine a virtual world to be. But then we get stuck in the mistaken-for-an-expendable-character-and-thrown-into-a-dangerous-situation gag. Stop, Tron people! He's the main character, you idiots! This, of course, results in an awesome scene of 3D visuals and action, no one in the theater complains. But then suddenly, whoever was coming up with the good ideas says "k, we're good", the imagination in design is done, and the film coasts to the finish as a simple escape film. No development of our villains.. or our heroes .. or the story. Jeff Bridges does his best combo of the Dude and ObiWan Kenobi, and then the movie's over. like you cared. So, I'd say see it, but leave after the cool half hour intro to Tron-World. Nothing else really happens
5