Tron: Legacy (2010) Spoiler-Filled Review/Rant: More Originality Doesn't Equal A Good Movie

Over the years, it has been apparent that Disney wanted "Tron" to be a big franchise like "Star Wars". However, as the first film only made a modest hit at the box office, the company held back for nearly 30 years until giving the cult hit a sequel. Going with a new, somewhat bold direction, a large budget, and a story that's not copying "Star Wars", the sequel seemed like a surefire hit. However, it still resulted in a modest hit and left Disney uncomfortable producing another sequel in the meantime, until recently that is. "Tron: Legacy" is a very divided film with some thinking that it was a disappointing follow-up while others think it's visual eye candy that does right to the original. For me, well, let's just say I'm neither.

Positives:

• The visual effects. While the CGI isn't going to break ground like the original, these are some very top-notch effects that has dated really well. Heck, even the de-aging effects on Jeff Bridges are pretty impressive for a decade-old film. I will agree that the eyes on Bridges and the filmmaker's prideful act of showing off the effects are a bit too much, but I can't lie that for this type of movie, the CGI is fantastic.

• The production design. Not only have the costumes been upgraded to be more slick and modern, but the programs can wear unique outfits that represent their personality. I also like how they not only fleshed out the world of the Grid, but made it more mysterious and neo-noir compared to the more colourful, blocky aesthetic of the original. I also like how they updated the games from the original such as the ring battle and lightcycles.

• The directing by Joseph Kosinski. Considering that this is his directorial debut, it's pretty impressive. His work on CGI trailers for video games gives him the ability to make some cool-looking shots with the effects. It feels both modern and stylized, which is helped by the cinematography of Claudio Miranda, which never comes across as flat whatsoever. At times, the film comes across as a surreal music video with all of the inventive and crazy shots, which is perhaps the best way to sum up the film, which is both a good and bad thing.

• The score by Daft Punk. The perfect duo to be associated with the film. The techno music that they are famous for is beyond brilliant to be paired with a film that's set in a digital world with a neo-noir setting. Although this soundtrack isn't close to their best work, they never put out any bad music though.

• Micheal Sheen's Zuse. The only character I actually liked in the film mainly helped by Sheen's kinetic energy and fun-loving personality. I will also add though Bruce Boxlietner did a good job as Alan from the first film, giving the character some humble wisdom and heart.

Negatives:

• Once again, let's talk about the story. The film follows Sam Flynn, the son of Kevin Flynn from the first film who has disappeared many years ago. When Alan finds a response signal coming from the abandoned arcade Kevin used to own, Sam traces it and gets sucked into the Grid, where he finds his father and his apprentice known as Quorra. Quorra is the last of the ISO's, a race made entirely without any programming from Kevin, who have the potential to answer life's greatest mysteries without actually displaying this ability whatsoever. Kevin's look-alike program, Clu, becomes tyrannical however as its motive is to make the perfect world which the ISO's are not a part of, resulting in the genocide of these people and Kevin to remain stuck in the Grid. Now, Sam, Kevin and Quorra must get back to the real world while stopping Clu from taking over humanity as that is deemed imperfect. Now, what's the problem with the story this time? It's by no means copying "Star Wars", heck, even the newer films produced by Disney copies some key moments and plot aspects from this film alone! The problem with the story is that it's all over the place and incoherent. For one, the introduction of the ISO's is unnecessary as they barely play a part in the film and Kevin never gets into detail as to how or why these beings can be crucial in the real world. There's also the use of the ENCOM corporation and Sam being a shareholder that really goes nowhere, as unlike in the first film, the Grid isn't tied to ENCOM in the sequel and the subplot in the beginning with Sam sabotaging his own company is just pointless in the long run. Then, there's the subplot with the characters finding Zuse, who is said to be able to help them out, only for him to betray them and barely help out whatsoever. And although the film isn't based by luck compared to the first film, there's still some big plot holes such as how Clu hasn't been able to track Kevin for 20 years, what weird powers Kevin has in the Grid by defeating Clu and how did he get them, why can't Kevin destroy the disk to prevent Clu from taking it, or why this film is even called Tron to begin with, since the titular character is barely in the film or even the focus, which it deserves its whole paragraph.

• The characters. Where to start? Well, let's begin with Sam, played by Garrett Hedlund. Sam is by far the most boring and unlikeable character in the film, and that's mainly due to Hedland's performance. Sam barely shows any emotion outside of mild angst. When he first sees his dad, both by the mislead of Clu and his actual father, there is no emotion from this guy. No anger, sadness, or happiness whatsoever. Hell, even when he gets transported into the Grid, outside of a brief moment of shock, he's not blown away or worried about anything. The only time this guy gets any emotion is when he's shooting down some ships with excitment. Outside of the awful acting, the personality doesn't help as Sam is just your angsty youth who wants to a rebel like his father from the first film and get the babe, but there's just no personality to him at all. Jeff Bridges returns as Kevin, and while he's doing a good job, he's not that engaging to begin with. From the random abilities he possesses, the important disk he possesses, and both the story and lead's primary focus of the journey, the guy is essentially a living plot device, which wouldn't be bad if he had a more interesting personality. Maybe he still retains his cocky attitude or have a completely altered, destructive personality from the decades being imprisoned in the Grid, anything will be intriguing. But instead, we just get the willowed, wise mentor that has given up hope due to the failure in his past despite never really having any emotional breakdown from it. While the effects on Clu are good, that doesn't equal a good villain. To be fair, he is miles better than the MCP as he does have a personality, but he just comes across as generic bad guy wanting to take over the world with not much energy driving him. It doesn't help that the dude never points the helmet back on, so instead of having this cool-looking villain, we just have a dating CGI effect for the majority of the runtime. Last character to address is Quorra, played by Olivia Wilde. Although she looks amazing and does a good performance, she's practically made to be eye candy. Her role as the most important being in the world could have been interesting, but the personality doesn't really make sense. She's curious of Earth's culture and reads esteemed literature and longing to see the sun rise, but we are told that she is able to ask all of life's greatest mysteries, so how does that work exactly? If she was just a program who wanted to experience the real world, that would be great, but considering the importance of the character and what we are told, it completely backtracks on her character and barely explains how she can learn the mysteries of life if she needs to learn basic stuff about the Earth to begin with. It doesn't help that Sam and her have barely any chemistry together. At least they don't have a pointless kiss like the first film. There are some side characters such as Jarvis, the second-in-command, and Gem, a sexy program who works with Zuse and appears to be helpful to Sam, but these characters get killed off so unexpectedly and with their limited screen-time, there's barely any value to talk about them.

• The tone. While the first film had an unbalanced tone that leans towards awkward fun and goofiness, the sequel has the opposite problem where the tone is too serious with barely any fun to be had. Although Zuse is the exception and Sam attempts to have some fun when shooting down ships or participating in the games, all of the characters are just too serious. This would be fine if Sam had an enjoyable charisma or wonder when exploring the Grid, but we got none of that. There's barely any humour, and whatever humour there is, it's really unfunny outside of Zuse being enjoyable to watch.

• The action. Don't get me wrong, it's not unwatchable, but considering Kosinski's directing, it's very underwhelming. While the game sequences are pretty cool, the action scenes are pretty lackluster as it's either just generic hand-to-hand combat or a fighter plane sequence that's perhaps the only scene that is ripped out of "Star Wars". Maybe if we got to see some cool weaponry or technology, it would be more eye-popping. Even if the writers weren't creative like that, at least have the fights give off some sort of impact either due to how gritty it is or having some really cool shots or hits. And while the action that we do have looks good, it doesn't feel good.

• The character of Tron or as he is called in the movie, Rinzler. I never really cared for the character in the original, but I do understand that he's supposed to be built up as this great hero of the film, therefore the movie is named after him. So, considering that he's supposed to be the main character of the franchise given he's the actual name of it, you'd think that he might be of importance in the sequel. Well, he's not. In the film, he was believed to be killed by Clu, but by the third act, it's revealed that the silent, second-in-command known as Rinzler is actually a brainwashed Tron. While this could be a mind-blowing twist, there's too many issues with the handling of the character. First off, Kevin finds out out the truth because Rinzler is holding Tron's disc as a weapon. While you can argue that if this character is holding their belongings, it would mean that it's actually them, I find that argument really silly. After all, Rinzler could have nothing to do with Tron and Clu could have just given Rinzler Tron's disc as a weapon. Second, we never see Rinzler unmasked at all. While this might be just to keep the character look badass for the entire film, it's a problem as not only do we never see Tron in the frontline, but keeping him masked throughout hides his emotions, which is not a good thing when we need to see their act of changing alliances or seeking redemption. Clu is unmasked throughout the film as not only to show off the de-aging effects, but to have Bridges emote and attempt to have some depth with the character. We never get this with Tron. Lastly, there's his redemption arc. Wait, did I say arc? I should say the lack thereof. Seriously, after Kevin finds out about Tron, during the fighter pilot sequence, he attempts to connect with the brainwashed ally. Not only is the use of slow-motion in the scene very oddly used as Kevin speaks normally during the process, but we still can't see Tron emote from under his helmet. The weak sentence Kevin said to Tron shouldn't have done anything, but for some reason, Tron manages to betray Clu and attempts to slow him down only to get killed and sent into the Sea of Simulation, where his bad guy colours turn into the heroic blue. The guy didn't even kill Clu in the end and whether he betrayed him or not wouldn't have changed the outcome of the story. What an embarrassment!

"Tron: Legacy" is definitely better than the original, but that's not saying too much. While there are some great-looking effects and production design, Daft Punk's score is really good and appropriate for the style of the film, Kosinski's directing has style and talent, and Zuse is an enjoyable side character with Alan being improved as well, that's all that can be said that's really noteworthy. The story is still incoherent and filled with logic gaps, the characters are just not that interesting regardless of the actor's efforts in their performance, Sam is by far one of the most blandest protagonists I've seen in a movie, Tron's role in the film is both laughable and insulting as it almost feels like he was never supposed to be in the movie to begin with, and the action is just not that memorizing despite Kosinski's best efforts. It's a sequel that does attempt to improve on the original, but the fault is that it had to be connected with the original to begin with. Whether or not you enjoyed it, I just hope that the third film in this franchise actually manages to an above average watch compared to these disappointing entries.

Verdict: 4.5/10. A better sequel doesn't equal a better movie overall. Honestly, don't bother with these films as it's mainly just meant to be eye candy flicks.