Tron: Legacy
This year the Easter Bunny brought us a copy of Tron: Legacy (supporing my hypothesis that he’s been bought out by Mickey Mouse). It’s been ages since I saw the original Tron, and my memory was a bit fuzzy, but the sequel is perfectly watchable on its own.
Set almost 30 years after the events of the first film, Tron: Legacy introduces us to Sam Flynn, whose father Kevin disappeared in 1989. Sam investigates his father’s old arcade, and is zapped into the virtual world of the Grid in a maneuver known as the Reverse Matrix.
Kevin has been trapped here for 20 years, first fighting against and then hiding from a virtual clone of himself called Clu, which Kevin created to help him create “a perfect world.”
This is what we professional writers call a Dumbass Move. All those books on Kevin’s virtual shelves, and apparently he never bothered to pick up a SF title? Anyone who knows anything about science fiction knows you don’t instruct the artificial intelligence to create perfection!!! Naturally, Clu turned against the “imperfect” Kevin and set himself up as ruler of the Grid.
We also learn about ISOs, a new species of sentient “isomorphic organisms” which spontaneously emerged in the Grid. I guess Clu thought they were imperfect, so he wiped them out. Sam, Kevin, and Thirteen Quorra (the last surviving ISO) set out to stop Clu, reach the portal, save both worlds, get a brain from the wizard, and return home.
I enjoyed the movie. Good soundtrack, flashy effects (though I kind of miss the old effects), and lots of shiny, nifty action. But there were some blatant problems.
- The ISOs. Would the movie have been any different if you eliminated this subplot? “By the way, an artificial life form spontaneously evolved here in virtual space, but now it’s gone.” Huh? This could have been fascinating on so many levels, but the movie did absolutely nothing with it.
- Tron. Were we supposed to not know who Tron was until Kevin’s shocked realization? Tron’s corruption and eventual redemption is another potentially great conflict and story which was completely neglected. Make Tron into some random uberfighting program and the movie is almost unchanged. (Though I suppose this sets up Tron: Resurrection, which I’m sure we’ll be seeing a few years down the line.)
- Predictability. Quorra explains that Kevin can reintegrate himself with Clu, but that this would destroy them both. So now we know exactly how the movie’s going to end. Other bits were equally predictable. Did anyone not know how the scene with Zuse was going to play out?
I thought the ending was so-so. Yay, Quorra and Sam escape to the real world. Um … now what? And I can only imagine what’s going to happen when she discovers our internet. Maybe that’s the real setup for Tron III: LOLCat Invasion.
Despite all this, I really did enjoy it. I liked Kevin’s efforts to remove himself from the conflict, which set up what I thought was one of the better lines in the movie, when he tells his son, “You’re messing with my Zen thing, man.” I just wish the writers had gone beyond the simplistic idea that his “Zen thing” meant hoping the problem solved itself … until Sam showed him the error of his ways and led him back to the one true path of righteous ass-kicking.
That simplistic approach sums up my disappointment with the movie. As fun as it was to watch, it follows an easy, lazy path, never taking on the larger conflicts, challenges, or implications of the material.
For those who saw it, what did you think?
Steve Buchheit
April 27, 2011 @ 10:50 am
Just got it for my b-day. Didn’t have time to watch it last night. Probably won’t until the weekend. But I do have the soundtrack (some songs better than others). But hey, lightcycles that FLY. Cool enough for me. Hopefully I’ll let my 14-year old self come out to watch it, and not the adult writer self.
Jim C. Hines
April 27, 2011 @ 10:54 am
“I’ll let my 14-year old self come out to watch it, and not the adult writer self.”
I think that would be a very wise approach to this movie…
Conrad Rader
April 27, 2011 @ 12:00 pm
I agree generally with your comments, there are a lot of threads waving in the wind, and while I was aware of the TRON situation, knowing who he was made his situation more poignant for me. The presence of the ISOs made real the fact that programs in this system could spontaneously act, allowing TRON to overcome what had been done to him. There are big themes underlying this movie that were just skimmed. Not disappointed, but here was room for more. Liked it a lot regardless.
Anita K.
April 27, 2011 @ 2:20 pm
I enjoyed TRON: Legacy, although I have to admit I really prefer the orignal TRON. I would be hugely entertained by TRON III: LOLCat Invasion. 😉
For me, Legacy felt pretty forced, which I think boils down to the same points you already made.
Effects-wise, I really felt like the 3-D aspect could have been used amazingly but it really wasn’t. The old 80s effects (and yes, I’m aware they were super cutting edge for their time) might be a little cheezy, and I find the glowing eyes and teeth ultra creepy, but other than that I felt that they were a lot more effective in convincing me I was in a computer. Legacy just felt like a weird sci-fi postapocalypic type landscape, not digital. I’d hoped they’d use the 3-D to play up the old slightly-off-kilter feel (like being in a pop-up book, which is what 3-D is actually pretty good at), but they didn’t. 🙁 I liked the new lightcycles, but the old lightsuits were better in my opinion. I loved how they lit up more when they drank power.
I really felt like Legacy was trying to be a more “modern” film: it had the love interest, it had the Zen Master, it had the nightclub scene, it had the mod clothes, it had that one dude that was the double agent and looked like the Mad Hatter, etc. But what it didn’t have was the computer geek in-jokes and puns, which are I think what made TRON such a cult classic. Watching TRON I never felt that it was pretending to be anything great or grand; it was just a goofy “what-if” movie that incorporated a lot of programming language and culture, and some brand new special effects technology. Watching Legacy I felt like it kept trying to transcend so many genres that it really didn’t develop its own ideas or logic.
I also thought the soundtrack was really disappointing. If you’re going for computer music, PLEASE either get some weird 80’s style synth-pop OR some really excellent techno; I love techno but I came out of that with a splitting headache from the really boring repetitive drums.
On the whole it was pretty decent, and I’m sure we’ll own it eventually, but I don’t think I would have liked it if TRON hadn’t come first and charmed me utterly. 🙂
Jim C. Hines
April 27, 2011 @ 3:06 pm
I had completely forgotten about the drinking power and the suits lighting up. Insted, Legacy gives us a fine dining scene with Sam, Dad, and Quorra? Though they were passing out drinks in the nightclub, weren’t they…
The old effects might be cheesey, but I think the new ones went way too far trying to be “realistic” instead of computeristic, like you said.
Anita K.
April 27, 2011 @ 3:16 pm
Yes, they were in the nightclub. Oh, the nightclub. *shudder*
I liked that fine dining scene in some ways; it was definitely super pretty. But I kept thinking they were drinking mouthwash…
liz
April 27, 2011 @ 6:53 pm
I rewatched Tron the week before I saw Legacy in the theater and thought that they worked together well. I liked the more subtle 3D effect rather than the usual headache and nausea inducing brand. As far as the ISO plot just being set aside, wasn’t 13/Quorra an ISO? and the fact that she is in the real world now means they can solve all those problems that ISO genetics (for the lack of a better word) could solve? Thats the impression I got anyways.
also, I’m putting together a theory involving Bruce Boxlietner and how he is in like, EVERY movie. Seriously, that guy pops up in the weirdest places. I think he owns a cloning machine. Either that or a time turner. Would explain some things.
Jim C. Hines
April 27, 2011 @ 6:57 pm
Quorra was an ISO, but I have no idea what that means. What problems is she supposed to solve, and how does that work? Make her a normal program, and how is the movie any different?
Someone on LJ said there was originally more of a plot with the ISOs, including rebel groups and ongoing attacks and such, but that this was excised for time. Personally, I’d rather have lost the nightclub scene 🙂
I admit I haven’t paid much attention to Boxlietner’s career. What sort of weird places have you seen him?
Sean
April 27, 2011 @ 7:03 pm
at least it was a sequel and not a remake…….
zollmaniac
April 27, 2011 @ 8:13 pm
Jim, I just wanted to relay this story to you regarding Tron: Legacy.
After being blown away (I was a huge fan of the first and the second was amazing), I did the usual after movie routine (bathroom, stretching, etc). As I was waiting for my wife to return from the restroom, two teenage girls walked by me and this is what they said:
Girl 1: “I don’t get why it was called Tron! He wasn’t even in the movie!”
Girl 2: “Maybe they’ll make a sequel and he’ll be in that one.”
So, the obviousness of Tron was only really obvious to those of us who… well… aren’t teenage girls and haven’t seen the first movie.
However, I do agree with you about the predictability, but it doesn’t bother me. Honestly, if you compare the original and legacy, the plots aren’t all that different. They even ride around on the Solar Sailer as they try to escape!
Also, what about Zeus’s club? Why would a “perfect” system need a club in that fashion? I’ve heard people argue that it was Flynn’s playlist or some nonsense, but come on.
On another note, CLU’s plan was really quite flawed. He built an army in a virtual world based on virtual physics. I think had he succeeded in bringing his army into the real world, he would have been met with immediate disaster.
His tanks and carrier wouldn’t work (the carrier wouldn’t fly at all). Their staff weapons would have been nothing more than staves and their armor would be useless against modern day weaponry (at least in my opinion). Granted, that’s assuming they survive the transition into the real world! Could you imagine what would happen had the carrier and army materialized in the BASEMENT of Flynn’s Arcade?
All of those random thoughts concluded with this: If a game developer created an MMO that would allow me to live on the Grid, I would gladly give up several years of my life to the experience with no regrets.
zollmaniac
April 27, 2011 @ 8:16 pm
The ISOs were suppose to cure all diseases and all that junk. So, if she was brought into the real world, they could use her DNA to cure cancer and create world peace… Or at least, that’s the idea I got from Flynn’s talk about them and all his talk of radical things.
zollmaniac
April 27, 2011 @ 8:18 pm
I loved the dinner scene (and they were drinking weird blue liquid at the meal too). The biggest reason was the complete awkwardness between Sam and his Dad. Probably because I had a similar dinner with my own dad after my parents’ divorce and not talking to him for several years.
Jim C. Hines
April 27, 2011 @ 9:00 pm
I did like the silence and the uncomfortabless of that conversation.
Jim C. Hines
April 27, 2011 @ 9:03 pm
He was wearing the exact same armor as in the flashback! He was the only one with the four-dot “T” sign on his chest. Silly teenagers.
Re: Clu, maybe the server would have simply compensated for the spatial issues, and you would have had an entire army of six-inch miniature warriors and model warships pop out in the arcade basement. We could have ended with Clu leading his army onto the street, looking around, and mumbling, “Aw, crap.”
KatG
April 28, 2011 @ 10:21 am
It was pretty awful. They didn’t have enough of what made the first movie really tick — the games, the comraderie/conflict of the programs/characters. Bridges’ character had become so passive, I guess he was supposed to be shellshocked, but it didn’t really fit what they had him be before. And the ISO stuff was ridiculous even for Tron levels. They did it so the gal could come out of the game, but they just as easily could have her be a program that resembled the cute program designer on the outside. They just loaded it down with religious mysticism and it was a boggy mess with the Tron stuff thrown in as an afterthought.
My daughter, who is a teenage girl, saw the first one and liked it, though she said the pacing was slow (being an Internet quick-jump child.) She really looked forward to seeing this one which is why we went, and she said it was faster, but nowhere near as good. Still, when they did hit it — the stuff with the bikes, the women programs outfitting young Flynn — they did well. But the story structure sucked.
Anita K.
April 28, 2011 @ 10:22 am
Now *that* would have made for a GREAT movie ending.
@zollmaniac–THANK YOU for pointing that out about the club… I didn’t understand its purpose or why it was there at ALL, but I haven’t heard anyone else agree with me!
liz
April 28, 2011 @ 8:26 pm
oh, nothing specific really. My family watched Babylon 5 when it was new and that is what I always associate him with. He doesn’t get top billing, so every time he appears in a movie I feel surprised. I checked out his wikki (cuz you know those are Never wrong) and he has indeed done a lot of things I’ve seen, even more that I haven’t. He is a great actor; A ‘that-guy’ that you actually remember his name.
Leslie
May 5, 2011 @ 6:09 pm
“it follows an easy, lazy path, never taking on the larger conflicts, challenges, or implications of the material”
– That pretty much sums up how I felt about the movie. I did enjoy the special effects, and actually appreciated their use of 3D (I’ve become sort of annoyed by the fact that EVERYTHING is being made in 3D these days whether it needs to be or not). It was nice to see it used to differentiate the real world from the game – 3D has a purpose other than being cool! I had never seen the first Tron, so I can’t comment on the comparison. But the new one was definitely light on actual story.