Tron: Ares

Tron, one of Disney's most sporadic franchises, returns this week with Tron: Ares, a movie that took so long to make that it was transformed from a Tron: Legacy sequel to a soft-reboot, starting with a fresh new set of characters (only Jeff Bridges returns). Both the 1982 original and the 2010 sequel had similar results: underperformed at the box office, were mostly rejected by critics but, over time, they grew a large fan base. Fan reappraisal didn't come, however, for their exciting stories or memorable characters, but only because they were audiovisual marvels.

The original earned its right to be remembered as a cult movie from the 1980s and the first to incorporate computers and artificial intelligence not only in their plots (that would have been far from novel) but in their visual effects too, with primitive CGI images that at the time felt like "cheating" by critics and the Academy (despite also using many traditional optical techniques mixed up as digital effects to bring to life how computers look on the inside). It was unlike anything done before and it still looks really attractive for retromaniacs, but plot wise it was a mess: I challenge anyone to watch that movie now and don't lose focus by the nonsensical plot and lifeless acting and directing.

The sequel improved things a bit, but not enough to make it a very compelling watch... beyond the extraordinary digital effects and the surrounding soundtrack by Daft Punk, arguably the album that saved the band after Human After All. Will Tron: Ares finally manage to capture our attention with their characters as story as much as their visual effects and music?

Tron: Ares has only one screenwriter credited, Jesse Wigutow, based on a story by David Digilio and Wigutow, but in the more than a decade that it took Tron: Ascension (the cancelled Legacy sequel) to be transformed into Ares, a lot of people worked on their script. The WGA syndicate credits ten more people to have worked on "additional literary material" not on screen. That doesn't necessarily mean that what they worked on has remained in the film, but it reminds us that this isn't the work of an author having an idea, like Lisberger with the original, and even Legacy with Lost scribes Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz.

Instead, it's the result of endless executive meetings within Disney to try and capitalise on their existing IP, hiring screenwriters to make sense of the nonsensical Tron universe and find some kind of story idea that works and that, for once, won't scare the mainstream public off. That corporative method of working doesn't always result in bad things, but it frequently leads to movies lacking personality, as is the case here: the story has potential, but it drowns very early on from convoluted exposition, rushed character development, nonsensical plot twists, and inexplicable humour that adds a feeling of levity that doesn't suit this universe.

Tron movies have not been deep, cerebral science-fiction by any stretch of the imagination, but they always took themselves seriously and aimed for an almost mythical sense of epic scale. Tron: Ares is much more inconsistent with the tone, and feels much more similar to a generic fantasy or superhero movie, with dumb humour shoehorned everywhere (including an entire comic-relief character), a theatrical human villain, unnatural dialogue explaining the plot, and a lot of forced cathartic character moments that all fall flat because the script lacks conviction and cohesion because of the endless rewrites.

On the other hand, Tron: Ares is more digestible than its predecessors: it's very fast-paced and spoon-feeds you all the emotions you're supposed to feel so that it's easier to connect, and "easier to follow" despite nothing making any sense (perhaps that is why it is so fast-paced, so you don't have time to stop and question if anything that is being told sounds believable).

So in a way it is the most entertaining Tron movie of the bunch, but only if you are willing to tag along with characters that do the bare minimum to earn your love and ignore the tons of missed potential here, wasting every chance it has of making thoughtful commentary on the rise of AI or the Crichton-like dilemma of the dangers of technological advancements, instead turning it into a cliched, childish adventure that way too often feels like the freaking Sonic the Hedgehog movies.

The endless rewrites seem to have especially massacred the character of Ares, played by Jared Leto. Conceived as a security programme able to be brought to "life" into the real world, he will go through the expected "Artificial Intelligence questions his own existence" arc, but it is so rushed that he never feels like an authentic character, and his relationship later on with the other lead character played by Greta Lee is so forced and artificial that you can't help but feel manipulated. You can see what they were aiming to do with these characters, but it doesn't work, and it shows that they didn't put any effort into making it natural. Or maybe all the good work was lost between rewrites six and seven.

It would be tempting to pin the fault on Leto and his lack of charisma, but his character, a computer programme trained only to kill, should not be charismatic, I believe. Yet, somehow, the writers (or focus group meetings) decided that he has to be oddly charming and cool, making up some characterisation that comes from nowhere.

Again, I kind of get it: Tron movies have never excelled in character development, so the writers decided (or executives demanded) that the characters should be more memorable... as in being able to be summarised in one sentence. It doesn't matter how one-dimensional or interchangeable they are, as long as they keep the movie rolling all the time and add quick, superficial motivation and some humour.

That's what also motivates the most controversial aspect of the movie: that it mostly takes place in the real world, with the digital characters appearing in the real world. The first two movies took place in the digital world: it looked absolutely stunning, but it maybe was a bit too nerdy for most audiences, so Disney chose to take the reverse-isekai route, with lightcycles driving in cities, leading to generic (probably cheaper) car chases.

Approximately 30% of the movie takes place in the digital world, which thankfully leads to two awesome but short action scenes. And, truth be told, the light trails from the bikes and other vehicles and weapons the characters use in the real world look as stunning as they did in Legacy. All of that, and some surprises, still means that the usual Tron commentary remains: the plot and characters in Ares are weak, but the visual effects and music are awesome.

Time will tell if Nine Inch Nails' score ends up being as celebrated as Daft Punk's from Legacy, but it is undeniable that it sounds great in the movie and gives it an added energy. To no surprise, the soundtrack ends up being one of the biggest positives of the movie. One of the very few. Even the really great ideas of the story, with some cool nods to the original movie, end up being mostly underutilised and too superficial.

Tron: Ares is the result of a simplification and you could argue "marvelification" of the series to try and please the wider audiences that the previous movies couldn't reach and, this time to properly relaunch it as an active franchise (a post-credits scene included, happens early in the end credits). The premise of technology invading our world is underutilised, the plot is generic and sloppy, and the characters have no depth. And even worse, the visual aspects of the movie suffer with the decision of taking the action to the real world, even if the CGI is still impeccable. It's the most accessible movie in the series, as entertaining as it is forgettable, but won't become anyone's cult-favourite.