Review of Tron (1982) by Damion R — 13 Nov 2011

Back when I saw the Disney "classic" "Tron" in elementary school, I remember being absolutely floored by this film. With its cutting edge special effects and it's uber-cool plotline of a programmer being sucked into his own videogame, the entire film's concept and execution just blew my mind.

I was in elemenatry.

Needless to say, I was hoping to re-watch this film over a quarter of a century later before last year's "Tron: Legacy" as a refresher course, and the DVD didn't make it intil my mailbox until almost a year later. That might have been a good thing, because if I had rewatched this last year, I may not have been as excited for the upgraded version.

1982's "Tron" is, in short, a horrible film. Yes, to watch it is still kinda cool, even though the effects are incredibly dated with the old school computer graphics and overuse of blacklight, but the story is really, really horrible. I mean, it's just boring and silly and completely useless. So, even as early as 1982, producers were making films that focused so much on the visual, the story seemed like an unimportant aspect.

Funny how things don't seem to change.

Honestly, there's nothing left to say. I think anyone who thinks this film is awesome but hasn't seen it in twenty-five years is going to be just as disappointed as me when rewatching because besides having a giggle at the visuals, though being impressed by them when thinking of the time frame, the story will make you think "man, what did I like about this movie?" There's a reason why this film flopped at the box office....adults back then realized what it took us kids twenty-five years to figure out.

Sadly, these days, films with great affects and terribly plots makes loads of money....I wonder if kids will realize twenty-five years from now what a pile a shit the "Transformers" series really is.