Review of TRON: Legacy (2010) by Brahmabull — 20 Dec 2010

Gotta agree with the critics some on this. Probably better to watch on its own but with a title like Tron Legacy, they'd have to expect you may have seen the first one. It does not compare favorably in my opinion.

I own the original Tron and love it. And this is not Tron. Too damn serious for one thing. I know the character was supposed to have heard all about the Grid from his dad's stories but he still should have inspired some sense of wonder at the place when he eventually gets in--Jeff Bridges did so much better in the original.

And the visuals? The magic with the first Tron was that EVERYTHING was computer-generated. Here they have actual REAL models for the light-cycles and light-bikes. The movie was just as awkward as the dinner scene with newly reunited father and son.

Cooked food? Hardcovers? In the digital realm? WTF? Some nice references to the old movie and 80's nostalgia. But it was all flash and no soul. The tech to create "young Jeff" was not as bad as it could have been.

But, again, the original movie, everybody's face looked pale because of graphics not because of makeup, everybody's costume "seemed digitized" not like real tights, and whose bright idea was it to make "deresolution" look like glass breaking? There wasn't even the laser to "scan" Sam into the Grid.

And no Cursor--the only nod to actual computer tech was some UNIX-looking (probably MacOS X) commands typed in. If this was an attempt at upgrading the Grid, it was mistaken. Do people expect a better, more visually complex Grid 20 years later? Yes, but they could have executed much better given that CGI today is light years ahead of where it was then.

This movie supposedly continues where Tron left off and it does explore territory the original Tron didn't. But I would rather watch old Tron than new Tron. Although he was the best actor in the film, even Jeff seemed like he was more interested in making True Grit than this movie--it even comes off that way in his very few promotional appearances for it.

The movie was eye-candy, but ultimately emotionless.