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The matrix of futility is revisited in this tediously complex sci-fi film, closer to a screensaver than an actual film. This is a third installment to the classic Tron film from the early 80s, a film that was mould-breaking and courageously innovative for its day in a way that eludes this film and its predecessor Tron: Legacy from the previous decade. Tron: Ares nearly awakens just once – when Evan Peters gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson portraying his mother, in an old-fashioned bit of real-world action. This is a bit of firm parenting you might want to handing out to every producer engaged in this film, and it's unfortunate to see the estimable Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so lifeless.

Plot Overview of The New Tron Film

The situation now is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger has become a competitor to the virtual reality firm Encom Inc, originally set up in the 80s arcade-game era by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn's character, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (initially founded by Encom executive Ed Dillinger, acted by David Warner) is led by the founder’s odiously nerdish grandson's character Julian (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to design and create lucrative items such as invincible troops and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then export them into actual reality using a kind of 3D printer.

The problem is that however fearsome, these creations disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has uncovered the plot-driving “permanence code” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic flashdrive. So the dreadful Julian Dillinger sets his attack dog on her: Ares the warrior, the humanoid uber-warrior which can exit the virtual realm for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of androids, is starting to exhibit symptoms of not doing what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith plays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena and unfortunate Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Breakdown

And Ares himself – the protagonist of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and subtly omniscient grin, details that were possibly created by typing the words “incredibly irritating” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who recalls the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life series will always find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Jared Leto, and I was incidentally quite amused by his broad (and widely misinterpreted) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Leto is unremittingly, persistently terrible in this film, although his performance isn't aided by a weak storyline which is supposed to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Eve Kim's role and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena's character, thus making her marginally more interesting. It is meant to be charming when Ares says how he loves 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode band are better than Mozart.

Franchise Elements and Overall Impact

Consistent with the brand-identity of the series, there are motorcycles from the virtual underworld which whizz about the place in linear paths, adhering to the angular layout of classic video games (or indeed dance clubs); a single bike even shoots out a death ray which slices a cop car in half. But there is zero tension or danger or emotional engagement throughout. This franchise currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.