Tron: Legacy
Joseph Kosinski
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Full Review: Tron: Legacy is the long awaited sequel to the cult classic Tron, which revolutionised the way we see computer graphics and the digital world. This movie turned heads with its beautiful use of digital graphics, both in the digitally de-aged Jeff Bridges, to the absolutely stunning look of “The Grid”. The action packed chase scenes and fights make the movie a joy to watch and the emotionally driven plot keeps the movie goers from risking a trip to the bathroom. Combined with an A-list cast as well as record breaking soundtrack by the kings
of House music themselves, Tron: Legacy certainly lives up to the hype.
The story follows Sam Flynn, son of Tech mogul and former CEO of FLYNN software, Kevin Flynn, as he follows the clues left behind by his father to answer the question, “Where in the world is Kevin Flynn?” This questions lead young Sam to the old Arcade, where hidden behind and old TRON arcade machine a hidden office can be found. After digging into the futuristic desktop, a large laser like apparatus rises up behind him, and before he knows it, Sam is now on “The grid”, a digital world inside Kevin Flynn’s computer. Same must fight through the perils of the Grid to find his father and to answer all the of the questions that this new world provides. Who is Clu? Why does he look like Kevin? And why hasn’t Kevin returned to the world and the son he loves.
The cast do an amazing job portraying the varying characters in this film. Jeff Bridges, reprising his role as Kevin Flynn, does a superb job at playing both the aging father, as well as the renegade dictator CLU. Garrett Hedlund continues to grow his resume as his career has continued to prove prosperous since appearing in the movie Troy with Brad pitt, and proves his abilities as an actor by portraying the rebellious and brilliant Sam Flynn. Olivia Wilde’s tempered yet daring Quorra offers more than a match for the young prodigy. This pair combined with Bridges’ experience lead of a unique and promising crew helps progress the film with great synchronicity.
The visuals are hands down some of the best generated effects ever produced in a movie. The movie takes place 95% inside the world of the Grid, and modern technology transforms this digital world into a beautiful, clean and colorful place of polygons and carbon fiber-like everything. The dynamic lighting and interaction completely blows away any other contender in the effects genre. To this day, I have yet to see a movie that comes close to Tron: Legacy’s production value.
Sadly, much like the original film, the story falls slightly short, due to a somewhat cliche ending. That said, they way they handled it was much better than the original, and the pacing issue was most certainly fixed. If it weren’t for the slightly corny nature of the ending, this movie would have blown the box office away even more than it had. I definitely recommend this movie to anybody with a love for computers, gaming, and beautiful computer generated imaging.
Final score: 8/10