Tron Review

Dec 28, 2010 · 2 minute read

I’ve seen a few other reviews of the movie out there on the Internet, and even seen some meta-reviews, or review aggregations. But not that many, I haven’t really sought them out. So rather than deliberately attempting to ape others’ reactions, I give you the raw deal, the real stuff, straight from the spooky pony’s mouth.

Er, something like that, anyway.

On to the review proper. In short, I didn’t love it. I also didn’t hate all of it. Sam Flynn whined a lot and emoted a lot, with next to zero justification for his existence. I don’t understand why he hated the company, why he lived the way he did, or why he was so whiny in the first two-thirds of the movie and then faded into irrelevancy in the final third.

Jeff Bridges did well as both CLU and Kevin Flynn, though Kevin Flynn’s character was more The Dude than an elite hacker. Not that hackers can’t be Dude-like, but there wasn’t a whole lot of substance to the hacker part of the character. CLU, on the other hand, was excellently done.

I enjoyed Michael Sheen’s turn as Zeus, but the most intriguing performance was that given by Olivia Wilde. I wanted to know more of her backstory, find out more about the history and capabilities of the isosceles tribe (or whatever they were), and see what she could do in greater depth.

Which takes me to the heart of my criticism of the movie: the plot was dreadful and the writing shallow. The movie felt very flat to me, the story colorless.

I did enjoy the mix of dimensions in the film, and thought it was wonderfully designed. The lighting, the stripes on the costumes were the only area I thought should have been better. I noticed too much flexing and wrinkling, and while I appreciate the attempt to stay wholly physical with the costumes, I think they would have been better off had they been touched up with CGI. The one other visual disappointment was with TRON/Rinzler. Since the movie makers went to the trouble of building CLU using reverse aging effects and so forth, I admit I expected to see Rinzler remove his helmet (or have it shattered) to reveal Bruce Boxleitner’s younger visage beneath, perhaps suitably scarred or modified to demonstrate CLU’s “repurposing” of TRON’s programming.

Overall review: wait for cable.