Tron: Legacy reactions

Cafe Society
1

Saw Tron: Legacy today and loved it to bits.

Critical reaction: Visually stunning and one of the most unique-looking films in recent memory. Olivia Wilde is great, as is Michael Sheen. Jeff Bridges does what he can with some absurd dialogue. The younger Bridges is fine if you dial-down expectations and don’t look too closely; this is cutting-edge tech that still needs the wrinkles ironed-out (ironically enough). One loose thread in particular is bothersome:

The fate of Tron himself is not clearly addressed, perhaps for a sequel. Also, we never get a good look at his face.

The action set-pieces are fantastic, even if the climax feels straight out of Star Wars. At worst, it’s a piece of exceptional eye-candy that wrings every last drop out of its nostalgia value. I’d give it an 8/10. It stands above Avatar both visually and script-wise, so if there’s any justice, Tron: Legacy will be the blockbuster hit of the season.

Fanboy reaction: OH. MY. GOD. This actually exceeded my expectations, which were high. Any fan of the original should enjoy this, as long as they expect a more modern film. And while this is clearly a fantasy film, the concepts of computer science are treated with at least passing familiarity, including Unix commands that aren’t brain-dead. This has the same hacker-culture spirit as the original, including a boardroom scene that skewers modern commercial software practices nicely. You can certainly see this without seeing the original, but the callbacks to the first film add so much more to the experience when you’re a fan.

On a personal note, I started programming in BASIC on a TRS-80 CoCo2 in the mid-'80s after watching the original Tron. Now I’m doing research on genetic algorithms, and to hear GAs name-checked in the first act brought home just what these films mean to me. I can’t emphasise how big a thrill this is, seeing Tron finally get the recognition it deserves.

If you’re a fan, ignore any mixed reviews. This is the film you’ve been waiting for.

END OF LINE.

2

I saw it today and had several heart attacks at how amazing the sync between music/visuals were - to be honest the soundtrack was the only thing that interested me in the film at all, I wouldn’t have been interested otherwise. But thankfully the whole thing turned out amazing and I’m glad I saw it.

The lead actor was shit though - he seemed to have two emotions: slighty confused and blank.

For those wondering if you need to see the first to understand this one, I haven’t seen it and had no trouble with the plot of the sequel, though I do now really want to see the original.

3

I thought Hedlund was serviceable. Not bad, not great. And yes, the soundtrack was very good, but nowhere near Carlos’ original.

4

The Soundtrack rocks. But then, it is Daft Punk.

5

Do I need to see the original to enjoy this?

6

I say no. Think of the original as sort of in the same way as you would a comic prequel tie-in.

Though, of course, the original film is canon. And worth seeing.

7

I was very excited going in (TRON is a cherished childhood experience) but pretty much hated it. Yes, it is visually interesting, but also visually one-note and by halfway in I was kind of bored of that.

If I understand correctly, before getting trapped in there Flynn spent 7 years working to create the “perfect network” and it ends up being one still based on gladiatoral combat?

I guess my biggest problem is that the movie simply tried to recreate TRON with 2010 CGI rather than trying to extend the ideas of TRON into what computing has become in 2010. Really? The one computer technology related wow that young son chooses to convey to dad is that we have wifi? How about the fact that a sizable percentage of the population already spends a siginficant portion of their lives immersed in digital environments? That we all carry computers in our pockets. That I can buy and begin reading a book while on a train without leaving my seat and simply because I saw another passenger reading it? Instead, they try to wow us again with 1982 computer ideas.

In terms of the story, maybe something went over my head, but wasn’t Clu’s plan stupid rather than scary? Why did it have to be resisted even if it meant death?

[spoiler]As near as I can tell, Clu’s plan was to materialize his army into the real world. The problem is:

  1. His somewhat digitally powerful army would just be men with sticks once on the outside.
  2. This army would be materializing in the basement of a closed video arcade.
  3. Apparently this lab in the basement of a video arcade has access to the power output of a small sun since it will be creating millions of pounds of matter out of nothing (just creating Olivia Wilde out of nothing would require the energy output of a 1000 megaton bomb). Yes, this point should be overlooked since the entire premise of the movies are facially ridiculous, but since the movie didn’t entertain me, I don’t feel like cutting it any slack.

But even within the conceits of the movie, the first two don’t make sense to me. The best response, it seems to me, would have been for Kevin to go to Clu and say "you know what, you’re right. I missed my son and want to live a normal life with him so let’s all go to the real world. Then once on the outside bid Clu a faretheewell and a fond hope that getting used to having absolutely no power beyond that of a normal human being isn’t that hard of an adjustment and when he realizes he needs to buy food (and maybe some transportation, since airplanes will no longer materialize for him at the twist of a stick) for his giant army to stop by Encom and maybe they’ll give him a job.[/spoiler]

8

I have to admit that despite liking it overall, I too found myself a little bit bored in parts. The movie peaked for me at the club scene, and a little while after that I leant over to my friend and said “I think Daft Punk should appear again now”.

9

Is that why the audience applauded? I knew I was missing something.

10

My main reaction is to really be jonesing for a rave.
And throughout it all I wondered if mushrooms would enhance the experience, or merely be redundant. :stuck_out_tongue:

Some of my favorite sounds include the groans and screeches of metal stress, and the sound of modems shaking hands, so that music made the movie for me.

I think Daft Punk was the 12th man, and it would not have been the same without them for me.

11

I’m really baffled by people saying the film was slow or boring during the second act. I found the scenes at the Safe House to be necessary respite and a chance for the characters to relate to each other. To me (and my companion, who isn’t part of the fanbase), the two hours flew by.

Anyway, regarding the WiFi comment, it’s just shorthand. Some long discussion about WoW, Second Life, Blackberries, etc. would have been redundant dialogue and possibly thematically confusing.

12

The safe house scene was mostly fine. It was the rest of the movie that was boring.

13

Just got back from it, and really liked it. I think they did a good job on expanding on some of the themes that the original touched on, but really failed to exploit: the religious aspect of having a computer programmer physically inside a digital world, and interacting with sentient programs, and just what such a person could do inside a world he literally wrote into existence. The visuals were great, the acting sufficient its needs, and the story was alright - which, lets face it, means it was an improvement over the original on all counts.

There were a couple of points where they seemed to be setting something up, but never paid it off. The kind of douchey young guy in the board meeting, I thought, was being set up as an antagonist, but he disappeared immediately after that scene. Same with the guys at the club who were trying to get Zeus to join some sort of resistance movement - I figured they’d end up helping overthrow Clu, or something, but again, after that scene, never heard from again.

The one thing about the movie that really bugged me was Tron himself. I liked the idea of him doing the whole Darth Vader routine, but they didn’t sell his heel face turn: he sees Flynn through a canopy, and all of a sudden, he “fights for the Users” again. I think that was the first time he’d seen Flynn since he’d been turned, so I guess you could sell that as a side effect of Flynn’s general Jesus aura, but I thought they could have gotten a lot more drama out of it. But more than anything else, I really wish they’d come up with a design for his outfit that was more distinct from Clue’s random footmen. Most of the time, I didn’t realize it was supposed to be him until he broke out the duel disc wielding routine.

Also, the first time I saw the goons using those four-winged parasailing things to drop through the roof of the night club, all I could think was, “Oh, Clu is really The Monarch!”

And lastly, obfusciatrist, your problems with the movie seem to stem from the idea that a program translating into the real world would be a normal human. But there’s no particular reason to think that. We don’t know what a program would be capable of in the real world. On the other hand, Flynn, whom you’d expect to have a pretty good idea about that sort of thing, seems to view it as a Very Bad Thing. Would have been better if the film could have given us some sort of concrete reason why we should be scared of that happening - but then, they’d probably also have to give us some idea why getting an isoform into the real world would be such a good thing, and they really punted that question. Still a flaw in the film, to be sure, but not really the gaping plot hole you saw it as.

14

Are you talking about Cillian Murphy as Ed Dillinger, Jr.? His father was the antagonist in the original. IMHO, you don’t give a big name like that such a small cameo (with such storytelling potential) without it being a set-up for a sequel. Same with Tron. I’d put money on any sequel involving Sam Flynn, Quorra and Tron battling the younger Dillinger inside a computer, perhaps for control of Encom.

15

I totally didn’t realize that was Cilian Murphy. But then, I spent the whole middle of the film thinking it was Simon Pegg playing the night club owner, so you can see that I’m not really great with recognizing actors in films. I did catch that he was a second generation heavy, so I also suspect a sequel hook here, but it still seemed that they could have done more with it, set up something beyond just, “Here’s a guy who exists!”

16

They had an ad for the video game before the movie. The movie played like a far, far longer version of an ad for the video game. Pretty awful generally. Even Daft Punk were dumbed down - they did 80s electronica in the 80s, it’s just annoying now at those SPLs.

17

I see it as being similar to Dylan Baker’s cameos in the Spider-man films as Curt Connors, which one would assume were intended to set him up for later appearances as the Lizard. Sort of an Easter egg for people who are “in the know”.

18

Didnt understand one word of what you wrote. Care to elaborate?

19

I thought the special effects were breathtaking, and the plot, acting, and charaters were pretty meh.

It was disappointing not to see Tron’s face. They could surely have found a reasonable look-alike actor.

20

Well, if we’re going to assume that the computer can generate magical humans (when it is already a massive leap that it could generate even regular humans out of whole cloth) then yes, we can assume it is a bad thing because it will bring Narnia into our world and nobody really likes Turkish Delight.

But that’s just one problem I had with the movie. And it wasn’t actually a problem until the end revealed I had initially misunderstood (and long after I was already bored with the proceedings). I thought Clu was looking to escape from The Grid into the larger global network. A Lawnmower Man situation, which would be a real peril (and an interesting sequel watching 1989 very smart technology try to take on 2010 digital security).

Also, if Flynn had figured out the technology to create new humans out of whole cloth, then he was really burying the lede with the whole “living in a digital world” thing.

Anyway, ultimately my big problem with the movie is that it is just Action Movie Template #4 with almost nothing interesting added beyond nice visuals that are so one note that they become tiring after 45 minutes.

Action Template #4: A loved one has been kidnapped. Hero must find and rescue loved one. Impediments to escape, including betrayal, overcome. Climatic fight scene on elevated walkway, preferably elevated over bottomless pit because watching people fall is cool.

I did like Michael Sheen’s Zuse, but I suspect that if any other character had been allowed to show even a shred of defined personality he might have been over the top. Instead he was a bit of an oasis in the desert.