Tron: Legacy

This is one that I've been wanting to review for a while now!

A lot has been said about Tron: Legacy since its release in 2010.

Disappointing, boring, okay, average, blah, blah, blah, blah. I disagree with all of that.

I'm not quite sure what people were expecting with this film, but let me tell you that the original doesn't hold up as well as many hardcore fans would like you to believe. At its time? Amazing, I'm sure. But nowadays it's somewhat difficult to see what all the fuss was about. So imagine being in Disney's position trying to have to capture the old generation's fans and the new generation's newbies. A bit of a daunting task, but I think that Tron: Legacy delivered in spades.

In fact, I will go as far to say that, at least in my opinion, Tron: Legacy is one of the more criminally underrated films in the last decade.

You tell me that in 20 years this still wont look gorgeous.

Ooooo metaphors!!

I originally saw the film when it first came out in IMAX 3D. Still to this day, it is right alongside Avatar and Gravity as the absolute best uses of that combo. I wasn't really a big Tron nerd...I had heard of the previous movie and this one interested me with its visuals. Simply put, I was blown away. Not only by the visuals, but from how much fun I had inside The Grid. Since then, I've watched it on Blu-ray countless times where it is one of my best looking versions of that medium as well. It's no secret that the visuals are the strong suit of the film. The amount of detail put into the world still blows my mind every time I watch it. Strips of yellow and blue neon coating everything...telling the audience where the shapes in all the blackness are. It's mesmerizing stuff and there is certainly no lack of creativity within the film. The superb quality of the visuals seems to flow into every technological piece of the film as well. Cinematography is fantastic for most of the film and the sound editing is about as top-notch as it gets. This film + a great TV + Blu-ray + volume turned up = one rockin' good time.

I think I may be 6-8 viewings into my Tron: Legacy watch count and I still get chills during the light cycle battle. Daft Punk's glorious score (which I'll be getting to later), mixed with the perfect amount of slow-motion, unique stunts, complete lack of shaky-cam, and the superb visuals make for easily one of my Top 10 favorite scenes ever. Most of the other action fails in comparison to the arena, which I would agree is a fault, but even still, most of it is loads of fun if not a little bit generic.

Such...pretty...lights...*gets squished*

Pasty white Olivia Wilde is still sexy Olivia Wilde

No...it wasn't the visuals or the action that people complained about. It was the story and all of its "shortcomings". Like I said, I'm many viewings into Legacy and I still think the story is great. Does it slow down a bit after the strong start and arena battle? Absolutely. But I found it impressive how well they tied to the original film, filled everyone in on those happenings, and then proceeded to create an original film of their own with a solid ending. Was the ending a bit lackluster? Sometimes I think yes, other times I love it. Was the plot line about the ISOs confusing? I personally don't think it was at all, but ok. Can you imagine if someone was to create a digital frontier and there were biological answers in there? It really would change the world! Very far fetched, but fun to think about at least. As far as character development goes, there could have been more but at the same time this was an sci-fi adventure flick. There's a time and place for it. What I will say about the character development is that it feels cliché every time I watch it. It's certainly there, but its generic and poorly thought out. Child is abandoned by his father. Child is brooding young adult with bad attitude. Young adult kind of falls for attractive girl he meets. Dad has apologizing to do and realizes its his ultimate duty to save his son. And so on and so forth. It's all been done before (albeit not on The Grid) and done better.

Performance-wise I thought that Jeff Bridges was fantastic and he truly has an infectious spirit during his scenes, both good guy and bad guy. Olivia Wilde is awkward as the program Quorra, which was the point, but it feels like she doesn't know how awkward to be at times. Garrett Hedlund has grown on me as Sam Flynn, but it definitely took a while. Some scenes he is pretty stale and others he acts like he is too good to be there. I can definitely see where people would complain about the factors I've listed in the last two paragraphs...I just didn't (and still don't) find them as drastic as people make them out to be. And to be frank, the rest of the film is packaged so damn well that it's hard to care if the movie meets its "character development quota".

"Um...dad...your face looks like rubber."

Jeff Bridges dropping that digital bass on
yo' head

The final aspect that I would like to touch on is the original score by Daft Punk. Now, I'm not really the biggest fan of electronic music or the like. But what Daft Punk did with their Tron: Legacy original score was groundbreaking. Not only was it one of their best albums, it's one of the best original scores ever created I think. "Derezzed" was their big hit from it and I think that it's probably one of the weakest examples on the album. Their electronic beats mixed with Hans Zimmer-esque symphony is bone-chilling, invigorating, and down right perfect. If I were to pick one thing that blows me away every time I watch Legacy, it would be Daft Punk's score. In case you're curious as to how that translates into the score? I am adding a solid two points to the film because of it. Whereas so many films have a score that is just "there", or one that "compliments" it, Tron: Legacy's score breaths life into it; it becomes a part of the movie's experience. I can't even begin to imagine it without it.

Now, I know that I've been ranting about how awesome Tron: Legacy is for the past several paragraphs and I'm sure that there are more than enough of you that don't necessarily agree with me. As I've always said, that is perfectly OK. That's the beauty of cinema. Some films resonate much more with others than they do with ourselves and vice versa. In all honesty, I want to give Tron: Legacy a 9.5/10. But if I remove myself from the equation (ha! see what I did there?) there is part of me deep down that knows, despite my immense enjoyment out of it, that it doesn't deserve that. It probably deserves more like an 8 or 8.5/10. But hell, this is my site so I'll go somewhere in the middle.

Tron: Legacy, much like 300 and several other films is mostly style over substance. But when you have a style that is this perfected, from the visuals to the feel to the sound to the original score, it's hard not to say that Legacy isn't a film that puts a point in the win column for the "style" side.

CONS:

• There isn't really a lack of character development, but it certainly is generic. If some of these plotlines were outside The Grid, they wouldn't be interesting at all
• A tad overlong. I think there are certainly scenes that could have been shortened or omitted
• After the arena the film, and action, does dip in quality ever-so-slightly
• Some stiff acting from Olivia Wilde and Garrett Hedlund. With time, these performance issues become less and less apparent

PROS:

• Give the plot more credit. It does a fantastic job of tying in the original film, making itself its own standalone film, AND leaving the plot open enough for future entries. I find the ISOs far more interesting than most
• Visually one of the most striking films in the last decade. Beautifully realized and created in IMAX 3D and Blu-ray. The neon-on-black style is iconic
• Most of the action is above-average but the disc battle and light cycle battle in the arena is some other beast entirely. One of my favorite movie scenes ever
• Some phenomenal cinematography and everything else technologically is still on par even four years later
• Daft Punk's original score is one of the best ever. It becomes it's own character in the movie, driving it forward and giving it additional weight and purpose
• Overall just an extremely fun film that has a lot to offer time and time again. One of my personal favorites

Retro Rath's Review Score: 9/10