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The framework of pointlessness is reloaded in this mind-bendingly dull science fiction film, more 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 boldly pioneering for its time in a way that eludes this film and its predecessor Tron: Legacy from the previous decade. Tron: Ares almost comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters' character gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson's character playing 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 involved in this movie, and it's sad to see the estimable Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so uninspired.

Story Summary of The New Tron Film

The situation now is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a rival to the VR company Encom Inc, first established in the 80s arcade-game era by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn, played by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger's role, played by David Warner) is led by the founder’s odiously nerdish grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to design and create lucrative items such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the VR world and then export them into the real world using a sort of 3D printer.

The problem is that however fearsome, these creations disintegrate after 29 minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has discovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even stores it on her person on a very low-tech USB drive. So the dreadful Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares, the humanoid uber-warrior which can exit the virtual realm for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of robots, is beginning to show signs of disobeying what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith plays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena's role and unfortunate Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in sage-like white garments, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Character and Performance Breakdown

And Ares himself – the hero of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, beard and faintly all-knowing smile, touches that were possibly created by typing the words “incredibly irritating” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who recalls the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life series will ever find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Jared Leto, and I was also quite amused by his expansive (and critically misunderstood) comic turn in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Leto is consistently, unrelentingly awful here, although his performance isn't aided by a weak storyline which is intended to allow him to show flashes of “empathy” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the villainous actions to Athena, thus making her marginally more interesting. It is supposed to be adorable when Ares says how he loves 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode band are superior to Mozart.

Series Features and Overall Impact

Consistent with the brand-identity of the franchise, there are motorcycles from the VR netherworld which speed around the environment in long straight lines, adhering to the rectilinear design of classic video games (or even nightclubs); one even shoots out a death ray which cuts a police vehicle in two. But there is zero tension or jeopardy or human interest throughout. This franchise now looks about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.