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The matrix of pointlessness is reloaded in this tediously complex sci-fi movie, closer to a screensaver than an actual film. This is a third installment to the classic Tron film from the early 80s, a film that was groundbreaking and courageously innovative for its time in a way that eludes this one and its predecessor Tron Legacy from the previous decade. The new Tron film nearly comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters' character gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson's character playing his mum, in an old-fashioned bit of real-world action. This is a piece of tough love you might want to handing out to every producer involved in this movie, and it's sad to see the respected Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so uninspired.

Plot Overview of The New Tron Film

The situation currently is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a rival to the virtual reality firm Encom, first established in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger, acted by David Warner) is led by the founder’s annoyingly geeky grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to develop and produce profitable things such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into the real world using a sort of 3D printer.

The issue is that however fearsome, these things disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has discovered the plot-driving “permanence code” which can maintain these entities permanently, and even stores it on her person on a very low-tech USB drive. So the dreadful Julian sets his attack dog on her: Ares, the superhuman fighter which can leave the VR world for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of robots, is starting to exhibit symptoms of not doing what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith portrays Ares's stoic deputy Athena and unfortunate Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in wise white robes, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton.

Acting and Roles Breakdown

And Ares himself – the protagonist of the title – is acted by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, facial hair and subtly omniscient grin, touches that were perhaps designed by inputting the words “extremely annoying” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who recalls the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life will always find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Mr Leto, and I was incidentally very entertained by his broad (and critically misunderstood) comic turn in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is unremittingly, unrelentingly awful in this film, although he isn't helped by a limp plot point which is supposed to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena's character, thus rendering her marginally more interesting. It is meant to be charming when Ares says how he adores 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode are superior to Mozart.

Franchise Elements and Overall Impact

Consistent with the brand-identity of the franchise, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which speed around the environment in linear paths, adhering to the rectilinear design of antique arcade games (or indeed dance clubs); one even shoots out a death ray which cuts a cop car in two. But there is no drama or danger or emotional engagement anywhere. This franchise currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.