Tron: Legacy

For a film that wasn't much of a commercial success, Tron was hugely influential. No Tron, then no Pixar, no Toy Story, etc... and the development of computer generated imagery in movies would probably have been slower and different. I remember watching the original film when I was much younger, but can't say it made much of an impression on me beyond the iconic light-cycle battles.

Now comes the sequel, 28 years later, in which Jeff Bridges' Kevin Flynnn (the hero of the original) disappeared some 20 years ago and his son (Garrett Hedlund, ends up in the digital world where he has been trapped after investigating a mysterious page from him. This world is now ruled by the programme Clu (a digitally re-youthed Bridges) who is following his own plan.

Story was never the main strength of the original and there's little improvement here. The plot is adequate, but the real world sequences actually feel far more interesting and engaging than the digital world where most of the action is set. The father-son issues feel standard and cliched. You also feel there's some lazy scripting which fails to cover over holes in the plot - the appearance of the Isos - some kind of poorly explained spontaneous digital lifeform is just "miraculous"  - no ther explanation is given. And why, if Bridges' Flynn has the almost god-like powers he displays at the end, why hasn't he sorted out this whole mess long ago?

The cast on the whole is good, although Bridges seems to have almost turned Flynn into the Dude. Hedlund makes a solid lead, but the breakout turn is from Olivia Wilde, as Quorra (the last surviving Iso) who fittingly  manages to combine confident action with a childlike wonder and innocence. The less said about Michael Sheen's performance the better - its a serious rival to Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter as the most irritating and misplaced performance of the year.

Visually it works as an updating of the original - the fans' favourites like the light cycles are back, updated and looking great. That similar duels now also happens aerially with planes as well is a good addition. All in all, it feels like a faithful updating from the original and that is both a weakness and a strength. There is a paradoxical truth that nothing dates as quickly as science fiction, and the ideas of technology here still feel somewhat rooted in 80s ideas and aesthetics. So apart from a not so sly dig at Microsoft in the opening sequence, this all feels rather divorced from the world social networking and actual virtual reality that has developed since 1982.

The one unqualified success of the movie is probably the score by Daft Punk, who also feature in the night club scene.

Overall - 6/10 It's a competent belated sequel to the original which will probably keep fans happy, but falls a long way short of greatness and manages to feel strangely dated.