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The matrix of pointlessness is reloaded in this tediously complex sci-fi film, closer to a screensaver than an actual film. It's a third installment to the original movie Tron from the early 80s, a film that was mould-breaking and courageously innovative for its day in a way that eludes this film and its predecessor Tron Legacy from 2010. Tron: Ares almost awakens just once – when Evan Peters' character gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson's character portraying his mother, in an traditional bit of analogue reality. That's a bit of firm parenting you might want to administering to every producer engaged in this film, and it's sad to see the estimable Greta Lee 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 obviously criminal name of Dillinger has become a competitor to the VR company Encom Inc, originally set up in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, played by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger's role, acted by David Warner) is headed by the founder's annoyingly geeky grandson's character Julian (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to develop and produce profitable things such as indestructible soldiers and armored vehicles in the virtual reality grid and then export them into actual reality using a kind of 3D printer.

The issue is that however fearsome, these creations disintegrate after 29 minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has uncovered the plot-driving “permanence code” 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 Dillinger deploys his enforcer on her: Ares, the humanoid uber-warrior which can leave the VR world for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of robots, is starting to exhibit symptoms of disobeying what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance portrays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena's role and unfortunate Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Acting and Roles Analysis

And Ares himself – the hero of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, facial hair and subtly omniscient grin, details that were possibly designed by typing the words “extremely annoying” into an artificial intelligence character generator. No one who remembers the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life will always find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Mr Leto, and I was also quite amused by his broad (and widely misinterpreted) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Leto is unremittingly, persistently awful in this film, although his performance isn't aided by a weak storyline which is intended to allow him to display glimpses of “compassion” for Eve Kim's role and subcontract all the villainous actions to Athena's character, thus making her marginally more interesting. It is meant to be charming when Ares the character says how he loves 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode are superior to Mozart's compositions.

Series Features and Overall Impact

And in keeping with the franchise identity of the series, there are motorcycles from the virtual underworld which speed around the environment in linear paths, adhering to the angular layout of antique arcade games (or indeed nightclubs); one even shoots out a lethal beam which slices a cop car in half. But there is no drama or danger or human interest throughout. This franchise currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.