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The matrix of pointlessness is reloaded in this tediously complex sci-fi movie, more a screensaver than an actual film. It's a third installment to the original movie Tron from 1982, a movie that was groundbreaking and boldly pioneering for its time in a way that escapes this one and its predecessor Tron: Legacy from the previous decade. Tron: Ares nearly comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson playing his mother, in an old-fashioned bit of analogue reality. That's a piece of tough love you might feel like administering to every producer engaged in this film, and it's unfortunate to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so uninspired.

Plot Overview of The New Tron Film

The scenario now is that an evil AI corporation with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger has become a rival to the VR company Encom Inc, first established in the 1980s gaming period by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn's character, played by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (initially founded 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 armored vehicles in the VR world and then export them into the real world using a kind of 3D printer.

The problem is that no matter how intimidating, these things crumble into dust after 29 minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has discovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities permanently, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic flashdrive. So the ghastly Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares the warrior, the superhuman fighter which can exit the virtual realm for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of robots, is beginning to show signs of not doing what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance portrays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena and unfortunate Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in wise white robes, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Breakdown

And Ares himself – the hero of the title – is acted by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, facial hair and subtly omniscient grin, touches that were possibly created by inputting the words “incredibly irritating” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who remembers the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life series will always find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Jared Leto, and I was also quite amused by his expansive (and critically misunderstood) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is unremittingly, persistently awful here, although he isn't helped by a limp plot point which is supposed to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Eve Kim's role and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena, thus making her slightly more engaging. It is supposed to be adorable when Ares says how he adores 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode are superior to Mozart.

Series Features and Overall Impact

Consistent with the franchise identity of the franchise, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which speed around the place in long straight lines, conforming to the angular layout of antique arcade games (or even nightclubs); one even shoots out a lethal beam which slices a cop car in half. But there is no drama or jeopardy or human interest throughout. This series currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.