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skye_writerSo I saw TRON: Ares on Thursday afternoon. I presented my free ticket at the counter (and got a ticket stub, to my delight!) (I have almost all my movie ticket stubs from the last... 21 years? I think? saved in a scrapbook). I took my usual seat in the theater (2 or 3 rows from the back, on the far left side as you look at the screen). I thought (hoped!) that I might be alone for the screening, but some other people filed in: a family of four, another person seeing it alone.
And seven.
fucking.
teenagers.
Which I would not have had a problem with, if it had been obvious that they were there to see the movie. They made it apparent over the following two hours that they were not there to see the movie. They were there to socialize in whispers, and constantly change seats in the back row, and twice (!!) use their phone flashlights (!!!!!) to find stuff in the dark. At one point during the film I had to hiss at them to shut up.
And like, I get it? I guess? It's fall break this week. They're going back to school on Monday, they've probably been driving their parents nuts all week, and they were at the mall to hang out with friends and get out of their parents' hair and whatever. But the fact that they were not interested in demonstrating the slightest bit of movie theater etiquette kind of drove me up the fucking wall. And I already wasn't looking forward to this movie, and I feel like their constant tittering behind me left me feeling even less charitable towards TRON: Ares than I'd felt when I walked in.
And so. That is the scene set for my viewing of TRON: Ares. I was full of dread and trepidation to start with, and then the addition of seven whispering teens started filling me up with annoyance as the film moved through its runtime.
Here is what I thought of TRON: Ares.
I didn't really like it.
I found it more annoying than anything else? (Which, again, might have been due to the aforementioned teenagers.) It was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be--thankfully my hideous prophecy about Leto's character was a false one--but it still wasn't all that great, either? It's a mostly cromulent sci-fi film, perfectly acceptable if you're looking for cool visuals and music, but as a TRON film? It did not work for me.
It pissed me off in the first five minutes by mentioning Sam Flynn, and then immediately throwing him out (he left his leadership role at Encom for "personal reasons" apparently) so we could instead be introduced to the new main(ish) character, Eve Kim. That honestly felt like a slap in the face as a TRON fan--I would have almost preferred if they'd just ignored Legacy entirely, or retconned its existence! Further slaps in the face: no mention of Alan Bradley, no mention of Lora Baines (whose laser tech they were constantly using throughout the film), and only one mention of Tron.
Oh, no, not the security program Tron. The video game that Kevin Flynn/Encom made.
Vancouver Los Angeles with the MacGuffin on a data stick.
Meanwhile, the program Ares is struggling with ~emotions~ after being brought to the User world. (Something that isn't really explained is how exactly programs brought out of the computer return to the computer once they "time out". There's something about like maybe a wireless connection or something? At the climax Eve's friends at Encom ruin things for Julian and (eventual villain) Athena by destroying the Dillinger servers or whatever remotely. I don't even know.) As he goes through Eve's Encom file (which has a surprising amount of like... personal shit I myself would NOT be putting on company servers!) to glean enough info to track her down, he starts experiencing more emotions/feelings. And then he and Athena are sent to capture Eve as she's returning to Encom.
When Eve destroys the data stick after being caught by Ares and Athena, she is captured and sent to the Dillinger servers, where it's established that because she's seen the Permanence Code, it can be extracted from her while she's digitized--but the extraction will kill her. Which then leads to Ares betraying Julian (and Athena) to bring Eve out of the Dillinger servers, leading to a race against time to get Ares digitized again before he times out and disappears for good. (Again: this is not well-explained. I assume that because Julian deletes Ares' file on the Dillinger system, he can't return there??) Julian gives a badly-worded order to Athena to track them down "by any means necessary", which eventually leads to the big Recognizer action sequence that was shown in the teaser trailer in April. Ares ends up on the original Encom servers (because apparently the Permanence Code is there, too), meets (the ghost of??? a hallucination of???) (speaking of things that aren't really explained...) Kevin Flynn, gets outfitted with the Code, and saves Eve from Athena, and becomes a real boy. Eve revolutionizes everything from agriculture to medicine with the Permanence Code, Ares goes off to explore the world (and, in a clear sequel hook, track down Quorra?? apparently???). Hooray.
I didn't really mind the plot, which was simplistic and heavily reliant on a LOT of hand-waving. The performances were all right (most everyone doing the best they could, I feel), though I found Jared Leto extremely annoying as Ares. For one thing, it was exceedingly obvious that Leto was not just the star, but an executive producer as well, because Ares never seemed to do anything wrong. Or say the wrong thing. Or like. Have a normal emotion at all? (Though that may be due to the fact that Leto is... not that great an actor.) Also in the second half of the film, after Ares and Eve escape the Dillinger system, the way he says most of his lines does not... change? at all? It's this light, kind of knowing tone, that doesn't have a lot of emotion behind it, which drove me up the wall.
Also just. This movie's entire conception of programs is at odds with both of the previous films. As I have said many, many times before: PROGRAMS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN SENTIENT. TRON '82 makes it clear (and clearer still in the deleted "Love Scene" between Yori and Tron) that they're like people, and Legacy (and Uprising especially) make it clear that they're more than their programming (look at Castor/Zuse! look at Beck!!). So having to watch Ares go through this "What is An Emotion" crap was more than a little exhausting. I think it contributed a lot to the stilted-ness of Leto's performance, too.
There were also so many references to TRON '82. Which is nice and all, but I do wonder... like. TRON is not a very big fandom; I feel like more of the general populace have seen Legacy than have seen the '82 original. So who were all those references really for? Like, how many people recognized the line "Here goes something" (said by Eve's sidekick/friend Seth as they're prepping to send Ares into the old Encom system) as something that was said in TRON '82 during the first digitization scene? How many people understand the significance of the orange? Like... Disney spent so much money on this, but... neither TRON '82 nor Legacy were huge hits. It's looking like Ares isn't going to be raking in the dough, either (just $14mil for its Friday ticket sales). So... who is it for, except the really dedicated TRON fans? Except, judging by the lack of engagement with the actual text of the previous 2 films, it doesn't seem like Ares is really meant for TRON fans, either!
I don't know. There were just so many little things about this movie that miffed me. (They brought back Bit but didn't let it be sassy!!!! why didn't they let my lil guy be sassy!!!!) I know I didn't go in expecting (or even really wanting) to like it, but part of me wanted to at least get an interesting idea or two to sink my brain into. And I don't feel like I even got that. It wasn't bad enough to really ignite my fury, it was just... what it was. I'm more annoyed by its existence than anything else, to be honest.
I give it a 1.5/5. I'm probably not going to watch it again until it hits streaming or DVD/BluRay.
So that's that.
And seven.
fucking.
teenagers.
Which I would not have had a problem with, if it had been obvious that they were there to see the movie. They made it apparent over the following two hours that they were not there to see the movie. They were there to socialize in whispers, and constantly change seats in the back row, and twice (!!) use their phone flashlights (!!!!!) to find stuff in the dark. At one point during the film I had to hiss at them to shut up.
And like, I get it? I guess? It's fall break this week. They're going back to school on Monday, they've probably been driving their parents nuts all week, and they were at the mall to hang out with friends and get out of their parents' hair and whatever. But the fact that they were not interested in demonstrating the slightest bit of movie theater etiquette kind of drove me up the fucking wall. And I already wasn't looking forward to this movie, and I feel like their constant tittering behind me left me feeling even less charitable towards TRON: Ares than I'd felt when I walked in.
And so. That is the scene set for my viewing of TRON: Ares. I was full of dread and trepidation to start with, and then the addition of seven whispering teens started filling me up with annoyance as the film moved through its runtime.
Here is what I thought of TRON: Ares.
I didn't really like it.
I found it more annoying than anything else? (Which, again, might have been due to the aforementioned teenagers.) It was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be--thankfully my hideous prophecy about Leto's character was a false one--but it still wasn't all that great, either? It's a mostly cromulent sci-fi film, perfectly acceptable if you're looking for cool visuals and music, but as a TRON film? It did not work for me.
It pissed me off in the first five minutes by mentioning Sam Flynn, and then immediately throwing him out (he left his leadership role at Encom for "personal reasons" apparently) so we could instead be introduced to the new main(ish) character, Eve Kim. That honestly felt like a slap in the face as a TRON fan--I would have almost preferred if they'd just ignored Legacy entirely, or retconned its existence! Further slaps in the face: no mention of Alan Bradley, no mention of Lora Baines (whose laser tech they were constantly using throughout the film), and only one mention of Tron.
Oh, no, not the security program Tron. The video game that Kevin Flynn/Encom made.
The plot, such as it is, in three very long paragraphs.
Two rival companies--Encom vs. Dillinger Systems (I think that's what it's called?). Two rival CEOs (or whatever; honestly the business details were thin on the ground here and probably mostly made up)--Julian Dillinger, grandson of Ed Dillinger, Sr., and Eve Kim, who together with her sister (now deceased) took over Encom following Sam's departure. One goal for them both--unlock the "permanence code" that will allow digital assets brought into the User world to persist for more than 29 minutes. Eve finds the code first, by going through her late sister's collection of Kevin Flynn floppy disks hidden away in Alaska (for some reason???), and then it becomes something of a MacGuffin. Julian, on the other hand, is more than willing to get the code through underhanded methods--first by hacking Encom's systems to get Eve's personal files, and then by sending the programs Ares and Athena after Eve when she's returned toMeanwhile, the program Ares is struggling with ~emotions~ after being brought to the User world. (Something that isn't really explained is how exactly programs brought out of the computer return to the computer once they "time out". There's something about like maybe a wireless connection or something? At the climax Eve's friends at Encom ruin things for Julian and (eventual villain) Athena by destroying the Dillinger servers or whatever remotely. I don't even know.) As he goes through Eve's Encom file (which has a surprising amount of like... personal shit I myself would NOT be putting on company servers!) to glean enough info to track her down, he starts experiencing more emotions/feelings. And then he and Athena are sent to capture Eve as she's returning to Encom.
When Eve destroys the data stick after being caught by Ares and Athena, she is captured and sent to the Dillinger servers, where it's established that because she's seen the Permanence Code, it can be extracted from her while she's digitized--but the extraction will kill her. Which then leads to Ares betraying Julian (and Athena) to bring Eve out of the Dillinger servers, leading to a race against time to get Ares digitized again before he times out and disappears for good. (Again: this is not well-explained. I assume that because Julian deletes Ares' file on the Dillinger system, he can't return there??) Julian gives a badly-worded order to Athena to track them down "by any means necessary", which eventually leads to the big Recognizer action sequence that was shown in the teaser trailer in April. Ares ends up on the original Encom servers (because apparently the Permanence Code is there, too), meets (the ghost of??? a hallucination of???) (speaking of things that aren't really explained...) Kevin Flynn, gets outfitted with the Code, and saves Eve from Athena, and becomes a real boy. Eve revolutionizes everything from agriculture to medicine with the Permanence Code, Ares goes off to explore the world (and, in a clear sequel hook, track down Quorra?? apparently???). Hooray.
I didn't really mind the plot, which was simplistic and heavily reliant on a LOT of hand-waving. The performances were all right (most everyone doing the best they could, I feel), though I found Jared Leto extremely annoying as Ares. For one thing, it was exceedingly obvious that Leto was not just the star, but an executive producer as well, because Ares never seemed to do anything wrong. Or say the wrong thing. Or like. Have a normal emotion at all? (Though that may be due to the fact that Leto is... not that great an actor.) Also in the second half of the film, after Ares and Eve escape the Dillinger system, the way he says most of his lines does not... change? at all? It's this light, kind of knowing tone, that doesn't have a lot of emotion behind it, which drove me up the wall.
Also just. This movie's entire conception of programs is at odds with both of the previous films. As I have said many, many times before: PROGRAMS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN SENTIENT. TRON '82 makes it clear (and clearer still in the deleted "Love Scene" between Yori and Tron) that they're like people, and Legacy (and Uprising especially) make it clear that they're more than their programming (look at Castor/Zuse! look at Beck!!). So having to watch Ares go through this "What is An Emotion" crap was more than a little exhausting. I think it contributed a lot to the stilted-ness of Leto's performance, too.
There were also so many references to TRON '82. Which is nice and all, but I do wonder... like. TRON is not a very big fandom; I feel like more of the general populace have seen Legacy than have seen the '82 original. So who were all those references really for? Like, how many people recognized the line "Here goes something" (said by Eve's sidekick/friend Seth as they're prepping to send Ares into the old Encom system) as something that was said in TRON '82 during the first digitization scene? How many people understand the significance of the orange? Like... Disney spent so much money on this, but... neither TRON '82 nor Legacy were huge hits. It's looking like Ares isn't going to be raking in the dough, either (just $14mil for its Friday ticket sales). So... who is it for, except the really dedicated TRON fans? Except, judging by the lack of engagement with the actual text of the previous 2 films, it doesn't seem like Ares is really meant for TRON fans, either!
I don't know. There were just so many little things about this movie that miffed me. (They brought back Bit but didn't let it be sassy!!!! why didn't they let my lil guy be sassy!!!!) I know I didn't go in expecting (or even really wanting) to like it, but part of me wanted to at least get an interesting idea or two to sink my brain into. And I don't feel like I even got that. It wasn't bad enough to really ignite my fury, it was just... what it was. I'm more annoyed by its existence than anything else, to be honest.
I give it a 1.5/5. I'm probably not going to watch it again until it hits streaming or DVD/BluRay.
So that's that.
