TRON: Ares2025

I really wanted to give this at least four stars. I really wanted to love this movie, probably more than anyone. But unfortunately and probably unsurprisingly, it is ultimately a disappointment. And I think that disappointment has as much to do with the climate of films, specifically live-action Disney films, today.  The movie feels like a beautiful molded sculpture. Pleasing to the eye but hollow and a pale imitation of the real thing.  I knew as soon as I heard that it was a “coming to the real world” plot that it was not going to work. Yes, this movie probably has more of an excuse to have that kind of plot as I assume that’s what the story of the original follow-up would have been. But it seems that anytime Hollywood wants to make a sequel or reboot or blah blah blah about any fantastical property, the plot is ALWAYS to bring them to the real world. Hell, the new Smurfs just did that, and that was the same plot as the Neil Patrick Harris movie.  Another issue is the themes of the film. Talk about generic. Oh, in the third installment, the program wants to become human, surprise surprise. Just watch Pixel Perfect and shut up. I mean, they just beat you over the head with it. “I should have called it the impermanence code.” Bruh.  They touch on interesting ideas like Frankenstein’s monster, but the movie doesn’t have the balls to do anything interesting with that. And it’s still so blatant. No nuance at all.  Also, being in the real world really limits the amount of action that can be in the film. In Legacy, we can be killing programs left and right. But here, they explicitly avoid violence to regular people, which makes the stakes so much less. And honestly, there is no real danger to the world except as collateral damage. Thus, making the stakes less than either of the prior films.  The movie also makes the same mistake as the original film by having it flip back and forth between the real world and the grid. It didn’t work in the original, and it doesn’t work here. All it does is take away any mystery or wonder from the grid.  Speaking of the grid, where is it? We only get to see it like three times, and it’s never given any time to make it feel real at all.  The coolest part of the movie is when Ares goes back to the original grid. But that’s all it is. Something cool that happens that only exists to happen.  There are positives here too, but they only exist because the movie is simply riding on everything that legacy created.  “Clu can’t create programs. He can only destroy and repurpose them.” Hmm.  End of line.