We watched Tron Ares this weekend. It was definitely a movie, and there are some connections to the previous films, but somehow it raised a lot more questions that broke me than the previous two major releases did.
The first film, way back in 1982, attempted to create a visual metaphor for the internal processes of computers and networks. We have the solar sails that ship packets of information between network nodes, multiple independent programs attempting to produce their desired outputs, a master control program to allocate assets, and a security program to act as a combination virus checker and network monitor. The metaphor was not great, to be fair, but it was an attempt to make the then-mysterious world of computers comprehensible to the pre-internet age.
Tron Legacy acted very much as a sequel, bringing back most of the main characters (minus Cindy Morgan’s characters), and explores the concepts of self-created programs, out-of-control security protocols, and some philosophy that shouldn’t be scrutinized too deeply about the impossibility of perfection in computer code and in life. I really think there must be an earlier version of the script where the ISOs are actually explained as some kind of neural network antagonistic programming concept, but instead they just exist and don’t ask why that makes sense. Legacy set up an obvious third film, with Quorra out of the network and existing in the real world somehow that isn’t explained, and Flynn’s son running Encom.
And then there’s Ares. No Sam Flynn or Quorra. No connection to the isomorphic self-generating programs. Somehow Dillinger Systems exists, despite no indication of Dillinger landing on his feet after getting fired in disgrace in the OG film. A massive violation of the conservation of mass and energy. No logical explanation for almost anything. An incomplete list: why do the light cycles have human-usable controls and screens, where is the 29-minute limit written and why, where does the mass come from to create those digital objects in the real world, how does Ares have free will and why does he doubt his creator almost immediately? It is neat to see light cycles in the real world, cutting cars in half with their impossible physical laser wall trails.
I have a pretty good idea why audiences stayed away from this film. First, of course – Jared Leto is polarizing. I haven’t really loved any role he’s had since Jordan Catalano, and I know he really annoys a lot of people for reasons I don’t fully understand. Second, it doesn’t take up the cliffhanger from the previous film. Third, people are accustomed to massive CGI exhibitions, so they needed to bring something other than bright primary colors. Basically, the existing audience wasn’t catered to, and they didn’t do enough to attract new audiences. Solid B movie, but not really Tron.
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