TRON: ARES (2025)

For the first time in fifteen years (Tron Legacy, 2010), we are finally returning to The Grid.  Though this time around, we are doing so with some new characters including the titular Ares (Oscar-winner Jared Leto) who is a digital soldier created by Dillinger Systems to be the ultimate "expendable" soldier to serve our military in the real world.  Unfortunately to the consternation of his creator Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), Ares is still in need of ONE code in particular to ensure that he can actually last for more than 29 minutes in the real world before deresolution.  And that's where Eve Kim (Greta Lee) comes in as she's the CEO of the rival corporation ENCOM...yes the same ENCOM featured in the first two Tron films where the legendary Kevin Flynn (Oscar-winner Jeff Bridges) used to work.  Guess WHO might have actual posession of this "permanence code?"  As directed by Joachim Ronning (Kon-Tiki, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man Tell No Tales) and featuring music by Nine Inch Nailes, the race for the future is ON....and this time, it spills into the real world!

Host: Geoff Gershon
Edited By Ella Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon

Transcript

TRON: ARES – 2025

Directed by Joachim Ronning

Starring Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Jodie-Turner Smith, Gillian Anderson, Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Casto, Selene Yun, Cameron Monoghan, Sarah Desjardins, and Jeff Bridges

Genre: Sci-Fi Action Adventure (Audio clip)

Considering just how infrequently they have been released (28 years between the first one and 'Legacy, 15 years between 'Legacy and this), it now feels appropriate to attend a new Tron movie with VERY specific expectations: 

1) Eye-popping primary color visuals
 2) Kinetic action
 3) Kick-ass electronic soundtrack
 4) Gobbledy-gook lore about computers & the Internet
 5) Good actors doing their mildest to act through obvious constraints
 6) Story beats and/or visual gags stylishly lifted from recent blockbusters 

And when leaving the theater after seeing this latest Tron opus from stalwart Disney franchise director Joachin Ronning (Pirates 6, Maleficent 2), I felt satisfied as each of those six attributes listed were delivered. This isn't rocket science, this is The Grid. :) And it enjoyed revisiting The Grid even while spending a significant amount of runtime watching The Grid infect our real world (which is a cool new idea, pretty well-executed)...well apparently an approximation of the real world where time is almost a flat circle? 😆

Yeah there's a narrative device used frequently throughout this movie as a means for creating suspense - it's a ticking clock on both machines and soldiers which have been 3D-printed by the bad company (in this case Dillinger Systems) to steal IP from the good company (ENCOM). We have these genuinely impressive neon red creations which can overpower any person, machine, or structure within the non-Grid world....only they have 29 minutes to do so before they disintegrate into digital dust. 😮 Which raises a key question: just HOW much can you really accomplish in within 29 minutes in the real world?

Well according to THIS movie if your name is Ares (Oscar-winner Jared Leto, convincing as a walking program despite the hair) or Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith probably delivering this film's best performance as its answer to the T-1000)....you can get a lot done, arguably even more than Jack Bauer with a full hour! You can drive 10+ miles from the country into the city, find main entrance parking downtown, check in through security, ride an elevator up sixty stories, and reboot your particle laser....and with a few minutes to spare no less. 😆

Bur this is why we go to the movies and that's part of the fun - everything I just described is well-shot, aggressively scored, and adequately acted. It also helps we get to see Greta Lee (Past Lives) driving around REALLY fast alongside Leto during these sequences - she's actually the proper lead, even though it's not HER character's name in the title, as Eve Kim who is current CEO of Encom. Her character is as much of action heroine as corporate type as we get to see motorcycle, ski, and even ride a light-cycle at one point. :) On the page, she's not given that much to do as a tech innovator also trying to overcome past trauma but Lee makes an engaging protagonist regardless.  And admittedly she does get to participate in some particularly GORGEOUS sequences to make this all worth watching. 

When you have enough memorable moments along the lines of massive "Recognizers" barreling over city streets, no real bad moments, a runtime which gratefully tops out at just under two hours (this thing moves pretty well)...when you've got story beats homaging Robocop, Universal Soldier, and Blade 2 along with nostalgia plays for fans of Depeche Mode....and even a blissfully naive message for those concerned about AI...well what else do you need? 😉 The "Users" behind Tron Ares clearly knew their intended audience and they delivered JUST enough!

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film): 

I have to say that as a long-time Nine Inch Nails fan who REALLY loved their music in the ‘90’s – just listen to recent episode Seven – observing the marketing campaign for this film over the past year has been a genuine hoot!  This is a continuation of a long-running DISNEY franchise – movies geared towards families – and one of the centerpieces of every trailer, poster, and commercial has been, “Featuring Original Music By Nine Inch Nails.”  Wow just to think about music so prominently featured over a Disney movie from the SAME guys who gave us songs like “Closer” and “Happiness In Slavery” back in the ‘90’s?? Ok that’s interesting…. (Audio clip) 

Well fortunately for THIS film, the Oscar-winning duo of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have delivered less aggressive music and without suggestive lyrics….honestly most of the tracks they provide for this score are instrumental and it’s just as well: just propulsive, high energy electronica which fits perfectly within this setting – one standout track is “Daemonize” which we hear playing over that early light-cycle chase through the city. (Audio clip)

Don’t’ get me wrong, not every track works as there ARE some distractingly abrasive notes throughout….and with the wrong sound-mix in your theater, they can be too much…as I unfortunately found out with my eight-year old son who was just too overwhelmed as not only was the sound mix off but we were just sitting too close.  He’s ok, we’ll watch it again later on TV with controlled volume.  Just a warning if you’re bringing younger children with sensitive ears….but overall still some genuine BANGER tracks.  And yeah I’m going to go the obvious route here as this seems to be the main single getting the most promotion, also featuring the most vocals from Mr. Reznor – we hear this theme played in portions throughout the film and then the full version over the closing credits, it’s the undeniably catchy and rousing, “As Alive As You Need to Be.” (Audio clip) 

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film): 

We have two strong Emmy-winning actors playing this film’s members of the Dillinger family – Evan Peters whom I LOVED as Quicksilver in the more recent X-Men movies and one of the TRUE goddesses of ‘90’s TV…..Detective Scully herself, Gillian Anderson.  Evan plays Julian Dillinger and Gillian plays his mother Elisabeth who also happens to be the daughter of David Warner’s Ed Dillinger from the first movie in ’82.  And….well we see Julian act brash, punch away on his computer, do something stupid….and then Elisabeth dresses him down….rinse, repeat, I’m pretty sure that same scenario plays out about three or four times throughout the movie.  Both strong actors who could have had some genuine fun with this sci-fi material but as written, they’re pretty much one-note characters and both actors are kind of wasted….sorry. (Audio clip) 

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

Frequent Fincher-collaborator and Oscar-nominee Jeff Cronemweth (Fight Club, The Social Network, Gone Girl) is the new cinematographer for this one and it shows....especially during one standout setpiece roughly half-way through when we see Ares bringing Eve along for the ride on a digital....jet-ski on a lake, I THINK? This is in the world of The Grid mind you and in stark contrast to the mostly darkly back-lit black and red environment around them, it's a genuine kick to see these two simply GLIDING through the middle of it leaving a beam of light and pixelated droplets in their wake....with Lee's Kim looking on in awe.🤗

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):

ILM – the long-running industry leader Industrial Light & Magic - returns to bring the visual effects this time (How did they NOT win an Oscar for 'Legacy?!?) and they do not disappoint. All of the Grid stuff looks even more crisply detailed than before, the movement has never looked more convincing, and the integration between the actors and these environments have never looked more seamless.  Bottom line this is a razzle-dazzle movie and if the CGI doesn’t work, then none of it’s worthwhile….fortunately it looks great, even building on exemplary work from the previous two Tron films.  Now with regards to visual effects, it’s always hard to pin down ONE person as it is a genuine team effort – these guys just work tirelessly and it’s been well-reported by this point just how often overworked and underpaid most visual effects artists have been in within this industry in recent years.  So looking this up though, I did find ONE name….Indiana-bread David Seager, he is credited as this film’s lead visual effects supervisor and he’s got an interesting IMDB too.  

Dude cut his teeth in the early ‘00’s working as a computer graphics supervisor on the Matrix sequels, The Aviator, Spider-Man 3, and Watchman – honestly overall each of those films are a mixed bag but there ARE some amazing shots throughout each of them.  But then you look at his most recent work before this?? He was the VFX supervisor on DisneyPlus’ ANDOR…..ok enough said, that show looked AMAZING with very seamless effects.  And he clearly outdoes himself here too….seriously just pulling off those light-cycles racing down real city streets right alongside earth-bound vehicles….that could have looked SO goofy in lesser hands but it looks convincing and kinetic.  For delivering what I believe are THE best visual effects of any film this year – though keep in mind, we still haven’t seen Avatar Fire & Ice – David Seager and the hard-working crew at ILM are the MVP’s. (Audio clip) 

Final Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 

If you liked the first two Tron’s, then there is simply no reason that you won’t enjoy this….among the trilogy, I would rank it SECOND with ‘Legacy as still #1 – that movie had a more cohesive plot and a bit more heart.  Still by all means, see it on the biggest screen with the best sound….

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And that ends another DEREZZED review!