The Tron franchise began in 1982, spawning a video game, an animated series, and much more. Joachim Rønning directs Tron: Ares, the latest installment to join the club.
The moment the film opens, we’re graced with a visually striking opening credits sequence and title card, setting the stage for what’s to come for the rest of the film. That momentum keeps rolling, with gorgeous visual effects work that immerses us in this fresh take on the grid.
Evan Peters’ Julian plays a nepo-CEO, whose whiny ambitions come from exploiting others and trying to take down any competition that comes in his way. He creates the program Ares (Jared Leto), a work-in-progress, fully AI being, utilizing him with reckless abandon to achieve his goals. In stark contrast, Greta Lee’s game developer Eve is on the same mission, but with a wholesome approach. She aims to finish the work her late sister began, feeling as though she’s staying connected with her by completing it. When Eve cracks the code before Julian, and Julian’s weapon, Ares, goes rogue, the real battle between the two begins.
Both Peters and Lee breathe life into this installment; although their characters are written at a fairly surface level, they elevate what they’re given to work with. The supporting cast was great (I always love seeing Hasan Minhaj in literally anything), but the other standout was Jodie Turner-Smith’s Athena. Athena is another AI creation of Julian’s, and she’s ruthless. While Ares starts to tap into pieces of the human condition, creating more autonomy for himself, Athena remains loyal to Julian’s commands. Playing an AI creation can potentially limit what an actor can do in a performance, but Turner-Smith really holds it down as a villain.
As a shock to no one, one of the biggest highlights is Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s electric score. It’s a moodier turn than Daft Punk’s from Tron: Legacy, ushering in a fresh energy into this film. The scenes that stuck with me the most included their score during some thrilling motorcycle chase sequences. Following the premiere, we were treated to a live performance by Nine Inch Nails, which was the perfect cherry on top of the night.
All of these elements —the performances, visuals, and sound —enhance what is otherwise a pretty generic, clunky screenplay. A lot is going on, so I was never bored, but the plot is relatively standard and doesn’t offer anything deeper than “this is good, this is bad,” with a few cool new ideas sprinkled throughout the world. We get our moment between our new character, Ares, and the icon of the franchise, Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges). Lucky for us, Bridges is such a delight that I was able to ignore this conventional nostalgia-bait scene. One thing I loved was the introduction of running against time, where the AI creations can only exist for 29 minutes before dissipating. That component allowed for stakes during the action sequences and served as the major flaw of Julian’s “invention.”
The franchise explores many timeless themes, but the evolution of technology and our relationship to these advancements remains the core ethical exploration. It makes sense that we are getting another film 15 years after Tron: Legacy debuted. Over the last 15 years, our real world has witnessed scarily rapid and vast progress in automation. I mean, look at the AI “actress” Tilly Norwood that has the internet in a tizzy, for good reason. This example illustrates the concept of autonomy, which Ares grapples with throughout the film. Our characters grapple with the ramifications of artificiality and reality, and how easily any line drawn in the sand can be blurred. One person poses the idea of understanding the difference between technology helping the world and burning it to the ground, a line that feels all too real for the current moment, taken even further when we reflect on AI’s significant negative impact on our climate, literally burning it from the inside out.
If you can set aside your critical thinking for the runtime, Tron: Ares is a fun blockbuster, serving as an entertaining, albeit surface-level, cautionary tale about the dangers of blind ambition and the rapid advancement of technology. The elevating performances, striking visuals, and energetic score carry the film, which serves as a solid foundation for the new wave of potential Tron stories to explore in the world with these characters. I would love to see where they can go from here. Next time, dive deeper and clean up the script.
Rating: 7/10