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The matrix of pointlessness is reloaded in this mind-bendingly dull science fiction film, more a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. It's a threequel to the classic Tron film from 1982, a movie that was groundbreaking and courageously innovative for its day in a way that eludes this film and its forerunner Tron Legacy from the previous decade. Tron: Ares nearly awakens just one time – when Evan Peters' character gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson portraying his mother, in an old-fashioned bit of real-world action. That's a bit of firm parenting you might feel like administering to all the producers involved in this film, and it's sad to see the estimable Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so uninspired.

Story Summary of The New Tron Film

The scenario now is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a rival to the virtual reality firm Encom Inc, originally set up in the 80s arcade-game era by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (originally set up by Encom executive Ed Dillinger's role, played by David Warner) is headed by the founder’s odiously nerdish grandson's character Julian (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to develop and produce profitable things such as invincible troops and armored vehicles in the virtual reality grid and then export them into the real world using a sort of three-dimensional printer.

The issue is that however fearsome, these things disintegrate after 29 minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic flashdrive. So the dreadful Julian Dillinger deploys his enforcer on her: Ares the warrior, the superhuman fighter which can leave the VR world for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of robots, is starting to exhibit symptoms of not doing what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance plays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena's role and unfortunate Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in wise white robes, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Acting and Roles Breakdown

Moreover, Ares – the protagonist of the title – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and faintly all-knowing smile, details that were possibly created by typing the words “extremely annoying” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who remembers the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life will ever find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Jared Leto, and I was also very entertained by his expansive (and critically misunderstood) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Leto is unremittingly, persistently awful in this film, although his performance isn't aided by a weak storyline which is supposed to allow him to show flashes of “compassion” for Eve Kim's role and subcontract all the badass wickedness to Athena's character, thus rendering her marginally more interesting. It is supposed to be charming when Ares says how he adores 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode band are superior to Mozart.

Series Features and Overall Impact

And in keeping with the franchise identity of the series, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which speed around the place in long straight lines, adhering to the angular layout of classic video games (or even nightclubs); a single bike even emits a death ray which slices a cop car in half. But there is no drama or danger or human interest anywhere. This series currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.