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The framework of futility is revisited in this tediously complex sci-fi movie, closer to a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. It's a third installment to the classic Tron film from 1982, a movie that was groundbreaking and courageously innovative for its time in a way that eludes this one and its forerunner Tron Legacy from 2010. The new Tron film nearly comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson portraying his mother, in an traditional bit of real-world action. This is a bit of firm parenting you might want to handing out to all the producers involved in this film, and it's unfortunate to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so uninspired.

Plot Overview of Tron: Ares

The situation currently is that an evil AI corporation with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger has become a competitor to the VR company Encom, originally set up in the 80s arcade-game era by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn, played by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger's role, played by David Warner) is headed by the founder's annoyingly geeky grandson's character Julian (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to design and create profitable things such as indestructible soldiers and armored vehicles in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into actual reality using a kind of three-dimensional printer.

The issue is that no matter how intimidating, these things crumble into dust after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has discovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even keeps it on her person on a very low-tech USB drive. So the dreadful Julian sets his attack dog on her: Ares the warrior, the superhuman fighter which can exit the virtual realm for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of androids, is starting to exhibit symptoms of disobeying what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance plays Ares's stoic deputy Athena and poor Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Acting and Roles Analysis

And Ares himself – the protagonist of the title – is acted by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and faintly all-knowing smile, touches that were perhaps created by typing the words “extremely annoying” into an artificial intelligence character generator. No one who recalls the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life will always find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Mr Leto, and I was incidentally very entertained by his expansive (and critically misunderstood) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is consistently, persistently terrible in this film, although he isn't helped by a weak storyline which is intended to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Eve Kim's role and delegate all the villainous actions to Athena's character, thus making her marginally more interesting. It is meant to be charming when Ares the character says how he loves 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode band are superior to Mozart.

Franchise Elements and Overall Impact

And in keeping with the franchise identity of the franchise, there are motorbikes from the VR netherworld which whizz about the environment in linear paths, conforming to the rectilinear design of classic video games (or even dance clubs); a single bike even shoots out a lethal beam which cuts a cop car in two. But there is zero tension or jeopardy or emotional engagement anywhere. This series now looks as relevant as an automobile CD system.