TRON: Legacy (Movie Review)

For those of you who have not seen the first TRON movie, you won’t need to have seen it to understand the long-awaited follow up to the original cult classic of 1982.

Last week, I had a chance to see this movie with a friend of mine in 3D. Openly I admit here that I’ve not seen a 3D movie in a LONG while. When we walked up to the theater in the San Fernando Valley, my friend informed me that this movie was in 3D and hoped I’d be ok with that. Frankly, I told him that I was apprehensive because I didn’t want to wear those stupid cardboard glasses that cut my vision. But that element of apprehension was soon dispelled when I was handed a tidy, plastic sealed hard plastic set of 3D glasses, good enough to take home (but was discouraged to do so. The movie theater encouraged everyone through signage that it would somehow help the environment (or rather their bottom line) if we dropped them in the drops so they could be “recycled”. Uh huh….).

While I was getting seated and slipping on my new 3D glasses, my friend told me that I was “in for a treat”….no sooner did he say that I was nearly leveled by the 3D experience as an object came flying at me during one of the trailers. UOU! Now THIS is 3D!

Just as the movie was to begin, there was a disclaimer/notice letting the viewer know that there were some 2D sequences in this movie and to not be alarmed. OK. Thanks for that.

The opening has some vintage footage that has been compiled and cut to make it flow and give the viewer some back story as to what had happened in ’82 with our original lead character Jeff Bridges (who now seems to be everywhere theses days with great roles-good for him!)-a 28 year younger Bridges in what seems to be outtakes and unused footage from the original. It is a nice touch and flows quite well into the “present day” scenario and thus into the new TRON movie.

The thing that struck me most in the movie was the music. I really liked the music. It was appropriate, with a touch of nostalgia but definitely “modern”. I just read an article about Daft Punk, a French Electronica Duo that composed the music for TRON: Legacy in the LA Times. They have a very interesting story which includes them having to take 2 years off of their busy touring schedule to compose this music. I think it really paid off. They have a new fan in me.

Jeff Bridges reprises his role as Kevin Flynn and a CGI Version of him as his nemesis, Clu. Both roles are well-acted and nostalgically reenacted.

I felt the weakest link in the movie was Garrett Hedlund as Kevin Flynn’s son Sam Flynn. I can’t put my finger on it, but I felt he really didn’t fit into this role well. Maybe it was because I felt the opening scenes were forced insomuch as we were forced to feel for his now grown up character after all for the nostalgic 2D stuff leading up to it. I’m not sure. I just felt that his character was not convincing in the early parts of the movie. I did feel however, that as the movie went along, meeting up with his father, it got better. I have a feeling Jeff had plenty to do in the scenes with Garrett, leading him along. Sometimes that happens when you have two actors at different levels. The “lower” one tends to rise to the occasion.

Olivia Wilde as Quorra is mysterious and beautiful. She has a nice innocence about her character and you like her.

Bruce Boxleitner reprises his roles as Alan Bradley/Tron. He’s not in too many scenes but it’s a nice tie to the TRON original.

Beau Garrett as Gem is stunningly beautiful in this movie. Period. Did she say anything? Not sure…I was too busy looking at her…

The visuals, as in the original, can get a bit overwhelming at times. I found myself lost in the movie at times visually. With those 3D glasses on it’s pretty crazy trying to watch some of the race sequences that were also in the original but much more graphic in “Legacy”. Director Joseph Kosinski does an admirable job keeping the plot moving. Both my friend and I agreed that the movie could have been about 10 to 15 minutes shorter. The movie as it is now comes in at 127 minutes and it rated PG appropriately.

All in all, TRON: Legacy is an entertaining night out. Man date, date, or solo…well not solo unless you can’t go with someone…but then again, it’s a kinda’ nerdy-like movie that one might view as a gamer’s kind of movie. If you are into that sort of thing.