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The matrix of futility is revisited in this mind-bendingly dull 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 film that was mould-breaking and courageously innovative for its day in a way that escapes this film and its predecessor Tron: Legacy from 2010. The new Tron film nearly comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson portraying his mother, in an traditional bit of real-world action. That's a piece of tough love you might want to handing out to every producer engaged in this film, and it's sad to see the respected Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so lifeless.

Plot Overview of The New Tron Film

The scenario currently is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a competitor to the VR company Encom Inc, first established in the 80s arcade-game era by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn's character, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (initially founded by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger's role, acted by David Warner) is headed by the founder's annoyingly geeky grandson's character Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to develop and produce profitable things such as invincible troops and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then export them into the real world using a sort of 3D printer.

The issue is that however fearsome, these creations disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even keeps it on her person on a extremely basic USB drive. So the dreadful Julian sets his attack dog on her: Ares, the superhuman fighter which can exit the virtual realm for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of robots, is starting to exhibit symptoms of disobeying what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith plays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena's role and poor Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in wise white robes, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Breakdown

Moreover, Ares – the protagonist of the title – is played by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, facial hair and faintly all-knowing smile, details that were possibly designed by typing the words “incredibly irritating” into an AI human creation programme. Nobody who recalls the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life series will always find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Jared Leto, and I was incidentally very entertained by his broad (and widely misinterpreted) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Leto is unremittingly, persistently awful here, although he isn't helped by a weak storyline which is supposed to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Eve Kim's role and subcontract all the villainous actions to Athena's character, thus rendering her slightly more engaging. It is supposed to be charming when Ares says how he loves 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode band are better than Mozart's compositions.

Series Features and Overall Impact

And in keeping with the brand-identity of the series, there are motorcycles from the VR netherworld which speed around the environment in long straight lines, conforming to the rectilinear design of classic video games (or even dance clubs); a single bike even emits a lethal beam which cuts a police vehicle in half. But there is no drama or jeopardy or human interest anywhere. This franchise now looks about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.