I am a big fan of the original Tron. I really looked forward to the sequel. While there was a lot about the sequel that I liked, there were also a lot of things about it that disappointed.
For the color scheme, the style changed a lot from the original to the sequel. We went from blue on white to blue on black. It still looks pretty neat, but I would have liked to see some transition. Maybe even some older programs still in service. It was not to be. In some ways I still preferred the older suits. The new ones were almost completely dark.
In the first Tron, Kevin Flynn had "magic" powers due to being a User. I was kind of glad to see this subdued somewhat. Now, he uses his system knowledge instead.
Also in the original, Kevin Flynn was good at the games because he was good at video games. But this doesn't work so well in the sequel. Sam Flynn is good at the games... why? Not because he has any experience with them. But only because he has become Generic Action Hero Guy! I don't know what to think about that.
I liked how Kevin Flynn had aged. I also liked the awkward Father / Son relationship, which I could certainly relate to. I felt like the acting there was spot on. It was meant to be awkward, with two people who were worlds apart. With nothing to talk about really, but with still a deep love underneath. I got that, and I thought it was well done.
Some criticize Garrett Hedlund's acting in this, but I thought he did a great job. I had no problem with Sam Flynn as a character. Olivia Wilde was good, too. And Jeff Bridges, as usual, really shined. He was awesome.
I've read some criticism that somewhere between Tron and Tron: Legacy, Kevin Flynn became "The Dude" from The Big Lebowsky. I couldn't disagree more. They both have a beard, and they both say "man" a lot. But that's where the similarity ends. Flynn is philosophical. The Dude isn't - people just read philosophy into what he says, even when there is none. Flynn is an achiever. The Dude is a loser. Flynn cares about the future. The Dude just wants his rug back... So I don't think it's fair at all to say that Flynn is now the Dude. It doesn't make any sense to say that. Sure, the movie has plenty of things to criticize. But calling Flynn "the Dude" just because they look alike is a cheap shot that doesn't require any actual thinking.
For me, the biggest problem with the movie was that the story wasn't so great. Mostly because it featured far too much exposition. And in a lot of cases, there were setups for some great fights - which were never shown. For example, toward the end, Sam goes into a room to fight. He says his one liner, and then the whole fight occurs off-screen. This is very ineffective and a bit of a let down. Maybe it was done this way on purpose to avoid a PG-13 rating, but I was disappointed.
And all of the stuff with the ISO's... That's not a bad story, but all they did was tell us about it in flashbacks. That's not very effective storytelling. If they had made THAT the story rather than what we got, it might have been more interesting.
Plus, I never bought into the whole "The ISO's will change everything" argument anyway. "Religion, science, medicine..." I'm sorry, but I don't get that. It seems an awful lot like hand-waving on a lazy writers' part, trying to make us think the ISO's are more significant than they are. I mean, the programs in this movie can already think and act independently which is not at all approximating reality to begin with. So how is finding another batch of programs that can do the same in any way significant? So they were randomly generated. So what? What does that have to do with "religion, science, and medicine"? Or "everything"?
I've seen other reviewers here defend this plot point religiously. I think you guys are making something out of nothing. You WANT the story to make sense. You WANT the story to be great. But it isn't. Yet you still try to argue to convince people like me that it is.
What we got wasn't all bad, however. I still really enjoyed the movie, and I would like to see another sequel. It had some neat effects. I liked the derezzing effect especially. Story-wise, the father / son angle was good.
It also had some bad effects. Namely, the young CGI Jeff Bridges. Now I didn't mind this when used for Clu. Clu is a program, after all. So dead eyes and a creepy, frozen face are acceptable for him. But it's not acceptable for the younger Kevin Flynn. It's only one moment, but it seems apparent that the CGI technology is not quite there yet.
The story was not very complicated. This was good and bad. Good in that it was simple and easy to understand. Bad in that there wasn't a lot of motivation besides "Clu is doing this because he is evil". But that's exactly the way the first movie was, so I can't complain.
Tron is underused in the movie, which is a pity. But I didn't mind this too much. Even in the first movie, Tron himself is a pretty flat character. Just a crusading do-gooder. Still, I wish they had done more with him here, instead of turning him into a generic Darth Vader-type. But it was still good.
Ram also shows up, by the way. Or at least, his programmer does ("Alan, can I have some of your popcorn?"). But this isn't in the movie itself - it's only on the special features. There's a whole section of deleted scenes with an entire subplot featuring the guy, called "Flynn Lives". I am sorry to see that none of that made it into the movie, but I can see why it was cut.
It is also worth mentioning that same as the original movie, Tron Legacy really shines when it comes to the music. Instead of Wendy Carlos, we get Daft Punk. I credit this movie for turning me on to Daft Punk, a most excellent electronica duo. The music they do is great, both for this movie and in their own albums.
Also, as a special feature, this movie includes Daft Punk's most excellent "Derezzed" video. This features two sci-fi jousting figures on a Tron-esque landscape. It has to be one of the coolest videos of all time! Certainly the coolest I've ever seen.
As for the 3D... I am a 3D enthusiast, and own many 3D movies. I liked the 3D in this movie. It was nothing spectacular, all depth effects really. But it was very well done and I enjoyed watching it. I think the 3D adds to the experience here, and I can't say that about all 3D movies.
This particular pack also comes with the original Tron, which I don't care to review other than to say I love it. It's not perfect either, but it's still great. And having it on Blu-Ray is NICE.
The final verdict: Tron Legacy is a good movie. Not great, but good. It had a lot of potential, and - to be fair - a lot of hype to live up to. Perhaps there is no way it could have measured up to such expectations. It is hard for me to judge the movie without thinking I might be biased, or overly critical. I wanted the movie to be a lot better than it was. It let me down, but I'm still pretty happy with what we got. I'm still giving it 5 stars because I like it so much. I hope they make another.
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- Tron Legacy Rinzler Identity Disc$49.99 shippingGet it Dec 19 - Jan 6Only 10 left in stock - order soon.
Don't believe the critics and the press: Flynn's lives!
- A second part that put behind the first one. The 1st Tron was probably a revolution when it came out in the beginning of the 80's but comparing with the second one it seems that we miss something.... TRON Legacy is the most powerful feature that you can watch in 3D (Since James Cameron's Avatar). Disney did right coming back on this adventure....but they missed a point. For the new generation who didn't know the first Tron, starting with Legacy was like if you missed a part of the story. For most of the people Tron is "démodé" and doesn't give you the motivation to watch another one. It was better in this situation to Re-create a complete new saga to match with our time. The Cameo idea Hopefully the writers had a good idea bringing back young Jeff Bridges as he appears in the first movie. Using technology and a clever introduction, you don't need to see the 1st Tron to understand this second part.....but you will be disappointed watching it after. I saw the movie several times in theatres; I really enjoyed the visual part of it and of course the music produced by Daft Punk who match perfectly with TRON. This is the kind of entertainment that needs to be seen on a big screen 1st. The Blu-ray contains a mix of IMAX and normal Theatrical view that will adjust to fit on your screen automatically. A lot of extra features will show you how they created the young Jeff Bridges Cameo. Since we got the Philips 21:9 cinema screen; it's a real pleasure to watch movies, especially that kind of movie. If you have a normal 16:9 screen, you need to zoom or change the option to obtain the best immersive 3D Experience. Or a projector to forget the black bares. See you on the grid
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- Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2013
