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The framework of pointlessness is revisited in this tediously complex science fiction movie, closer to a screensaver than an actual film. This is a threequel to the classic Tron film from 1982, a movie that was mould-breaking and courageously innovative for its day in a way that eludes this one and its predecessor Tron Legacy from 2010. The new Tron film nearly comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters' character gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson's character playing his mother, in an traditional bit of analogue reality. This is a bit of firm parenting you might want to handing out to all the producers involved in this film, and it's sad to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so uninspired.

Plot Overview of The New Tron Film

The situation currently is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger has become a competitor to the virtual reality firm Encom Inc, originally set up in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (initially founded by Encom 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 develop and produce lucrative items such as invincible troops and armored vehicles in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into the real world using a kind of three-dimensional printer.

The problem is that however fearsome, these things crumble into dust after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence code” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even keeps it on her person on a very low-tech flashdrive. So the dreadful Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares, the superhuman fighter which can leave the VR world for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of androids, is starting to exhibit symptoms of disobeying what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance portrays Ares's stoic deputy Athena and poor Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in sage-like white garments, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton.

Acting and Roles Breakdown

And Ares himself – the protagonist of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, facial hair and faintly all-knowing smile, touches that were perhaps designed by inputting the words “extremely annoying” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who remembers the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life series will always find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Mr Leto, and I was incidentally very entertained by his expansive (and widely misinterpreted) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Leto is consistently, persistently terrible here, although he isn't helped by a limp plot point which is supposed to allow him to show flashes of “empathy” for Greta Lee's character and subcontract all the badass wickedness to Athena, thus making her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be charming when Ares the character says how he loves 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode are superior to Mozart's compositions.

Franchise Elements and Final Impression

Consistent with the brand-identity of the franchise, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which whizz about the environment in long straight lines, conforming to the angular layout of antique arcade games (or indeed nightclubs); a single bike even emits a lethal beam which cuts a cop car in two. But there is zero tension or danger or emotional engagement throughout. This series now looks about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.