'Tron: Ares': Visually Stunning, But Narratively Shallow

PHOTO: Walt Disney Pictures

Considering that the Tron franchise already made their big legacy sequel with the aptly titled Tron: Legacy, it makes sense that the filmmakers behind any further entries would want to take a different approach. The franchise itself is a bit of an anomaly, as the previous two films both received mixed reviews and were moderate successes at the box office. However, both films have gone on to become cult favorites and are well-regarded for their respective technical achievements. It feels as if both entries just needed time for audiences to catch up with them a little considering the large gaps of time between each film. 28 years passed between the releases of Tron and Tron: Legacy, and it has now been 15 years between the release of Legacy and the franchise’s newest installment, titled Tron: Ares. 

Taking the form of a soft reboot, the film has its ties to the first two films, but is more concerned with laying the groundwork for new stories to be told. It introduces a new cast of characters and has a slightly darker tone, and feels calculated to court a broader audience. Ares retains the impressive visuals and excellent use of score that has been consistent across the franchise, but its bid for wider appeal makes it come across less lively and more conventional than the previous films. As pure spectacle, there’s some really cool stuff in Tron: Ares, but the film’s characterization and storytelling is a bit generic. At its best, the film is rather exciting, but at its worst it is borderline irritating.

Picking up 15 years after the events of Tron: Legacy, tech companies ENCOM and Dillinger Systems are at war with each other, trying to find a way to bring the digital world into our reality. ENCOM CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) uncovers a line of code known as the “permanence code” that was developed by her predecessor Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges). This code could help digital elements live in the real world and lead to major breakthroughs in the tech world. Meanwhile, Dillinger CEO Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters) has created a super-intelligent security program called Ares (Jared Leto) and presents him to shareholders as an expendable soldier. After finding out that Eve has the permanence code, Julian sends Ares to track her down. However, Ares soon finds himself rejecting his directive and partnering with Eve to fight back against Julian’s quest for power.

I only recently watched Tron and Tron: Legacy for the first time, so I don’t have much of a connection to the series in general. I enjoyed both films just fine, but I wasn’t overly impressed by them outside of their visual effects. The same can be said about Tron: Ares, as the visual effects are fantastic but the rest of the film varies in quality. If there is anything I can say about the Tron series it is that they all have such a fascinating look to them, and are worth watching for that reason alone. The mix of practical effects and CGI in Ares is actually much better than I was expecting, and is easily its biggest strength. The digital worlds the film takes us to, as well as its action setpieces are extremely well done and are the types of things that were meant to be seen on the big screen. I especially liked the Light Cycle chase scenes, which are thrilling and give us some of the coolest looking moments of the entire film. The film still has the innovative energy of the previous films when it comes to its visuals, and it certainly does a lot of the heavy lifting here.

The other major strength the film has going for it is the score from Nine Inch Nails. NIN members Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have made a name for themselves as two of today’s premier film score composers, but this marks their first film where they are credited as Nine Inch Nails. Much like Daft Punk’s score was a perfect fit for Tron: Legacy, NIN’s score greatly enhances Tron: Ares. It gives it some much-needed grit and intensity and blew me away many times throughout the film. The score is tailor-made for the film, and it feels like the type of work that Reznor and Ross have been waiting for as film composers. It is easily the biggest film they’ve scored to date, and demands the sound that they are known for as Nine Inch Nails. Their music is so seamlessly integrated into the film and adds so much to it in the process, making this one of their best scores to date.

The plot and storytelling hasn’t been particularly great across the franchise, but Ares feels like a real low point in this department. The original Tron’s plot is practically nonsensical, while Legacy is a little easier to understand but drags a bit. Ares is at its best when it is driven by its setpieces, but falls short when it comes to the rest of the film. It basically feels like a watered down version of the storytelling that Legacy uses, and tends to play things a bit broadly. I was surprised that the film has more of a tenuous connection to the previous films, almost feeling like it took the plot from an unrelated film and mapped a few Tron references and details onto it. This makes sense considering that Ares is meant to be a reboot, but I was expecting it to be more connected to the other films than it is. It still has moments of nostalgia and a few references to the other films sprinkled in, but it mostly tries to break away from it to mixed results. If this was independent of Tron, I may be a bit more forgiving of its standardness, but as a Tron movie, it does come across as if it is catering a bit more to modern audiences instead of forming its own personality.

But the film’s biggest issue lies in its casting and the way some of the characters are written. Jared Leto has been attached to this project since 2017, but I really wish that Disney would have gone with someone else. Admittedly, I’m not a fan of Leto in general, but he can give decent performances on occasion. Still, he feels very miscast here. As Ares, he comes across so monotone and one-dimensional that it is hard to care about him. I get that Ares is a program and that he would come off robotic, but there are ways to make that part of the character more interesting than what Leto does. Instead, he feels flat and has a tendency to bring the film’s energy down. I wouldn’t say that he’s terrible in this, but he is boring and his approach to Ares doesn’t serve the character particularly well.

On the other end of the spectrum, Greta Lee is quite good in this film, and is able to salvage her character and make something of it. Eve doesn’t have much depth to her on the page, but Lee finds the drive and inner pain of the character and plays it nicely. I would also say that Jodie Turner-Smith is good in this, taking on the role of Athena, another program who works alongside Ares. Turner-Smith is downright intimidating, embodying a steeliness and rigidity that makes her a formidable foe and a more successful portrayal of a digital being than Leto. Evan Peters’s performance as Julian Dillinger mirrors my overall impression of the film. When he’s good, he’s pretty good, but when he’s bad, it’s quite frustrating. Part of this is due to the character being written with zero nuance or depth, as he is evil for seemingly no reason. Peters goes big with the character, and he has some moments where he can make something of it, but I mainly felt disappointed in the performance. Peters is a solid actor and I’ve been hoping he’d get a chance to have a major role in a big movie one day. It’s such a shame that this is the role that he ended up with, and that he wasn’t able to make more of it. 

Tron: Ares attempts to reboot the franchise, and while it could have been far worse, it’s still not great either. It delivers in terms of spectacle and its excellent score, but everything else isn’t quite up to snuff. It at least tries to be a little more of its own thing, but it just feels a bit too basic in its overall plot and suffers from having a lead who doesn’t bring much to the table. I went into this film fearing that it would be a disaster, but it isn’t nearly as bad as I feared. It comes awfully close to being a pretty good movie, but it has too many issues to reach that level. Ares is still a fun time, and is able to get some mileage on vibes alone, much like its predecessors. It is pretty impressive as a technical achievement, but everything else ends up being either surprisingly good or frustratingly bad. There’s definitely some bugs in the software here, but it still manages to function okay for the most part.

Rating: 2.5/5