I wouldn't call myself a TRON hardcore fan - I couldn't even crack a single message from their website during their "Flynn lives" viral campaign. Still, I know the movie perfectly well - I watched it on a movie theater when I was 8 years old, and I simply could never get out of my head the Recognizers and Lightcycles. I did master the Intellivision Tron Deadly Discs game, and the movie jump-started my love for all things computer related. I've watched the 20th Anniversary DVD and all the extras far more times than I can care to count. Guess I'm a TRON hardcore fan after all.
I had mixed feelings about this movie. On one hand, a sequel to TRON made all the sense in the world - the original movie correctly predicted plenty of concepts that we now take as granted (the importance of a network, transports, I/O ports, security, etc.), so a sequel could do something similar. The script could basically write itself; back then, writers had one very difficult time trying to convey the inner workings of a computer network to an audience that was not as computer saavy as today (I'd say they sort of failed - TRON's weakest part was its story). Also, Disney couldn't just hire everyone; they weren't the powerhouse they are now, so they had to do with a scrappy team of visionary but amateurish people. Now, with $300 million dollars at their disposal, any actor they could ever want, all the technology they could ever need, Pixar and their creative team, how could Disney make Tron a failure?
If you want an answer to this question, just go watch Tron: Legacy. It IS a failure.
Why? I believe that TRON, as näive and silly as it sometimes is, has its heart in the right place - it always strives to tell a story, and uses technology as both a backdrop and a principal character. It's not technology for its own sake, either - the Lightcycles, tanks, recognizers, and the complete universe of Tron really made you feel as if you were somewhere else. It was completely unlike anything you had ever seen before. The art depicted on the movie was so striking I think it'll be remembered for years to come just because of it. And, as I said before, it correctly guessed at the future of computing. I wouldn't hesitate to call it a landmark movie, even considering all of its problems.
Tron: Legacy is just another product Disney marketing decided to sell. It has no soul whatsoever. It's not innovative or inventive - most of the things you'll see come from other, more successful movies. Examples? The aerial pursuit near the end of the movie is lifted directly from Star Wars. The bar scene is a near perfect copy of the one on Matrix: Reloaded. The attack scenes are also lifted from the Matrix. Jeff Bridges is The Dude in a cybercostume. The rebel kid hacking computers seems like a copy of Terminator 2. At no time did I think to myself "this is something I had never seen in my life", as I did with Tron.
Furthermore, there's no story of any importance whatsoever behind all the CGI. The original TRON dealt with issues we face nowadays in any computer network (well, at least if you are a geek and work with computers). Tron Legacy doesn't even make any effort to predict the future, or to point out at any risks technology poses to people in the XXIst century. It's a completely disposable product, which is sort of enjoyable when you watch it, but can't bear to think about it afterwards. Because it really makes no sense and it doesn't make any important points.
I cannot believe Disney couldn't get someone - anyone - capable of writing a good script, hiring decent actors (Sam Flynn was TERRIBLE) and getting a director with at least a couple of good movies under his belt. The only reason why I give this movie a 7 is because, even though you've seen everything before, it does look great on the big screen. I especially liked CLU - I never noticed I was looking at CGI. Awesome technology.
I'm completely positive this sequel will go down in history as others, such as Blues Brothers 2000, the Star Wars prequels, and Matrix: Revolutions as one of the worst ever made. Sad. It had so much potential it's incredible they actually blew it.
I had mixed feelings about this movie. On one hand, a sequel to TRON made all the sense in the world - the original movie correctly predicted plenty of concepts that we now take as granted (the importance of a network, transports, I/O ports, security, etc.), so a sequel could do something similar. The script could basically write itself; back then, writers had one very difficult time trying to convey the inner workings of a computer network to an audience that was not as computer saavy as today (I'd say they sort of failed - TRON's weakest part was its story). Also, Disney couldn't just hire everyone; they weren't the powerhouse they are now, so they had to do with a scrappy team of visionary but amateurish people. Now, with $300 million dollars at their disposal, any actor they could ever want, all the technology they could ever need, Pixar and their creative team, how could Disney make Tron a failure?
If you want an answer to this question, just go watch Tron: Legacy. It IS a failure.
Why? I believe that TRON, as näive and silly as it sometimes is, has its heart in the right place - it always strives to tell a story, and uses technology as both a backdrop and a principal character. It's not technology for its own sake, either - the Lightcycles, tanks, recognizers, and the complete universe of Tron really made you feel as if you were somewhere else. It was completely unlike anything you had ever seen before. The art depicted on the movie was so striking I think it'll be remembered for years to come just because of it. And, as I said before, it correctly guessed at the future of computing. I wouldn't hesitate to call it a landmark movie, even considering all of its problems.
Tron: Legacy is just another product Disney marketing decided to sell. It has no soul whatsoever. It's not innovative or inventive - most of the things you'll see come from other, more successful movies. Examples? The aerial pursuit near the end of the movie is lifted directly from Star Wars. The bar scene is a near perfect copy of the one on Matrix: Reloaded. The attack scenes are also lifted from the Matrix. Jeff Bridges is The Dude in a cybercostume. The rebel kid hacking computers seems like a copy of Terminator 2. At no time did I think to myself "this is something I had never seen in my life", as I did with Tron.
Furthermore, there's no story of any importance whatsoever behind all the CGI. The original TRON dealt with issues we face nowadays in any computer network (well, at least if you are a geek and work with computers). Tron Legacy doesn't even make any effort to predict the future, or to point out at any risks technology poses to people in the XXIst century. It's a completely disposable product, which is sort of enjoyable when you watch it, but can't bear to think about it afterwards. Because it really makes no sense and it doesn't make any important points.
I cannot believe Disney couldn't get someone - anyone - capable of writing a good script, hiring decent actors (Sam Flynn was TERRIBLE) and getting a director with at least a couple of good movies under his belt. The only reason why I give this movie a 7 is because, even though you've seen everything before, it does look great on the big screen. I especially liked CLU - I never noticed I was looking at CGI. Awesome technology.
I'm completely positive this sequel will go down in history as others, such as Blues Brothers 2000, the Star Wars prequels, and Matrix: Revolutions as one of the worst ever made. Sad. It had so much potential it's incredible they actually blew it.