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The matrix of pointlessness is revisited in this mind-bendingly dull science fiction film, more a screensaver than an actual film. It's a third installment to the original movie Tron from the early 80s, a movie that was mould-breaking and boldly pioneering for its time in a way that eludes this film and its predecessor Tron Legacy from the previous decade. The new Tron film almost awakens just once – when Evan Peters' character gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson playing his mother, in an traditional bit of real-world action. That's a piece of tough love you might feel like handing out to all the producers involved in this film, and it's unfortunate 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 situation currently is that an evil AI corporation with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a competitor to the virtual reality firm Encom Inc, first established in the 80s arcade-game era by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (initially founded by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger, played by David Warner) is led by the founder's annoyingly geeky grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to design and create profitable things such as invincible troops and armored vehicles in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into actual reality using a sort of 3D printer.

The problem is that however fearsome, these creations crumble into dust after 29 minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence code” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic flashdrive. So the ghastly Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares, the humanoid uber-warrior which can exit the virtual realm for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of robots, is beginning to show signs of disobeying what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith plays Ares's stoic deputy Athena's role and unfortunate Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in sage-like white garments, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Analysis

Moreover, Ares – the protagonist of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and faintly all-knowing smile, details that were perhaps designed by typing the words “extremely annoying” into an artificial intelligence character generator. No one who recalls the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life series will always find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Mr Leto, and I was also quite amused by his broad (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Leto is consistently, unrelentingly awful here, although his performance isn't aided by a weak storyline which is supposed to allow him to display glimpses of “compassion” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the villainous actions to Athena's character, thus making her slightly more engaging. It is supposed to be charming when Ares says how he adores 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode band are superior to Mozart.

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 linear paths, adhering to the angular layout of classic video games (or indeed dance clubs); a single bike even shoots out a death ray which slices a police vehicle in half. But there is no drama or jeopardy or emotional engagement anywhere. This franchise currently appears as relevant as an in-car CD player.