Saturday, December 25, 2010

Tron Legacy



First of all I want to say that the look of this film and the idea for real life inventions/applications that it had were very imaginative. That impressed me alot.

As someone who needs to find something fun to do to add more exercise into my life (so I can get back into Fencing - one of my dreams for 2011) I loved that game scene where the gamers threw their discs at each other in that clear glass like cube thingie. That would be a hell of a workout for both body and mind. (Does anyone know of a current gaming system that would fulfill my needs? I would prefer if you had some actual experience with weight loss success while having fun).

Now back to Tron. The first one from over 20 years ago was one of those seminal films in my life. It really showed me the power of computers and gave me a glimpse into the great new video/computer age I was entering.


Like with anything, we haven't gone from 'The Flintstones' to the 'The Jetsons' quite yet but I have been impressed with the way that one doesn't have to be a genius programmer with an understanding for complex computer logic systems to be creative and being creative was always what interested me most about computers.

Something like the Internet and Blogging wasn't even on my radar but I quickly was able to become expert at both in no small part to how easy they have made the technology to work with. I sure the same can be said by gamers (which I am not one - old school arcade guy - remember) and cell phone/personal hand held device/application/texting users - mostly next generation consumers - something I have yet to adopt even at the most remedial level. That has more to the nature of my lifestyle (and my desire to avoid brain cancer) than my lack of interest.


The story of the new Tron is really incidental. I enjoyed it for it predictability and for it's themes of freedom vs oppression. This was the story I was expecting but my main interest was primarily in how much the visuals had advanced and in that area I was not let down.

Everything from the neon suits to the light cycles and the cold metal fusion of the 'GRID' was mesmerizing. The story just gave me more time to stare at the cool look of the film. Normally that is not what you pay your money for but in this case (as opposed to 'Avatar') that was strangely enough for me. After the cool look of Pandora had bored me, there was little else to keep me interested with 'Avatar'. In Tron, the 'Grid' was a much more interesting place for me to be. Maybe that says more about my sensibilities and interests than anything else.

Special notice has to be made of the soundtrack also. The music by Daft Punk is cutting edge as is the sound effect design work. In a modern theatre with a state of the art speaker system, it's almost magic to listen too. It fills your body and not just your ears.


People expected a lot from this movie and I know that many were let down by it. I can assure you that I was not one of them. This, to me, was a thoughtful, modern fantasy that advanced the idea and visuals of the original Tron.

Can you imagine what the third movie will look like 20 years from now?

5 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I was not let down either - my review was quite positive. No, the storyline did not match the grandness of the special effects and the soundtrack, but it was good. I mean really folks - did you not see the first Tron? What were you expecting - Hamlet?

Kal said...

The only thing I wish they had put more effort into was the whole TRON storyline so that when he says "I serve the user" it would have seemed more like a Darth Vader-like return from the dark-side. If you are going to have that character at all you deserve to develop his story line a little more. You could have taken out that whole 'Zeus' stuff if you were running long. But those are quibbles. I loved the whole look and sound of this film too.

Robin said...

Can you imagine if the third Tron was done on a real Holodeck? Now that would be cool...

Kal said...

ooooo an interactive holodeck where half the audience died before the end of the movie - but you only had to pay for your ticket if you survived the viewing experience

Tom said...

I liked it too. It may not be the greatest movie, but I went for the visual effects and was not let down. I also liked Olivia Wilde and the Sirens.