{"id":32208,"date":"2025-10-09T00:02:39","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T07:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=32208"},"modified":"2025-10-09T00:02:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T07:02:39","slug":"tron-ares-looks-and-sounds-great-but-the-story-is-glitchy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=32208","title":{"rendered":"TRON: ARES Looks and Sounds Great, But the Story is Glitchy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 118 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature from Disney opens exclusively at theaters\nand on IMAX screens Friday, October 10th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a young boy in 1982, I saw the original Tron<\/em> on\nthe big screen. The visuals and concept of the inner workings of a computer\nmade a strong impact on me, but I would be hard pressed to remember much about\nthe story. By the time the sequel Tron: Legacy<\/em> arrived in 2010, I was an\nadult, but my reaction was nearly identical. It was a great-looking and\nimpressively-scored movie, yet I can\u2019t recall anything about the story that\ngrabbed me. The latest effort to arrive at cinemas is Tron: Ares<\/em>, which\noffers a few new wrinkles to the story. It is an improvement over the previous\nchapter, but to be frank it also has many of the same issues as its\npredecessors. Perhaps this series simply isn\u2019t for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Set sometime after the events of the previous chapter, ENCOM\nCEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) is in fierce competition with Dillinger Corporation\nCEO, Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters). Both are on the brink of a new\ntechnological breakthrough that can enable computer elements to enter the real\nworld. But each is plotting very different uses for the new advancement.\nAdditionally, to allow a creation to exist in the real world for an extended\nperiod of time, they need to find a hidden code written by vanished ENCOM founder\nKevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges). Dillinger, who wants to militarize the technology,\ndecides to use an AI security program named Ares (Jared Leto), as well as his\ncohort Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith) to find the code and win the corporate\nbattle at any cost. But as Ares ventures forth on his mission and learns more,\nhe begins to form his own ideas and objectives.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As expected, the technical specs are fantastic. The film\nlooks gorgeous and, if you\u2019re going to see it anyway, you should do so on the\nbiggest screen possible. Cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth (Fight Club, The\nSocial Network<\/em>) and the visual effects team make the interior computer\nworld glow, and when these warriors and their modes of transportation enter the\nreal world, it\u2019s striking to behold. There is even an amusing nod to the\noriginal film\u2019s art direction that will please those who adore the first movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Nine Inch Nails score is also bombastic, but enjoyable. In fact, some might be wondering if they might be better served dancing to the movie than watching it. At the IMAX preview screening I saw, the beats sounded a bit too loud in spots and almost drowned out the characters. But the synth-heavy techno backing track (with a couple of numbers featuring vocals) does transport one into the unique world that the characters encounter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet when it comes to drama, there are bigger problems. There\nis a lot of techno-jargon bandied about, and the characters are weakly drawn.\nCuriously enough, the most developed figure is AI program Ares, who has a real\narc and shows growth over the story. Ares comes off the best by far, but the\nvillain is one-note and even Eve doesn\u2019t change dramatically over the course of\nevents. Truth be told, there isn\u2019t much dialogue from the main figures that\nisn\u2019t exposition in the first half of the picture and it all feels stiff. In\nthe later sections, Eve does open up and share an amusing conversation or two,\nbut it feels far too late in the proceedings to get us invested in the plight\nof the character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another problem may be with the script itself. Perhaps an\neven bigger struggle for relatability comes from the fact that the central\nhumans are brilliant millionaire and billionaire CEOs. Not the most accessible\npeople to get behind and root for. When Eve is pursued and put into the middle\nof a light cycle chase, she doesn\u2019t have as much trouble adapting as one might\nexpect. So, while the action looks great, it isn\u2019t particularly exciting or\ntense. It\u2019s only towards the final act when we feel any kind of danger for the\nprotagonists and world in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wish the story could have revolved around an outsider\nfinding the code, being hunted, and having to awkwardly figure out how to fend\noff attackers and adapt to preexisting and perhaps new advances. Alas, that is\nnot the movie that was made. Instead, we have a film that looks and sounds\nincredible, but is emotionally and dramatically aloof. The credits set up a\npossible sequel, and perhaps they could address these issues, but in the\nmeantime Tron: Ares<\/em> still hasn\u2019t maximized the potential of the\nconcept. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 118 minutes This feature from Disney opens exclusively at theaters and on IMAX screens Friday, October 10th. As a young boy in 1982, I saw the original Tron on the big screen. The visuals and concept of the inner workings of a computer made a strong impact on me, but I would be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":32210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[216,697,4709,5922,7119,7314,8652,10399,10760,14917,17776,18035,23296,23297,23299,23300,23301,23302,23303],"class_list":["post-32208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-216","tag-action","tag-computer","tag-disney","tag-evan-peters","tag-fantasy","tag-greta-lee","tag-jared-leto","tag-jodie-turner-smith","tag-nine-inch-nails","tag-science-fiction-2","tag-sequel","tag-tron","tag-tron-ares-2","tag-tron-ares","tag-tron-ares-film-review","tag-tron-ares-movie-review","tag-tron-ares-review","tag-tron-legacy-2"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32208\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}