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The matrix of pointlessness is reloaded in this tediously complex sci-fi film, closer to a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. It's a third installment to the classic Tron film from the early 80s, a movie that was mould-breaking and courageously innovative for its time in a way that escapes this one and its forerunner Tron: Legacy from 2010. Tron: Ares almost awakens just once – when Evan Peters gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson playing his mother, in an traditional bit of analogue reality. This is a bit of firm parenting you might want to handing out to all the producers engaged in this film, and it's sad to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so uninspired.

Plot Overview of The New Tron Film

The scenario now is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger has become a competitor to the VR company Encom, first established in the 80s arcade-game era by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (originally set up by Encom executive Ed Dillinger, acted by David Warner) is led by the founder’s odiously nerdish grandson's character Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to design and create profitable things such as invincible troops and armored vehicles in the VR world and then export them into the real world using a kind of three-dimensional printer.

The issue is that however fearsome, these creations disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has discovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can keep these things alive for ever, and even stores it on her person on a very low-tech flashdrive. So the dreadful Julian Dillinger deploys his enforcer on her: Ares, the superhuman fighter which can exit the virtual realm for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of androids, is starting to exhibit symptoms of disobeying what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith portrays Ares's stoic deputy Athena and poor Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Breakdown

And Ares himself – the hero of the film's name – is acted by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, facial hair and subtly omniscient grin, touches that were perhaps designed by typing the words “extremely annoying” into an AI human creation programme. Nobody who recalls the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life will ever find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Jared Leto, and I was also quite amused by his expansive (and critically misunderstood) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is unremittingly, unrelentingly terrible in this film, although his performance isn't aided by a weak storyline which is intended to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the villainous actions to Athena's character, thus making her marginally more interesting. It is supposed to be charming when Ares the character says how he loves 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode band are superior to Mozart.

Series Features and Overall Impact

Consistent with the franchise identity of the series, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which whizz about the environment in long straight lines, adhering to the angular layout of classic video games (or even dance clubs); a single bike even shoots out a death ray which slices a cop car in half. But there is no drama or danger or emotional engagement anywhere. This series now looks about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.