Tron: Ares (2025)
In the original Tron movie from 1982, computer engineer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) is sucked into the digital world. Now, in this third film in the series, Tron: Ares, a computer program named Ares (Jared Leto) enters the real flesh and blood world.
Tron: Ares is a chase picture
with the villains in pursuit of heroine Eve (Greta Lee), who is in possession
of a valuable hard drive. The CEO of Dillinger Systems, Julian Dillinger (Evan
Peters), has created digital constructs who can exist in the real world, but
they can only last for 29-minutes before they disintegrate. It is Eve who has
discovered a "permanence code" that cracks the 29-minute barrier, and she puts
it on a hard drive. Dillinger then sends his creation, Ares, the Master Control
Program, after her, but he can only pursue her for 29-minutes at a time before
deresolution. Ares, however, is starting to show self-awareness, and isn't too
keen on being just an expendable soldier.
The chase scenes, accompanied by a
driving music score by Nine Inch Nails, are good fun, especially in 3D. It's
also cool that the filmmakers are playing with ideas in the Tron
universe instead of just a strict rehash. Eventually, the movie does hit the
nostalgia button and we get to see the digital world as represented in the
first Tron, complete with the original Light Cycle design and a cameo by
Jeff Bridges. That's fine, though.
The film does run out of steam in the
third act thanks to visual and audio overload. It's just too much of
everything, and you'll feel exhausted as you are walking out of the theater.
Yet, for much of its two-hour running time, Tron: Ares is an
entertaining ride.
