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The matrix of futility is reloaded in this mind-bendingly dull science fiction movie, closer to a screensaver than an actual film. It's a threequel to the original movie Tron from the early 80s, a film that was groundbreaking and boldly pioneering for its time in a way that escapes this film and its predecessor Tron: Legacy from the previous decade. Tron: Ares almost awakens just once – when Evan Peters gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson's character playing his mother, in an old-fashioned bit of real-world action. This is 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 estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so lifeless.

Plot Overview of The New Tron Film

The situation currently is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger has become a rival to the VR company Encom, first established in the 1980s gaming period by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn's character, played by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (originally set up by Encom executive Ed Dillinger, acted by David Warner) is headed by the founder’s annoyingly geeky grandson Julian (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to design and create profitable things such as indestructible soldiers and armored vehicles in the VR world and then transfer them into the real world using a sort of three-dimensional printer.

The issue is that no matter how intimidating, these things disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can keep these things alive for ever, and even keeps it on her person on a extremely basic USB drive. So the dreadful Julian sets his attack dog on her: Ares the warrior, the superhuman fighter which can exit the virtual realm for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of robots, is beginning to show signs of not doing what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance plays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena's role and unfortunate Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Breakdown

Moreover, Ares – the hero of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, facial hair and subtly omniscient grin, details that were possibly designed by inputting 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 incidentally quite amused by his expansive (and widely misinterpreted) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Leto is unremittingly, unrelentingly awful in this film, although his performance isn't aided by a limp plot point which is intended to allow him to display glimpses of “compassion” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the villainous actions to Athena's character, thus rendering her marginally more interesting. It is meant to be charming when Ares the character says how he adores 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode band are better than Mozart's compositions.

Series Features and Final Impression

And in keeping with the brand-identity of the series, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which speed around the place in linear paths, conforming to the angular layout of antique arcade games (or even nightclubs); one even shoots out a lethal beam which cuts a police vehicle in two. But there is zero tension or danger or human interest throughout. This series currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.