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The matrix of pointlessness is reloaded in this tediously complex science fiction film, closer to a screensaver than an actual film. This is a third installment to the original movie Tron from 1982, a film that was mould-breaking and courageously innovative for its day in a way that eludes this film and its forerunner Tron Legacy from 2010. Tron: Ares almost comes to life just once – when Evan Peters' character gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson portraying his mum, 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 engaged in this film, and it's unfortunate to see the respected Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so uninspired.

Story Summary of Tron: Ares

The situation now is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger has become a competitor to the virtual reality firm Encom, first established in the 80s arcade-game era by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (initially founded by Encom executive Ed Dillinger, acted by David Warner) is headed by the founder’s annoyingly geeky grandson's character Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to design and create profitable things such as invincible troops and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then export them into actual reality using a kind of 3D printer.

The issue is that no matter how intimidating, these creations disintegrate after 29 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 keeps it on her person on a very low-tech USB drive. So the ghastly Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares the warrior, the superhuman fighter which can leave the VR world for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of robots, is beginning to show signs of disobeying what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith portrays Ares's stoic deputy Athena's role and poor Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in wise white robes, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Acting and Roles Breakdown

And Ares himself – the hero of the title – is acted by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, facial hair and faintly all-knowing smile, details that were possibly created by inputting the words “extremely annoying” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who remembers the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life will always find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Mr Leto, and I was incidentally quite amused by his broad (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is unremittingly, unrelentingly awful here, although he isn't helped by a limp plot point which is intended to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Eve Kim's role and subcontract all the villainous actions to Athena's character, thus rendering her marginally more interesting. It is meant to be adorable when Ares says how he adores 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode band are better than Mozart.

Franchise Elements and Overall Impact

Consistent with the brand-identity of the series, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which whizz about the place in long straight lines, conforming to the angular layout of classic video games (or even nightclubs); one even emits a death ray which cuts a police vehicle in half. But there is zero tension or jeopardy or emotional engagement anywhere. This series now looks about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.