The film is being marketed as a sci-fi action film, but it’s not really an action film. Which is not to say there aren’t actiony bits, because of course there are, but this is far more an adventure film than it is an action film. Still exciting, but the excitement is drawn as much from discovery as it is from conflict. There are of course a couple of bits where things lag more than they should, some of the plot handwaving is a bit handwavey, and at least one moderately important character decision doesn’t make much sense in retrospect, but on the whole this is a very entertaining example of How Popcorn Movies Should Be, and visually impressive on par with Avatar (and with 3D surpassing it; I felt Avatar’s 3D was just distracting, but TRON‘s is immersive).
Anyway, other things of note: I was very glad to see that this was edited by an adult rather than a hyperactive six-year-old. Jeff Bridges playing the elder Flynn as a cross between Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Dude was awesome. And the Daft Punk soundtrack is as awesome as you think it is.
Related Articles
16 users responded in this post
I got the soundtrack yesterday thanks to preorder, and it has been rocking the minutes by ever since. It’s great work. To hear that the movie earns it — that it’s every bit the “adventure” movie that Prince of Persia and its like should have been — is not just reassuring, it’s invigorating. Thanks for the early word!
Most excellent, about as good as I could have hoped for.
Interesting. All the other advance reviews I’ve read so far have called it mediocre-to-poor. “Heartless” seems to be the big claim.
“And the Daft Punk soundtrack is as awesome as you think it is.”
Thats..not a good thing in my case. *sigh*
Maybe I’ll just wait for the dvd and watch it with the sound off and subtitles on…
Wait, its OUT? I thought next week.
and with 3D surpassing it; I felt Avatar’s 3D was just distracting, but TRON‘s is immersive
Is TRON meant to be seen in 3d then? I’ve been waiting for another movie where the director’s vision was to have it in 3d (rather than having 3d tacked on as an afterthought). Is TRON a movie like that?
I’d been planning on just seeing the 2d version, but if the movie was actually filmed to be a 3d movie, I might have to revise my plans.
The daft punk music (which you can listen to on youtube, duh) sounds like what I’d imagine sex between Vangelis and John Williams would sound like.
I.E. its effing sweet.
That’s just weird. I can see complaints about the pacing, maybe some of the actors (Michael Sheen hams it up severely). But calling it heartless when the central issue of the movie is the reunion of a long-separated parent and child and how they deal with it, while having to also have computer laser fights? Weird.
Yes and no. They began filming the movie in 2D but then switched to 3D halfway through. But the thing is that it works, because the 2D sequences are most of the real-world bits, and the larger 3D portion of the movie is the TRONverse.
I just want to know one thing:
do we get cheat codes for the light cycle round?
In case it wasn’t clear, by the way, MGK’s review outweighs those other negative ones for me. I’m pretty much right in tune with him when it comes to movies and stuff.
I survived seeing TRON: Legacy and all I got was this thumb drive that contains the GRID UNIVERSE!
That and a free pass back to the theater because the sound system was busted.
Most of what MGK says I concur, although I do feel more strongly that there were pacing issues with the story. Also, no Cindy Morgan. My geek outrage BURNS WITH THE HEAT OF A THOUSAND BLOOD RED SUNS!
I still cherish a wee hope of seeing Cindy Morgan in the sequels that will follow if Legacy makes big money. I mean, Lora wasn’t so much into the software side of Encom, and Yori wasn’t made for fighting, so where would you see her? Not that I wouldn’t have appreciated Legacy shoehorning her in….
I liked the movie, but found it slightly depressing, mostly because you know Tron’s fate–what’s happened to him and, from that, what will–pretty much right away.
Just saw this, and I thought it was great. I don’t understand the hate this movie’s gotten in some quarters (AV Club gave it a D+? IO9 said it was a failure in film making? Really?). I thought it was the most adult Disney movie I’ve ever seen.
The conflict between the protagonist and antagonist is basically a philosophical one. I thought it was great. Now there are a few moments I wish the movie had worked a little harder to earn, and I’m still a bit confused about what the ending was all about.
This movie is really good, it’s smarter than you’d think, it looks great, and it deserves to be a hit.
Yeah, it was enjoyable, better than I thought it would be, nice feeling of tension through much of it (no doubt aided by the quite good soundtrack). And far more emotionally engaging that I expected (ie. zero expectation).
Critics… I dunno, in aggregate they can lead in the right direction, but sometimes they all fail all at once, in both the positive and negative directions. One need only look at the Rottentomato ratings for Chronicles of Riddick and the fourth Indiana Jones movie to see this in action on both sides. And don’t get me started on certain highly acclaimed movies that were, um, failures as stories.
Count me in as another Tron fan who was pleasantly surprised by the flick. Yes there are problems – no one above has mentioned all the Star Wars references (the light-cycle/sabre bit). Why associate your flick with a competitor? – but I thought it was sweet overall.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8T6nyMo9NI
So MGK and I typically agree on film stuff, but my disbelief suspenders fell off about halfway through the film. It felt like someone kept telling me how awesome the movie was as I was watching. Jeff Bridges yelling “Yeah!” tells me that the scene is awesome without showing the awesome. Meh.
Also, “How did you solve the icing problem?” has been done in a similar film recently…