Sunday, December 19, 2010

Tron: Legacy - Film Review


So I went to see Tron: Legacy on opening night with a few friends. The first thing I have to say is that the visuals were amazing. The budget for Tron: Legacy definitely set new standards for visuals in a modern-age film. The CGI was seamless and the use of 3D wasn't tacky or half-assed. It felt immersive, which is how 3D should be done.

Now those of us who've seen the original Tron, you're in for a treat. The additions they'd made to this world many of us have become enamoured with are, to be put simply, drool-worthy. Everything is richer and more electronic feeling. Gone are the days of hand-drawn animations overtop of film cell. This is a new generation of Tron that still feels remarkably like the previous one.

If you're in to the visceral side of film making, this is a treat for your senses. The sound is beautifully balanced, the visuals crisp and clean and the overall design is a film designers dream.

The plot of Tron: Legacy is more of what you'd expect. Not to say that this is a bad thing at all. A program gone renegade, the resistance fighting against them, etc.

The film also does a great job of setting itself up for those people who didn't see the original Tron in the opening scenes. We see Kevin Flynn explaining the world of Tron and telling him all about the improvements and things he's done since the first film. He's turned CLU in to a mirror image of himself that has AI thought potential to help him run things while he's not around with Tron.

In the mean time, you can guess what's happened. CLU has become corrupt, believing that his assignment of creating the perfect world no longer includes Kevin Flynn. So when Kevin enters The Grid, CLU terminates Tron, Kevin's protector, and sends him on the run.

Unfortunately during this time, when a portal opens in to this world it only remains open for about eight hours and once the portal is closed, it cannot be opened from the inside. Kevin becomes stuck there. In the real world, Sam Flynn, Kevin's son, grows up without a father and becomes some-what of a recluse. Despite owning major shares in his father's company, he remains out of the company.

After one of his father's old colleague's, Tron's original User, receives a page from a line that's been dead for nearly thirty years Sam heads to his father's old Arcade and is sucked in to The Grid. The rest of the plot advances along with Sam, Kevin, and Quorra, a program part of the small resistance, attempting to get out of The Grid to shut down CLU from the outside.

Many revelations about the world of Tron are made during the film and I don't want to give away too much of the plot before you go out and see it, but while it's not the most amazing plot out there, it fits well in the film and puts forward the best experience you can expect from a movie like Tron: Legacy.

Over all I'd have to give the movie a great recommendation. If you're in to technology, saw the original or are just curious about what it might be like, go see it! I think it's something everyone can enjoy,

Rating
8.5/10

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