PG-13

“Tron: Legacy” could’ve been a great example of a sequel that’s better late than never. If there was any time, now would be it. The original “Tron” was groundbreaking in its use of special effects and computer animation, even if the story wasn’t so great. “Tron: Legacy” could’ve followed the same path—fantastic special effects, innovative 3D sequences, and awesome action sequences stitched together with a so-so story. It didn’t quite turn out that way, though. “Tron: Legacy” has the same sort of visual flair as the original, along with the same sort of action sequences, but it’s nothing we haven’t seen before, and certainly doesn’t live up to the legacy tacked on to the title.
It goes wrong in a lot of places, but never wrong enough to be truly awful. First-time director Joseph Kosinski paces the film sluggishly, plopping long stretches of exposition in between far-too-infrequent action sequences. And there’s Jeff Bridges, reprising his role as Kevin Flynn, hero of the original “Tron.” But Bridges is in dialed-back Dude mode here, spouting some half-baked Zen sayings while sounding half-asleep, and doesn’t bring his usual charm to the role. Garrett Hedlund, who stars as Flynn’s son, is painfully generic, but more than capable of riding a motorcycle, which is pretty much his primary task.
“Tron: Legacy” picks up two decades after “Tron.” This time, the hero is Sam Flynn (Hedlund), who grew up listening to his father (Bridges) tell about his exploits in The Grid with Tron, a heroic program who “fights for the users.” But Kevin disappeared, and Sam was left to grow up on his own. Years later, Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner), Kevin’s friend and former business partner, tells Sam he’s received a page from Kevin—from a number that’s been disconnected for 20 years. Sam finds Kevin’s old office and gets sucked into The Grid. There, he learns the truth: his father has been held prisoner in The Grid for 20 years. Holding him captive is Clu (a digitally de-aged Bridges), a rogue program intent on building an army and escaping from The Grid into the real world.
Got all that? There’s even more, but it makes far less sense. The script, by “Lost” writers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, goes to great lengths to explain everything that’s going on, but even then, it’s a mess. After a few years in The Grid, Kevin discovered a new life-form. He calls them ISOs and claims they’ll change everything, but what that means is never really clear. And the rest of the plot, about Clu’s quest to escape The Grid, Kevin’s fight for “the users” and so on, is similarly muddy. That doesn’t stop all the exposition in “Tron: Legacy” though, and whenever the light-cycles and discs are away, the movie gets unnecessarily talky.
The best bits of “Tron: Legacy” happen at the periphery. Michael Sheen has a small role as the rogue club-owning program Castor. Sheen vamps it up as the Bowie-esque program and gives “Tron: Legacy” a much needed spark of fun. So does James Frain as Jarvis, Clu’s sniveling and sycophantic assistant. It’s too bad there isn’t more of this—“Tron:Legacy” is dark and heavy, as full of portentous importance as its predecessor was full of lighthearted fun.
And sure, the action sequences are good enough. But, mostly, they’re just repeats of sequences from the original “Tron.” Disc battles? Check. Light-cycle races? Check. There’s an aerial dogfight near the end that’s got some good moments, but after 28 years and massive advances in technology and special effects, “Tron: Legacy” should be packed full of cutting-edge effects and awesome action sequences.
It isn’t, but maybe that’s to be expected. The original “Tron” wasn’t all that great—visually, it was groundbreaking, with production design by artists like Syd Mead and Moebius, but otherwise, it was lackluster. The real success of “Tron” was in its influence; “Blade Runner,” “The Matrix” and dozens of other movies all bear the mark of “Tron.” “Tron: Legacy” doesn’t build on that, but it does shamelessly crib from all the much better movies that the original “Tron” influenced, and it’s unlikely that five, 10, or 20 years from now, any movies will be taking their cues from “Tron: Legacy.” It turns out the true legacy of “Tron” has already been with us for the last two decades—we didn’t need another mediocre movie to make it so.