Tron: Ares

Prequels:
“TRON” (1982)
“TRON: Legacy” (2010)

It’s been nearly a decade or more since Sam Flynn dove into the Grid to find his father. Ever since, the company Sam was in charge of, ENCOM, has fallen under different leadership—under the direction of Eve Kim (Greta Lee).

With one of her colleagues, Eve has set out to find Kevin Flynn’s (Sam’s father) permanence code, a code that would allow any computer generated constructs or even computer beings (programs?) to maintain, well, permanence in the real word (for example, programs like CLU from the first film). It is rumored that Kevin hid it so discreetly that many feel it may not even exist. But not Eve, who has been searching for it for some time, and—as luck would have it—she has discovered the code, after having found it in one of Kevin Flynn’s old substations in Alaska.

Once Eve finds the code she and her colleague use a particle laser to create an orange tree. It turns out that, while most living objects, like a tree, that are created by computers only last 30 minutes in the real word, with the permanence code these living things, and even human-like programs, can exist in the real world for hours, days and potentially years on end. But she isn’t the only one who has big plans for the permanence code.

For indeed, the grandson of Ed Dillinger, Jullian Dillinger, has his sights on taking over ENCOM and can only truly be successful once he, himself, acquires the permanence code. For Jullian wishes his programs, particularly his Master Control Program Ares (Jared Leto) to serve as the ultimate super soldier for the US Military, a soldier that never sleeps, doesn’t grow weak, nearly invincible, lighting fast and has the strength of 10 (I’m guessing) human beings put together.

It’s a fight for power, control and digital dominance that begs the question, “To what ends will and should one person go for control over things they can’t possibly control, things that no amount of programming can control?”

Did I confuse anyone in that summary? Don’t worry. You’re not alone, as I myself, having seen Tron: Legacy (the “sequel”, which I say is a term used very lightly, to the original Tron) was confused by most of the story.

First off, know that I’m going to try my very best not to be overly judgmental with Tron: Ares, hard as it will no doubt be. I will also try my best NOT to compare Tron: Ares to Tron: Legacy although that, truthfully, may be something I fail at miserably.

Perhaps it is best, as I’ve done in the past, to make a “Good” and “Bad” list, as really, I do have a lot of mixed feelings about “… Ares”

The Good

The Music. The soundtrack for this film is all original music by industrial and electronic rock band, NIN (Nine Inch Nails), was absolutely beautiful and truly, truly complimented the film. Before walking in I thought, “Is NIN’s music going to be overbearing and a distraction from what’s going on?” Indeed, the music didn’t disappoint. While indeed most of the music is upbeat and somewhat heavy, there were multiple moments where the music because soft, subdued and helped drive some of the more quieter moments of the film, such as moments where Ares and Eve have quiet conversations or when Julian is sitting in his office.

The Visuals. The CGI never felt cheap or like it was an afterthought. There were moments, like as Ares looks out at the “Grid”, where the attention to detail were really jaw-dropping. If you go to see this film in 3D, which I STRONGLY recommend, the 3D really invites you to believe that you are in the Game Grid with all the characters (and yes, there was some of the “Pop Out” 3D).

The Bad

Jared Leto. Sorry, I know I’m going to step on a LOT of toes here, but I have to say it: Jared Leto needs to work on his acting… badly. There were so many more qualified and more talented individuals that could have been Ares: Chris Pratt, Ryan Reynolds, Josh Hutchenson, shoot, even Tom Holland. Why did it have to be Jared Leto? I do feel bad for Jared as you could tell he was trying in certain moments. He just doesn’t give any depth to Ares at all, especially when Ares talks about how he’s developing “feelings”(he says this line with as straight a face as I’ve ever seen from anyone talking about feelings). His character was someone I thought, “Man do I really need to care about Ares? If he dies, oh well, he’s just a computer program” Jared has also had the worst luck in the film industry in recent years, “House of Gucci,” “Haunted Mansion” (2023) and who could forget his 2022 box-office bomb “Morbius”

Other Performances: Really, the performances by a lot of the characters felt forced and very one-sided. The so-called “antagonist” Jullian had very flimsy motivations and just wasn’t strong enough of a villain, as he really doesn’t get a ton of screen time. Speaking of screen time, if you’re here because you saw Gillian Anderrson and Jeff Bridges on screen, don’t waste your time. I counted the minutes Jeff Bridges was on screen: 10 minutes out of a film that was 2 hours and 10 minutes long, which was disappointing as he’s one of my favorite actors. Gillian Anderson is SEVERELY underutilized with only having about 6 minutes of screen time total.

The Plot. The plot was ALL over the place at times. First we start off in Alaska, then we go to Jullian’s headquarters, then Eve gets kidnapped (a plot point I really didn’t feel contributed anything to the story. I mean if Jullian wanted the permanence code from her, why didn’t he ambush her at her workplace? Why was she sent to the Game Grid in the first place?), then she tries to escape the Grid and then she gets recaptured. Things didn’t always add up. You also had SO MANY SIDE CHARACTERS that it became distracting at moments (like Ares’ friend, Athena)

Content of Concern

Violence: Most of the deaths that occur in the film, with the exception of one character, are that of digital/computer programs like Ares. These characters disintegrate into dust in the real world. A bike’s laser tail light splits a police car in half. We see some car chases and a couple cars crash. A program is hit by a bike and falls over the edge of a parking garage (she is okay). A human character is thrown off her bike and lands in a dumpster. A character is pulled into a helicopter by some device. A character falls through the Game Grid and is derezzed, the main characters are okay though. Ares is seen beating up some security guards. A character is killed by a computer program. A helicopter is shot down. A jet crashes. Cars are plowed through by a large vehicle. A vehicle rolls over with a real human. A computer program is derezzed. Ares’ training in the digital world consists of fighting (and dying) repeatedly to hone his combat skills, a process that seems to distress the AI. Julian orders his digital underlings to extract the Permanence Code from Eve’s memories, which would kill her. He wants the code so he can profit from mass-produced weapons of war, and he’s not afraid to send those weapons into the human world to get what he want. He treats his programs as expendable and deletes them (effectively killing them) without thought. A man is thrown through a glass wall. Portions of the virtual world are hit with massive explosions, which (temporarily) destroy all characters nearby.

Profanity: G*d (6), G*d-d*mnit (1), D*mnit (1), H*ll (3), My G*d (1), What in G*d’s name (1), OMG (1)

Vulgarity: Sh*t (1)

Alcohol: Two characters are seen drinking

Other: Ares hacks into Eve’s personal information, claiming it’s tame compared to his directive to kill her. In a pinch, Eve offers a cashier a large sum of money to use his phone before she and Ares steal the man’s car. We hear that Eve’s sister died of cancer. Companies launch cyberattacks against their competitors to cripple servers and steal sensitive information. Julian believes any wrongdoing he commits will be forgiven once he makes a technological breakthrough.

Theme

In several moments, the character Jullian thinks he is so intelligent, so powerful that he can get away with anything he wants as the world will come to see him for the technological genius of our time. His arrogance is his ultimate downfall.

The Bible warns about arrogance and that which it stems from… pride. Of pride and of arrogance the Bible states the following…

“Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.” —1 Samuel 2:3

“I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.” —Isaiah 13:11

“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” —Proverbs 16:18

Final Thoughts

Perhaps, indeed, I have been far more critical of this film than I should have been. That’s fair. In my defense, though, I walked in with very high expectations, something I don’t always do with a lot of films. Having grown up with Tron: Legacy and being familiar with the series, I just wanted more. More substance, better performances, and a more coherent plot.

What I got, though, was quite a disappointment. Sure, you can take my opinion or frankly ignore it; that is your right. I just hope that you don’t walk in with extremely high expectations as I did just because you see the likes of Jeff Bridges and Gillian Anderson in the trailers.

While “Tron: Ares,” content-wise isn’t the worse film out there right now, there’s still things to be cautious about: violence yes, but also the moderate amount of profanity spread throughout the film.

You could certainly choose worse, but you could also choose better when it comes to this film. My advice? Choose better.

• Violence: Moderate
• Profane language: Moderate
• Vulgar/Crude language: Mild
• Wokeism: Mild
• Drugs/Alcohol: Minor
• Nudity: None
• Sex: None
• Occult: None

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.