Movie Review: TRON LEGACY

SYNOPSIS: Kevin Flynn tells his son about the great things he is doing in the Grid before he disappears one night to never return. It is 20 years later, and his son, Sam Flynn, is grown up with no interest in running ENCOM (the company that his father built). Sam plays the yearly prank on the company when his father's business partner Alan tells him about being paged by Kevin from the Flynns arcade (and the phone line has been disconnected for 20 years). Sam goes to Flynns to investigate and he gets transported into the cyberspace world of the Grid run by his father's digital self, Clu. Sam finds out Clu has taken over the Grid and is planning to invade the real world from the digital world. He reunites with his father with the help of a warrior named Quorra (she dreams of seeing the real world). Can they work together to stop Clu?

ANALYSIS: TRON LEGACY is a fitting sequel that respects the original film while improving on it in parts. It is a visual spectacle with a cool electronic score by DAFT Punk. The story is about fathers and sons. It is also about finding direction and facing the legacies you create. It also paints Kevin Flynn as a changed man who is more powerful than he was in the first TRON. Jeff Bridges has his work cut out in a dual role as Flynn and his digital creation Clu. Bridges brings more acting ability to the film and wisdom to the character of an older Kevin Flynn. Olivia Wilde nails it as the child-like warrior who will protect while wanting to see the outside world. She is hungry to see Sam and Kevin's world while Clu wants to control it.

The action is incredible and I wonder how they will do a sequel to this one because they want to do a trilogy. Joseph Kosinski blows me away with an impressive feature film debut as a director.

TRON LEGACY is light years ahead in digital effects technology even though the first TRON was the birth of digital effects aka CGI. On a visual level, it is as impressive as AVATAR and yet it has a better script. TRON LEGACY uses 3D for the virtual world and improves on the look of the first film (which used crude CGI compared to today's films). I can't wait to see this movie again. I do want to see the original TRON again which is sadly out of print (but I hear that it will see re-release when TRON LEGACY hits DVD and Blu-ray) because I want to compare the two films. TRON LEGACY does bring exposure of TRON to a new audience. Yet I wish Disney released TRON again to introduce new fans to the original cult classic which has spawned an impressive and amazing sequel that is worth seeing more than once.

this movie review is (c)12-17-2010 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com