Tron: Legacy (2010)
Starring Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, and Michael Sheen
Directed by Joseph Kosinski
Mindless entertainment is perfectly fine sometimes. I don't need everything I watch to be "awards-worthy." But, on the other hand, "mindless entertainment" does have the responsibility of being entertaining. I mean, the entertainment aspect is inherent in its name. I'm not saying Tron: Legacy wasn't entertaining...I just can't help but feel that it could have been better than it was.
Perhaps my major problem with Tron: Legacy is that the action scenes seemed somewhat disjointed from the rather engaging and unique story going on around them. When Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) inadvertently gets sucked into the virtual gaming world that his father Kevin (Jeff Bridges) created over a decade ago, the young man finds himself on a quest to find his father whom he believes to be trapped in the game as well. The father-son relationship/dynamic between Bridges and Hedlund worked (I realize this isn't a popular opinion as this was trashed in a lot of reviews I read). Unfortunately, the action scenes (while thoroughly entertaining) seemed placed in the film only to showcase the 3-D, which, while good, didn't reach Avatar levels in terms of execution.
I understand there innately needs to be some kind of conflict in order for a film to work, but as soon as Sam is trapped in the game, he forced to play a part in some giant futuristic gladiator-style tournament set up by the "ruler" of the gaming world Clu (also played by Jeff Bridges). In a scene that seems to take forever, Sam battles against faceless robots using light sabers, light rings, and computerized motorcycles. It all looked cool and it was all well done, but I couldn't help but think that it was placed in the film simply because it looked neat. The film sets up a nice competition of power (of sorts) between Clu and Kevin, but the first twenty minutes in the computer world are simply this game that means absolutely nothing in terms of the grand scheme of the film. Ultimately, the story came together in a way that worked, but it's once again an action film that didn't need a lot of its action. It would have been much more successful had certain scenes been deleted.
I realize I'm perhaps being a tad harsh because I did find it better than your average actioner. I liked Jeff Bridges quite a bit and his duel roles allowed him to play both sides of the spectrum with equal gusto. I also didn't have any problems with Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde (who plays Kevin's computerized assistant Quorra) who, while both given some silly things to say, were more than adequate in their roles. And in terms of acting, Michael Sheen was hamming it up as futuristic club owner Zuse. While the extravagance should have felt completely out of place, I couldn't help but love the over-the-top nature of it, injecting the film with some much needed humor (in fact, it probably won't be surprising to see Sheen on my list of 2010 Best Supporting Actors which I'll post some time in February).
In terms of production values, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Daft Punk's scoring which I thought was probably one of the best scores I've heard this year. The pumping bass did more to help the mood of the film than any of the computer-generated special effects did (although they were certainly up to snuff as well).
While the film was certainly left open for the possibility of a sequel, I appreciated that it felt wrapped up as well. I'm not against seeing another Tron, but I'm a little hesitant. What I enjoyed about this one was the backstory of getting to know these characters and how they got to this point in their lives. I worry that a sequel will simply be about the action, and in this film, those scenes didn't quite work for me as well as I would have liked.
The RyMickey Rating: C+
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