Tron: Legacy Blew Me Away
When I review something, I tend to be critical. "It's good, but..." pointing out the flaws. Often, the better something is in my mind, the less I find to say about it.
I walked out of Tron: Legacy pretty well speechless.
Maybe it's not a perfect movie, if such can even exist, but on a five star scale, I'd give it all five. Someone took something from my childhood and made a sequel. And it didn't suck. But not only did it not suck, I thoroughly enjoyed the entire ride. Maybe I'm biased and giving it something of an easier time subconsciously. Still, this movie is nothing but a win to me. It left me with a smile on my face and a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.
I've been following this movie to some small degree for quick a while, catching stories on IO9.com and such. Commercials have been hard to avoid on TV. So I knew some of what I was going into - a father/son reunion in difficult times. And I knew there were lots of things that could have gone wrong.
3D? It's been a distraction in way more movies than a benefit. Here, it didn't bother me and seemed particular interesting as they used it solely for the digital world, with the real life scenes deliberately in normal 2D.
General Special Effects? So easy to go wild on, and one could say they really did. But none of it took me out of the story. Nifty CGI is just right for a digital realm.
Daft Punk? When I heard they'd be doing the score, I had mixed feelings. They're a well-known pair that does music fitting enough in style. But it would be very, very easy for them to overdo the music. They didn't. I found the score complimentary and enjoyable.
Actionization? The tendency in sequels to go "bigger and better" often ruins them. Considering the source material, though, the games worked well and the requisite chases were good.
Homage? There are tons of references to the first movie, but I found them all fitting and proper rather than distracting.
Emotion? Some of the preview scenes had me worried that Kevin Flynn would be too distant and detached - which is an interesting way to play up his extended removal from the real world - to lend any impact to the reunion aspect. And while it started that way, the character warmed as things progressed, and that worked out far better than I had hoped. There were a number of scenes that I found touching - and subtly so rather than overwrought and played up. And it wasn't just those two. I found CLU's mirroring of Flynn to be a little bit moving and disturbing at once.
Plot? Perhaps not flawless, but plausible enough to stand and work well without making me sit up and think, "Wait. What? That doesn't work!"
I suppose I would add that there weren't any real surprise twists for me. It's not that the entire story was transparent, but I'd seen far too many preview pictures to mistake CLU for Kevin and Rinzler was apparent to me long before the reveal.
I walked out of Tron: Legacy pretty well speechless.
Maybe it's not a perfect movie, if such can even exist, but on a five star scale, I'd give it all five. Someone took something from my childhood and made a sequel. And it didn't suck. But not only did it not suck, I thoroughly enjoyed the entire ride. Maybe I'm biased and giving it something of an easier time subconsciously. Still, this movie is nothing but a win to me. It left me with a smile on my face and a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.
I've been following this movie to some small degree for quick a while, catching stories on IO9.com and such. Commercials have been hard to avoid on TV. So I knew some of what I was going into - a father/son reunion in difficult times. And I knew there were lots of things that could have gone wrong.
3D? It's been a distraction in way more movies than a benefit. Here, it didn't bother me and seemed particular interesting as they used it solely for the digital world, with the real life scenes deliberately in normal 2D.
General Special Effects? So easy to go wild on, and one could say they really did. But none of it took me out of the story. Nifty CGI is just right for a digital realm.
Daft Punk? When I heard they'd be doing the score, I had mixed feelings. They're a well-known pair that does music fitting enough in style. But it would be very, very easy for them to overdo the music. They didn't. I found the score complimentary and enjoyable.
Actionization? The tendency in sequels to go "bigger and better" often ruins them. Considering the source material, though, the games worked well and the requisite chases were good.
Homage? There are tons of references to the first movie, but I found them all fitting and proper rather than distracting.
Emotion? Some of the preview scenes had me worried that Kevin Flynn would be too distant and detached - which is an interesting way to play up his extended removal from the real world - to lend any impact to the reunion aspect. And while it started that way, the character warmed as things progressed, and that worked out far better than I had hoped. There were a number of scenes that I found touching - and subtly so rather than overwrought and played up. And it wasn't just those two. I found CLU's mirroring of Flynn to be a little bit moving and disturbing at once.
Plot? Perhaps not flawless, but plausible enough to stand and work well without making me sit up and think, "Wait. What? That doesn't work!"
I suppose I would add that there weren't any real surprise twists for me. It's not that the entire story was transparent, but I'd seen far too many preview pictures to mistake CLU for Kevin and Rinzler was apparent to me long before the reveal.
I keep wondering why I liked it so much. I should probably quit overthinking things. Official reviews are mixed (48% on Rotten Tomatoes) and I'm seeing a number of comments harsher than my own around. That makes me wonder further about my own bias. I wasn't a huge Tron fan. I enjoyed the movie as a kid, sure. I had a light cycle game I played for a while - because I enjoyed it, not necessarily because it was "OMG TRON!" But it was just another bit of entertainment, I don't feel it was a majorly-shaping influence in my life or anything. When I watched the original again a couple weeks ago, I thought: "This isn't bad. Not great, but not bad." Nothing about the acting or plot struck me as very remarkable. The general special effects were a really neat, inventive use of what they had, but I wouldn't call them revolutionary. The CGI was kind of blocky and lackluster - good for the era and daring to use, perhaps. Most of all, I felt the movie had a certain quaint charm about it that makes it enjoyable to watch, even today. I have a fondness for the movie, but I'm not going to tromp around proclaiming its greatness or snatch up everything related to it like a fanboy. Is that the trick to it? Maybe I like Tron just enough for me to appreciate all the references without harping on the inconsistencies. Or something. I'm still not sure, but Legacy somehow struck all the right notes with me. I really want to know why so I can look for more of that. >.>
ReplyDeleteNow that I've seen the film I can chip in here. I'm a real big fan of the original and while you don't think the special effects were amazing in the original, they were ground breaking and revolutionary. Up until then there had never been a project to use as much CG in a movie, let alone CG with live actors. I, however, do have a few issues with the liberties the film takes with the "Grid" and depiction of cyber-space. (Because I've already suspended my disbelief at the whole transferal of a real person into the digital form the first movie's paradigm) The big one is the spontaneous existences of the ISO's. Fully fledged program/bits of code things that just "came" into this perfect world CLU, Flynn and TRON made? Other little complaints are; Why did CLU have a bumbling sycophant? Why did Flynn's "fortress of solitude" have a guest bedroom when he told Quorra no guests, ever? How do these raw code lifeforms represent a change in medical science? How exactly would CLU have been a threat to the military organization of the world if he got out? If TRON bucked the Zinzsler reprogramming as he sank and reverted to himself, why did we see that but no further sign of him? Just what is Quorra in the real world now? Why was Flynn and CLU's merging so explosive/fatal? So, I really, really liked it. Worthwhile as a sequel. As you can see, however, I have a lot of plot questions.
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