Tron Legacy Review

Reading this story on Slashdot got me thinking that I should write down a few words on Tron Legacy. The basic premise of the Tron films is that a world exists inside of computers. Our heros get sucked into this world and have all sorts of cool adventures. In theory, this film is a sequel to the original Tron movie which came out in the 1980s.

In practice, there is quite a bit of overlap between the two films thematically. Of course, this makes sense given that most people will not have seen the first film. The film is visually stunning full of some really cool visual effects. So if you are into that sort of thing, definitely see this movie in the theater. If you have not seen the first film, read the plot on Wikipedia or you will be a little confused I think. Overall is a good film, but not a great one: 3 stars out of 5 for me.

A few observations are in order.

• Whenever computer based life evolves, the first thing they build in their cities is a techno club. Apparently, the night clubs with techno music is a universal constant and requirement of any alien life form. (See this movie and the Matrix) Why can't the head of the resistance work in a grocery store? :)
• The computer world in this movie didn't incorporate many of the technology advances made since the first movie.  In 1982, no one had heard of the Internet. It just seemed to me things inside the computer had not changed much in 30 years.
• If the movie does at all well, expect a sequel. The ending of the movie left open quite a few possibilities.
• Definitely not enough Tron in this film. Goodness sake, the film is named after him. He deserves a lot more than a flashback and a brief cameo here and there.