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The matrix of futility is reloaded in this mind-bendingly dull sci-fi film, closer to a screensaver than an actual film. It's a third installment to the original movie Tron from 1982, a movie that was mould-breaking and courageously innovative for its day in a way that eludes this film and its predecessor Tron: Legacy from 2010. Tron: Ares nearly comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson's character portraying his mum, in an old-fashioned bit of real-world action. That's a bit of firm parenting you might want to handing out to every producer involved in this film, and it's sad to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so lifeless.

Plot Overview of The New Tron Film

The situation now is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger has become a rival to the virtual reality firm Encom, first established in the 1980s gaming period by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn's character, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger, played by David Warner) is led by the founder's annoyingly geeky grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to develop and produce lucrative items such as indestructible soldiers and armored vehicles in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into actual reality using a sort of three-dimensional printer.

The problem is that however fearsome, these things crumble into dust after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has discovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities permanently, and even keeps it on her person on a very low-tech USB drive. So the dreadful Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares, the superhuman fighter which can leave the VR world for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of androids, is starting to exhibit symptoms of not doing what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance portrays Ares's stoic deputy Athena and poor Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Acting and Roles Breakdown

Moreover, Ares – the hero of the title – is acted by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, beard and subtly omniscient grin, touches that were perhaps designed by inputting the words “incredibly irritating” into an AI human creation programme. No one who recalls the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life series will ever find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Jared Leto, and I was also very entertained by his broad (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Leto is unremittingly, unrelentingly awful here, although he isn't helped by a limp plot point which is supposed to allow him to show flashes of “empathy” for Eve Kim's role and subcontract all the villainous actions to Athena, thus rendering her slightly more engaging. It is supposed to be adorable when Ares says how he adores 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode are superior to Mozart's compositions.

Franchise Elements and Final Impression

And in keeping with the franchise identity of the franchise, there are motorbikes from the VR netherworld which speed around the place in linear paths, conforming to the angular layout of antique arcade games (or even nightclubs); one even shoots out a death ray which slices a police vehicle in half. But there is no drama or danger or emotional engagement anywhere. This franchise currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.