TRON: ARES' Undeserved Review

One of Greta Lee's past lives I suppose

*a spoiler free review*

Whether in fact due to its own uselessness or even perhaps a better word would be unworthiness, any kind of thematic engagement with Tron: Ares seems about as productive as expecting its lead actor to be able to successfully open a film. While in another world maybe the movie’s swan dive into a cesspool of current issues could be commended, both those inherent to its premise and even some that seem unnecessarily added, its abject failure to approach anything even resembling an insight seems so glaringly obvious that to point this out conjures mostly just a feeling of thuddening inanity. Why spend undue energy acknowledging that while yes, making some consideration into AI was probably inevitable for a film in the Tron-verse, the fact that the film centers around dueling billionaires, locked in a tech war, was not a choice that needed to be made for a movie about sentient video games. It’s choices of this ilk and their inability to make anything even approaching a cohesive statement about even one of their topics, let alone providing something approaching nuance, which all but instantly disqualify the film from worthiness of further discourse. Perhaps if Ares had achieved a monetary success worthy of its budget then by virtue of sheer cultural footprint it would insist upon a comprehensive analysis into the ridiculousness of its “good” billionaire hoping to find “benevolence” at the finish line of her race to AI, or even one particularly ridiculous moment featuring the titular Ares “scanning for empathy.” However, since the film has made virtually no impact, already on its way to full deresolution, I feel that very little further needs to be said in any of these regards, despite the fact that I’ve contradicted myself inherently by so writing, a brand of meta usually triggering only lingering feelings of annoyance for me. However, I will continue to write, likely because, to my surprise, I find the surviving impact of Tron: Ares to be less these whimpers and more primarily those few things which actually work.

    On second thought, perhaps I have been overly hasty in this assessment as there is at least one more joker in the room that ought to be addressed, certainly for his sexual harassment/assault lawsuits and general “creepiness,” things which have been a matter of public record since before playing an obscure Spider-Man villain failed to expand his career, as well as for the fact that his crimes aside, Mr. Leto is simply not up to the task of centering a major, or for that matter probably a minor, film. While there are a fortunate few minutes in the beginning where the somehow Oscar winning actor’s face remains hidden behind a pseudo Daft Punk helmet, these are moments short lived, thus, even considering the formidable efforts of previously mentioned ills doing their best to drag the film fully into an abyss, it is ultimately the “half minute to the red planet’s” dead charisma-less eyes which sink any potential for greatness that may have lingered in Ares’ cardinal frames. Jared Leto is a bad person who on top of it all is a rather substandard actor, evidentially a double combo perfectly fine tuned to allow him to repeatedly produce and green light major Hollywood productions. If there is a silver lining that the film has not gotten a return on investment somehow expected for a series that has never really ever performed at the box office (the previous Trons were both cult classics), it is the hope that it will at last place the final stake into the undead corpse of Dr. Michael Morbius’ career. 

    However, with that out of the way, now I return to the promises of entertainment alluded to earlier as, despite two full paragraphs of negativity, my ultimate reaction to Tron: Ares was genuinely one of surprise at how many sequences had a sense of life despite it all. For one, Greta Lee’s billionaire character may be as inexcusable as the dialogue she is forced to say, yet this comes at no fault to her particular abilities as a performer. While I hope to see her in something more like Past Lives again soon, she proves herself here rather capable of headlining something of this size easily, something hopefully replicated soon with a better script and direction. She carries with her an innate charisma and personality unique in cinema today certainly, but with it as well a sense of fun to these neon proceedings, something all the more remarkable when we consider her most common scene partner was indeed the black hole. Besides the thumping melodies of Reznor and friends (something to be elaborated on further), the biggest miracle of the film is her ability to avoid being sucked past Leto’s event horizon. 

Furthermore, while I can’t quite say I’m singing the praises of someone like Joachim Rønning’s directing abilities, there are several sequences here that show, as I often hope when eating continental breakfast, signs of juice. One particular standout sequence features the two light cycles chasing Lee’s character on a motorcycle through the streets of Vancouver. It is (almost) wordless, accompanied by that throbbing NIN score (there will be even more on this of course), and excellent sound design. Here the editing is rightfully hinged upon the points of each character's faces making the ultimate chase quite thrilling and fun to watch. Thus, while the general aesthetics and vibes are indeed borrowed from two superior entries in the series (both VFX trail blazers in their own right making the lack of even attempted innovation here head-scratching), those aesthetics remain effective. Thus, by either some miracle or more likely just the virtues of classic corporate neglect, Tron: Ares can indeed justifiably boast some of the better constructed and edited sequences of any Disney release this decade, not that other studios are truly that much further ahead. 

      Ultimately, as I have alluded, the one major success of this film is the glorious Nine Inch Nails score. Praising a film score above all other elements of film is to some extent a back handed compliment, yet in the case of Tron: Ares it is one hopefully accepted. We do not hear Reznor’s vocals nearly enough for this to really qualify as anything other than simply just another Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross project (making it hard to not see the decision to credit the band instead as just more corporate nostalgia mining, ie “we did it with Daft Punk so we’ll do it here again”), however, this does not stop the music from being anything but consistently exciting, pulse driving and indeed charismatic, often covering for the lead actor’s now well documented void. While certainly taking influence from the masterful work Daft Punk did in the film’s predecessor, and perhaps even building upon their upbeat dance of Challengers, NIN here sound just as energizing and demented as ever. Simply put, it is hard to not be excited when the Grid, or other Tron related imagery, is accompanied by a score like this. 

No robot helmets this time

            Honestly, I’m surprised I’ve already written this much about the film. While maybe there could have been more to say, like writing about what to do when I don’t like a film or even about what to do with films that feature actors of a problematic nature, and despite self referential claims that I am not in fact complaining headfirst into the film's many ills, I feel that, simply put, Tron: Ares is not worth it. I’ve already started to forget anything else, and hopefully, though I find it unlikely, Disney will start to learn its lesson and release films with distinct personality rather than just those which ape tested aesthetics of the past. Yet, at the end of the day, I had a pretty nice time watching the pretty colors and listening to music I enjoy on a loud speaker system.

maybe just listen to the score on the loudest speaker you can find, which if that means seeing the film in theaters then cool.