Tron

Disney made a beautiful film in 1982 called TRON, a computer genius named Flynn who is zapped into the digital world and battles a tyrannical program called the MCP (Master Control Program). Disney created a imagined world were programs designed by man looked, talked and even thought like man. They also believed they were created by "the Users" and looked to their Users for the direction of their life. In 1982, few people had computers, far fewer had even heard of computer networks, and hardly anyone outside the military had heard of "the internet." The creators of the original movie crafted an entire alternate plane of existence, accessible only to computer programmers, in a time when the words "virtual" and "reality" both still meant "true." Their inspired fantasy gave audiences an entirely new perspective on the nascent digital age.

It's well acted with good funny dialog, interesting characters that have good chemistry with each other and the effects hold up for that type of digital world that it is. But like with any Disney film, it's not a deep story with complex characters, it's pretty much a good vs. evil with enough story and action to be entertaining (for those who don't have attention deficit disorder). The film is not a masterpiece on all levels, hardly any film is, but it's a fun movie and far more enjoyable to watch than the 2010 film. The first film wrapped up everything, it didn't need to continue.

Young people these days will criticize the special effects but there forgetting that the Grid world wasn't trying to be realistic, it was a computer world of the early 80s (Atari) and that's stated in the commentary.

• "One of the things that was a creative philosophy that we enjoyed and we're proud of, was that we were taking computer animation and letting it stand on its own. We weren't trying to make computer animation mimic reality and the job was then to make reality, the actors and the sets, look like the computer animation. Everybody else and certainly since this point has been going nuts trying to make computer animation mimic reality perfectly. And I found that limitations of computer graphics of the time were the most existing thing. If computer graphics, if computer animation is no longer different from reality, maybe we've lost something in that. Certainly you gain special effects technology and you can do certain things, but it's the limitations I find to the creative challenge."

It's not suppose to look like our world... and that's something the sequel couldn't even get right and somehow the CGI effects at trying to make Jeff Bridges look young gets a free pass...

Another Pointless Sequel

Story

"Oh man, this isn't happening, it only think it's happening."

In TRON LEGACY, much of that world seemed discarded by the writers. Users were spoken of in disdain by programs in the new movie and apparently new age thinking was introduced by throwing in evolution (the ISOs... really?!?!), this new sentient life that comes out of the desert in a digital world (good god) is not given any kind of explanation, they just throw terms out there.

The plot pretty much repeats the first one, an evil tyrant that's taken over and must be stopped, but here it's a confusing and muddled and the ending of the movie made ZERO sense. It's like the script writers looked at a few panels of the original TRON without actually watching it. They drop a few homages to the original, like Dillenger's son working at ENCOM and the whole "Now that's a big door!" joke that felt pushed into the movie.

The first film created real tension by crafting a plot where what happened inside the system mattered. Even before the original Jeff Bridges character was sucked into the digital world, the audience had a palpable sense of the impending doom to all humanity posed by the growing strength of the computer network. In the sequel, the "real world" angle is a lame-duck corporation's unapologetically pathetic efforts at keeping market share... the writers seem to have no idea of the internet, computers or that an operating system has never been pirated. Even that side story introduced in the beginning isn't given any relevance to anything that happens in the rest of the movie. The larger threat of a digital character emerging from "The Grid" into the real world is repeated throughout the film, but never in a credible way. Why should we be scared about him getting out? What would he do here?? How would a computer program have any power outside a computer system???

The ending is just beyond stupid, Olivia Wilde's character (a program with no previous flesh or blood form in our physical world) ends up in our physical world, riding a motorcycle with Flynn's son. She's a FREAKING PROGRAM (ones and zeros in a line of code), not at all like Flynn, who was a human who went into the digital world! It's not surprising that the only thing people talk about with Legacy is the Light Cycles fight, which wasn't as good as in the first film since it was more complex due to the walls the light cycles made ("Taking him into the maze!") and it added to the danger, the new one simply doesn't have that since this Grid is huge and the walls they make disappear. And of course the tight sexy outfits that the women wear... that's how shallow and easily amused some people have become.

The first film had something that the sequel simply didn't have at all, it was a fun film. It had a simply plot that was easy to follow, funny interesting characters with good chemistry and a happy ending. It wasn't dark (literally), depressing and everyone wearing black like... the Matrix. That's what Legacy wanted to be, the Matrix, a confusing over-complicated plot that thinks it's smart and clever, but it isn't, dull graphics, everything is in black or dark colors and poorly lit, mindless action scenes and dumb bland forgettable characters. The world feels and acts too much like the real world and not like a digital world.

But that's writers, producers and studios for ya these says, talentless hacks have taken over Hollywood. They just want to make endless sequels, reboot everything, repeat the same storyline, rip-off other films, ignore continuity, give characters no depth, relying on nostalgia and just focusing on nothing but action and pretty special effects.

Characters

Flynn, who apparently no longer has Godlike powers over a program he created, CLU 2 becomes a psychopath for no reason and Olivia Wilde has nothing to do other than walk around in a skintight glowing bodysuit. Yori is still a better female character than Quorra, Olivia Wilde is overrated, her character comes across as... Ariel... the little annoying mermaid that wants to see the real world so badly and has to show off her hot body by sitting on a couch as if she's posing for a photo shoot... wearing all black and doing nothing but combat moves is not what makes a character interesting in the slightest.

TRON (the character) is reprogrammed to be evil because the film desperately needs a powerful secondary villain, but it only took a few seconds for TRON to become a good guy once again... the only explanation there is, is because Flynn was close by... apparently his User powers or influence only works when the plot calls for it. It makes no sense for a film called TRON, only to have the character himself be in the background throughout most of the film and as one of the bad guys.

Hedlund's role is the juvenile irresponsible punk that's just a boring main lead that has to painfully point out to the audience that he's good and ENCOM is evil. "I am not a program (pause for dramatic affect) I am a user!"... I hope that haunts Garrett Hedlund for the rest of his career. Bridges is not only a better actor but his character from the first film was interesting, funny, intelligent and had some limits. Unlike his son, Kevin Flynn didn't become an instant warrior in the Grid, that's what TRON was programmed for. There's no reason given for why Sam would be a combat expert, it just happens.

Programs in the first film had a purpose

• "Who are these weirdos?"
• "Inoperative data pushers."
• "Control programs!"

According to the script, "A group of low resolution programs are walking by. Flynn emerges from the broken-off head, stunned, but unhurt, the Bit flying by his side. He blearily sees the passing programs, but doesn't realize they are at such a low state of consciousness that they can't see him." But in Legacy, other characters in the Gird don't seem to have any reason to exist, there just there for the sake of it.

No Tron 3

I'm happy to hear that as of May 2015, the project was reported as not currently going forward.

Kingdom Hearts 2 (Tron)

Not only would you be better off watching the first film, but you be better off watching or playing Kingdom Hearts 2 since TORN (the character) appears in it, the game sticks to the original look of the character and the Grid, although that game came out in 2006, but nevertheless, it's still much more enjoyably. Like the 1982 film, it has heart and substance, it wasn't trying to be adult and mature.