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Tron: Legacy
In preparation for this weekend's release of Legacy, I re-watched the original Tron. Yes, I own the DVD. I thought I would watch it ironically and sarcastically, but it turns out I just can't. I really like the original. As for the sequel, I'm not going to write a full review, but I'll say that the visuals were pretty amazing. The CG Jeff Bridges was pretty darn close, but just not quite there. And the light cycles were awesome. What are your thoughts?
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Daft Punk is amazing. The soundtrack fits into a movie of this type so well, I just had to buy it right after watching the movie on IMAX. The Daft Punk music suits a movie like Tron so much more than the original's symphonic score, I think.
Also, watching Michael Sheen do this unholy cross between Ziggy Stardust and Frank-N-Furter is hilarious.
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Visually it was...perfect. It captured the feelings I got from books like Snow Crash and (especially) Neuromancer of a virtual world. The towers of darkness and light. The story was okay, not great but not awful. It more or less met my expectations story-wise but blew me away in the visual department. I actually got giddy the first time they showed the city from far away. Music was both good and not so good. Some of it was absolutely great and other bits a bit generic. And CGI Jeff Bridges was definitely skiing the Uncanny Valley. And while I was kind "eh" on Olivia Wilde beforehand I now have a huge crush on her. Sheesh.
It was a good romp in keeping with the spirit of the original film, but I have to say that the 3D effects were, with one exception, uremarkable and few and far between. I was disappointed to note that the 3D glasses darkened the film in general and when I took them off for comparison during 2D scenes, the colours were much move vivid. Worth seeing for the effects and not so much for the storyline which strings them together. A good effort, but I wonder if seeing the film in 2D (ie: without the glasses) would be more visually stunning.
End of Line.
AT&ROFLMAO
I've re-watched the original Tron on occasion over the years, and just recently last week in preparation for the new movie (which I haven't seen yet, because every theatre in my city has it in headache-vision only, but that's another rant).
Maybe it's just me, but I find it holding up less and less as time goes on. The first part of the movie is cut very poorly and frequently jumps around for no real reason. Once Flynn is in the Tron world, the movie ever-so-slowly gets rather tiresome and boring. Now, part of this is me just being used to modern movies that have a much quicker pace overall, but it's more than that. There really just isn't all that much story here. And all of it is hurriedly explained in the first 15 minutes or so, so the rest of the movie is just a Lord of the Rings style quest without much actually happening.
Now, visually - I'm one of the few that still think the effects hold up. They just have a unique look to them that really exists in no other movie of its time or any time. It always surprises me upon re-watching to realize just how many computer graphics were used. Knowing how much effort when into them, I always think there must only be a few shots, but it never ceases to amaze me just how often you see them. Plus, the costume effect is just something we'll never see replicated again.
If it's on in the background on mute, Tron is a pretty cool movie still. But actually trying to watch it? I'm just as likely to fall asleep somewhere around the 45 minute mark as not.
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Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
There were several real, appropriate examples of UNIX in the movie. Things like "ps -ef | grep badprocess" and "kill -9 badprocessid". I caught that as it went by very quickly and was surprised at the accuracy.
/usr/bin/history to see what his last commands were. That whole sequence was pretty accurate.
Overall though, I left the movie feeling a bit uninspired. Not that it was bad movie... it was just felt rushed with no real sense of drama.
One of the displays showed a very Solairs looking version of top and login. I doubt this circa 1983 teminal had Solaris on it however.
I also thought it was cool that the son looked to see what the father was up to by starting a bash shell and running something like
and all I'll say is that the new one made me feel the same way (as an adult) that the original made me feel as a child. Yes, the graphics are cool, but the coolest thing is the sense of infinite possibility you get from the scenery. CGI jeff bridges looked alright but didn't sound great as they had to use old jeff bridges voice with young jeff bridges face. Lots of nods to the original, definitely rewatch before seeing the new one. Overall very good. Some pacing issues, but that is similar to the original.
In Soviet Russia jokes are formulaic and decidedly non-humorous.
I went to see it on Saturday night. I opted for the 3D version, and purchased tickets in advance, via "Fandango". Despite all the warnings I heard about the Friday opening being "packed full" -- it turns out I shouldn't have wasted the extra few bucks on service fees getting my tickets online, in advance. The theater for the 10:05PM show only had about 15-20 people in it!
Here's the stuff I found most notable:
1. As everyone else is saying, the visuals were top-notch. I really liked the "updated look" to the light cycles, and especially the ribbon trails they left behind them. The effect of people getting de-rezzed was amazingly good too. Even the re-imagination of the traditional Walt Disney castle logo at the beginning of the movie was very cool. The 3D was subtle, which I actually liked. If you were expecting to see Flynn chucking a disc so it looked like it was headed right out of the movie screen and into the theater? Nope... sorry. No gimmicks like that. Just a little added depth to the digital world. I think you won't lose any enjoyment if you skip the 3D version, but as long as you're paying today's ticket prices to see it on a big screen anyway? It's worth going with the 3D version, if it doesn't cost extra, or the extra fee is less than the price of a small soda!
2. The Daft Punk soundtrack fits the theme of the movie, and yes, it's not bad. But in certain spots, I thought it was mixed too loudly and becomes "overbearing", as if it's competing for your attention with what you're actually trying to watch on the screen.
3. I still have kind of mixed feelings on how "60's hippie" they tried to make the Tron world. I mean, Jeff Bridge's character's whole "zen" thing wasn't something I expected at all out of this sequel. Does it work? Yeah, because it helps explain a few questions you might be tempted to ask, like "If he's the creator of this whole universe and has the power to revise code, at will? Why has he been so restrained at doing proactive things to better the situation for the inhabitants?" But you couple all of that with the "Zeus" character who has that crazy David Bowie vibe going on, and arch-enemies who all do things in the vein of "big corporation" or "trying to take over the world" -- and you're looking pretty squarely at the hippie vs. establishment stereotypes.
4. There really wasn't much Tron in this Tron. He practically made a cameo appearance! Since he's many people's favorite character of the original, I thought he deserved a little more screen time.
Overall? I enjoyed/liked this movie, and I think they did a good job of trying to respect the original, instead of stomping all over it, like SO often happens when they sequel a movie that was made so much earlier. In the end though? Given the original's whole premise, I'm not sure how this could have been re-made to have a fully believable story-line or deep plot/message? Much of the "magic" of the original Tron came from the fact that back in the 80's, computers were still a brand new and fascinating thing for a lot of us. As kids, we saw Tron and said "Wow.... that's a pretty cool way to imagine what the inside of a computer would be like if you could really become a part of one!" Now, almost 30 years later? We've all progressed far past the extent of computer games being things as "basic" as a light-cycle or person vs. person battle with throwing discs, and computer have become as much of a commodity item as our washers or dryers. We've all seen plenty of movies covering more expansive concepts like the entire Internet (The Matrix, etc.), too. So in a sense, the magic has evaporated with time -- and the best they could do is try to give back a little with the visuals and some nostolgia.
they were giving him armor for the games. rogue programs are rounded up by the recognizers and sent to the games. did anyone else on Sam's recognizer look like they were ready to participate in the games, no they also would have been armored up by the Sirens. what is wrong with blowing up the End of Line club he had to go there first to get kevin's identity disk so on the way out he place some C4. not seeing why this isn't okay. Tron always fought for the users, at that point he had lost both his identity disks so maybe seeing Kevin up close when he did the fly over of the light jet reset his bas programming and freed him from CLU's control. Zuse/Castor betrayal was no different than Lando's betrayal on Cloud City just with a little more flair. Encom has moved beyond just making videogames in the 28 years since Kevin took over the company, the tv flashback sort of covered that. Sam learned to grow up and be a man sort of like bruce wayne went on his walk about then retook over Wayne Enterprises. The Shiva laser digitizes you and breaks you down to base biomaterial building blocks sort of like a Trek transporter stores the person in a buffer pattern. on the way out the buffer is rebuilt using the carbon/h2o and other materials (canisters on the side of the laser nozzle) to reintegrate you. for Quorra it would use the digital blueprint to create a physical representation. now how CLU was going to fit everyone in the basement is beyond me. maybe once he got through he would move the laser to an outside location for greater output.
The first thing that happens to Sam when he enters the computer world is they cut off his clothes and re-clothe him in "computer clothes." Huh? Are they used to guys just showing up wearing Earth clothes now?
Why would they care? The programs job is to put on game armor. They would have cut off whatever they were wearing.
As for the clothes not being in the first movie remember this is a while different laser system in operation, if Flynn was going in there all the time why would he not want to keep whatever clothes he had on at the time?
omputer clothes look like clothes. Walls look like walls, floors look like floors, doors look like doors. You can actually slam the door, in a computer. If you drive a computer car on a computer racetrack, your tires leave computer rubber on the road (rubber?).
Again, this is a much improved system which could explain better visual fidelity, and honestly who wouldn't want to look at clouds? Although I have to admit the more realistic physics bothered me, because why even have them?
There's a major villain type character that's hunting our heroes throughout the movie -- that is, until he decides he's actually a hero type character, for no apparent reason whatsoever.
Dude, that was Tron, from the first movie. He was reprogrammed to be subservient to Clu, but in the end hunting users reverted control to his primary purpose.
Similarly, Sam is told to go see a character who is supposed to be able to help him out. Said character has been living a double..triple life
That made plenty of sense to me in the context of earlier events. He was helping the ISO's, and was caught be Clu. He was allowed to live on the condition that he reported everything back to Clu and kept in contact with the resistance. The flamboyant thing was just a disquise to keep too many people from pestering him and keep alive the mystery of Zeus.
That's all well and good, but just what was it that happened in the computer world that convinced him to do that?
The whole AI spontaneously forming from nothing?????!?!?!? That was not important at all?????
He's taking over the company to finish what his father started, to show the world there is artificial life with independent thought. That was also why they showed her thirst for reading and understanding, to show that she really was on par with humans and not just a program.
Well, it must work, because Olivia Wilde's elf character manages it at the end... but no, seriously, how does that work, exactly?
Ok, that certainly requires a bit of suspension, but given that we accept it can re-integrate a human from the dust that was left after a full laser scan, there's no reason it couldn't simply print out another being - part of the "magic" of the iSO's might well have been they had complex enough DNA to actually survive the transition.
I kind of thought during the thing that if Clu succeeded it would have just meant 4000 soldiers and Clu re-created in the same basement space - awkward. Not sure he thought that through really.
Isomorphic algorithms. They'll cure disease, end hunger, and generally save the world. Because they're isomorphic, I guess.
They'll change the world, because they are true artificial life. Curing disease would actually be more than possible if you could be taken apart by a laser and put back together without whatever ailed you, so from that standpoint just perfecting the transition technology could have been part of it too.
Mind you, I don't think the movie was perfect. I just don't think it had nearly as many plot issues as I was expecting.
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Here are some quick answers I just pulled out of my ass after watching the movie once.
#1: There were plenty of programs walking around in non-glowing cloths. Cloths that glow seem to be a dress convention, rather than a strict rule. Like jeans and a t-shirt or a suit, white shirt and tie.
#2: You're complaining that some things in the computer world were represented literally instead of metaphorically or as a pixelated analogue. Ah bloo bloo bloo bloo bloo.
#3: If I was lord and master of a virtual world I would kill people like that all the time, or however else I wanted.
#4: The movie strongly implies the villain in question is intelligent and has a degree of free will. The character obviously summoned his strength to exercise his free will in a way contrary to his masters wishes.
#5: People who play both sides usually end up getting killed by one of them.
#6: You're really bad at watching movies.
#7: Does the movie really need to explain the details of how a flesh and blood person can go into a computer? It's hand-waved because explaining it would be stupid. It would also be stupid not to just assume that programs can go out the same way flesh and blood got in.
#8: You're nitpicking in the most pedantic way possible.
#9: You just used "Avatar" and "realistic" in the same sentence.
In conclusion: Tron: Legacy could have used a better script but it did cover its bases and didn't really fall down anywhere. A solid B+. Would watch again, maybe not in 3d the second time though.