Disney has done it again this holiday season by following up “Tangled” with another of the most visually impressive 3D movies, “Tron: Legacy,” in Disney Digital 3D, opening Dec. 17.
Of course, with 28 years of advancements in digital effects, this much-anticipated sequel is even more visually dynamic than the original groundbreaking “Tron” of 1982. And Jeff Bridges is back as computer genius Kevin Flynn and twice as fun playing his contemporary self trapped in the computer world he created, and an electronic incarnation of himself called Clu that Flynn created 20 years earlier and is now pitted against in a battle of digital domination.
<Story continues below, following video of my interview with Bridges and his co-star in both films, Bruce Boxleitner, and actor James Frain, who plays Clu’s henchman Jarvis.>
As always, the 3D and overall impact and immersion of “Tron: Legacy” is far greater on a giant-screen IMAX presentation, which I experienced at Universal CityWalk’s AMC theater Thursday night following a screening two weeks earlier at Disney’s El Capitan Theater in Hollywood. (The timing for IMAX is ideal to replace the fading “Harry Potter” after one more weekend.)
That 3D and overall impact of “Tron” begins immediately with an audience wow-ing, instant mood-setting digital alteration of the familiar pre-movie Walt Disney Pictures logo of the castle made to appear as if it is part of the ominous dark turquoise & white computer grid world we are about to enter. After a segue into a 3D overview of the Grid city, the movie reverts to a 20-minute or so 2D backstory of Flynn interacting with his young son 20 years earlier (featuring an impressive but slightly distracting digital representation of a younger Bridges), followed by the set-up of Sam as a 27-year-old millionaire maverick.
Director Joseph Kosinski, essentially a first-time feature film director after a career making commercials, has delivered on impossibly high expectations by fans of the original with exhilarating and innovative updates of the light cycles, recognizers, solar sailor and the overall environment in general.
<Story continues below, following videos of my interviews with Kosinski and producer and Disney executive Sean Bailey, and the creator of original “Tron,” Steven Lisberger, who is a producer on “Tron Legacy.”>
But that world is decidedly darker visually, with almost no bright colors anywhere, which matches the downbeat story of Flynn and his son Sam trying to escape from an oppressive world that recently suffered through what Flynn describes as genocide of a new digital species of isotopes.Bridges lone line of levity in the entire movie, which sounds as if he is channeling his “Big Lebowski” Dude character when he teasingly chastises his son during a tense moment – “You’re messin’ with my Zen thing,” draws a big laugh from the audience, partly as a welcome moment of relief from the otherwise humorless story and mostly monochromatic environment.
Even Sam is a tortured brooding character whose father disappeared and left him an orphan at a young age.
That is all quite a contrast to the far more upbeat original with fun-loving videogame guru Flynn bumbling his way around the much brighter digital world that even had a little Disney-esque comic-relief character, the free-floating “Yes-No” Bit.
Still, Kosinski has done better then most in deftly working in the primary actors from the original despite everyone being nearly three decades older. It’s a treat to see Bruce Boxleitner, who played the character actually called Tron in the original (and his human counterpart Alan), return with such an important role here as the keeper of the flame at Flynn’s corporate Encom and a mentor to the reluctant heir Sam.
<Story continues below, following videos of my interviews with visual effects supervisor Eric Barba and animation supervisor Steve Preeg, and a separate video interview with Daniel Simon, the designer of the new light cycles.>
This sequel also has a couple insider nods to the original, including a couple hand-sized objects on Flynn’s mantle that are presumably meant to represent “Bit,” and an early boardroom scene with a character called Dillinger and a reference to his father, which only fans of the original will know was the villain in the first movie played by David Warner. And, of course, there is the original Tron coin-operated arcade game, still an icon to gamers of the era. It plays a pivotal role here.
There is also a shot of a Disney movie poster of “The Black Hole,” one of Disney’s first attempts to capitalize on the Star Wars craze a couple years before “Tron.”
And there are several Star Wars homages or rip-offs, including Flynn being given a lot of Obi-wan Kenobi-like personality traits and thought-control powers, and a familiar flying battle sequence that even features the young whipper-snapper Sam jumping like Luke Skywalker into a Millennium Falcon (and B-52 bomber) type of gun turret to shoot down pursuers. I was fully expecting someone to yell out “Don’t get cocky, kid.”
That someone would have been Olivia Wilde as Quorra, the lone digital survivor of the genocide, who has become a disciple of Flynn’s philosophy of making decisions by taking yourself out of the equation. She is also by far the most proficient driver, flier, and strongest fighter, heroically coming to Sam’s rescue multiple times. That and her curvaceous design and subtly flirtatious personality offer some additional appeal to Sam and viewers.
<Story continues below, following video of my interview with Wilde.>
While there are some fun chase scenes and fights, the characters and story could have been more compelling. It’s only when Michael Sheen’s outsized duplicitous character Castor appears on the screen that the slow-moving middle section finally comes alive. Sheen is clearly having fun with the flamboyant Castor, even emulating Charlie Chaplin’s penguin-like walk with his cane at one point.
<Story continues below, following video of my interview with Sheen and Beau Garret, who plays Castor’s sultry henchwoman Gem, and separate video interview with Christine Clark about costume design.>
I found that I enjoyed this movie more upon the second viewing, partially because of the bigger and better IMAX 3D experience, but also because I was not going in with 28-years of very high expectations as I had approached the first screening.
As I said, I would like to have been more engaged with the characters and story, and would like for it to have provided more of a feeling of fun and adventure.
Nonetheless, without question this new “Tron: Legacy” powers the groundbreaking legacy into the 21st century.
— By Scott Hettrick