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The framework of pointlessness is reloaded in this tediously complex science fiction movie, closer to a screensaver than an actual film. It's a third installment to the classic Tron film from 1982, a film that was mould-breaking and courageously innovative for its time in a way that eludes this one and its predecessor Tron Legacy from 2010. The new Tron film almost comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson portraying his mum, in an old-fashioned bit of real-world action. That's a piece of tough love you might feel like handing out to all the producers engaged in this film, and it's unfortunate to see the respected Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so lifeless.

Plot Overview of The New Tron Film

The scenario now is that an evil AI corporation with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a competitor to the VR company Encom, originally set up in the 80s arcade-game era by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (initially founded 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 grand plan to design and create profitable things such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then export them into the real world using a kind of three-dimensional printer.

The issue is that no matter how intimidating, these things crumble into dust after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence code” which can maintain these entities permanently, and even keeps it on her person on a extremely basic USB drive. So the ghastly Julian Dillinger deploys his enforcer on her: Ares, the humanoid uber-warrior which can exit the virtual realm for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of androids, is starting to exhibit symptoms of not doing what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith portrays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena and poor Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in wise white robes, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton.

Acting and Roles Breakdown

And Ares himself – the hero of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, facial hair and subtly omniscient grin, details that were perhaps designed by typing the words “incredibly irritating” into an AI human creation programme. Nobody who remembers the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life series will ever find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Jared Leto, and I was incidentally very entertained by his expansive (and widely misinterpreted) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Leto is unremittingly, unrelentingly awful here, although his performance isn't aided by a weak storyline which is intended to allow him to show flashes of “empathy” for Greta Lee's character and subcontract all the badass wickedness to Athena's character, thus rendering her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be adorable when Ares says how he adores 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode band are superior to Mozart's compositions.

Franchise Elements and Final Impression

Consistent with the brand-identity of the series, there are motorcycles from the virtual underworld which whizz about the place in long straight lines, adhering to the angular layout of antique arcade games (or indeed nightclubs); one even emits a lethal beam which cuts a police vehicle in two. But there is no drama or danger or human interest anywhere. This series now looks about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.