A Reel Review: TRON: LEGACY

There is an age-old rule in filmmaking that can make or break your film: The higher your concept, the simpler your story must be. If you are going to create a film with dense surroundings, you have to bring the audience in with a simplistic story that they can relate to. Such a strategy has worked in past films such as AVATAR, CARS and THE WIZARD OF OZ. Despite the clarity of the rule, it is not always easy to achieve. There is a balance to be found; the story can’t be made TOO simple, and must have enough dressings around it to keep it afloat. With TRON: LEGACY, the nearly-direct follow-up to TRON (1982), the balance of this rule is exactly what must be found.

Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) is the son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), a computer wizard and head of an empire-like computer company. Sam is looking into the disappearance of this father 20 years before, when he gets zapped into the same computerized world that his father had created. Father and son reunite to find their way home with the assistance of Quorra (Olivia Wilde), all while keeping the big-baddie Clu (played by CGI-young Jeff Bridges) from realizing his plans.

LEGACY’s main storyline is a very simple one: find dad, get home. To beef things up, Sam is given the main stage with his issues. In the beginning, he is a rebel who wants nothing to do with his dad’s old company, other than to annoy the suits who now run it. His personal journey becomes obvious nearly right away, as the audience can easily figure out that by the end of the film he will have resolved his issues and embraced his responsibility within his dad’s legacy. While that’s not a horrible thing, and it usually can work, LEGACY just doesn’t have enough stuffing to keep the turkey from collapsing. The film is loaded with a lot of exposition speeches, some of which run consecutively. Things are broken up by some breathtaking action, but the overall feel is very shallow with not much underneath the surface. The main villain Clu, while unique, isn’t really that despicable for a baddie, nor are his ultimate plans. There just isn’t anything to care about here.

Still, there is a lot to like in LEGACY. The visuals are awesome, and the chases with the light-cycles and light-planes are good fun. The opening half-hour (or so ) of the film is a neat trip back in time full with nostalgia, and the actual sets that were built for the CGI-heavy environments are neat to look at.

Visual effects are really good. The overall world and characters’ outfits are eye-popping and convincing. The real achievement is the CGI work done to make Jeff Bridges 20 years young. The Benjamin-Button treatment works really well. However the real disappointment is the (mis) usage of 3D. The third dimension adds very little depth and throws nothing at you to make you duck for cover. What’s even more heartbreaking is that the dimness of the picture, along with the dark glasses, tends to dull the awesome effect of the ever-present neon glow that is all over the film.

The score by Daft Punk is awesome. End of analysis.

Jeff Bridges really shines in the role, although his newly-found Zen-master mannerisms may annoy some fans of the original film. Hedlund gives a very wooden performance, and most of his dialogue consists of lines that support the trailers. Olivia Wilde is not given much to do other than walk around looking sexy, so no complaints there.

The original TRON was made because the Disney dudes discovered a new way to make movies and needed a film to show it off. It was a visual effects show-and-tell in search of a story. LEGACY is much of the same. The balance fell short here, with too much going into style and not enough into substance. Fun? Yes. Interesting? No.

BOTTOM LINE: Rent it.