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| This poster automatically makes you 10 times cooler just by looking at it. |
Let me lay a little backstory on you here. I'd never seen TRON (1982) before a week ago. In fact, it was a gaping hole in the library of Jeff Bridges movies I'd watched. And I love Jeff Bridges. I love him so much I sometimes have to insist we just refer to his movies as movies where he does stuff. For example, True Grit is Jeff Bridges in the Old West. Seabiscuit is Jeff Bridges with Ponies. The Men Who Stare at Goats is Jeff Bridges Stares at Goats. Crazy Heart is Jeff Bridges Sings Country-Western.
What's that? The Big Lebowski is The Big Lebowski. Don't be silly.
Well, a week ago I got the original TRON on blu ray. It had been a "Very Long Wait" for quite some time, but as soon as it went to a "Short Wait" I leaped at the chance to watch this cult classic. Well, after two hours of Jeff Bridges Gets Digitized late at night after a 9 hour work day, I was... shall we say... nodding. Off. I'm sure the movie was revolutionary in its time. But its time was 1982, and the amazing special effects and COMPUTERS ARE MAGIC premise are... slightly out-dated. Not that shiny discs and a "special" life-or-death version of Snake aren't fun. They TOTALLY are. And, uh, so are bodysuits... I guess. And while Jeff Bridges was amazing as ever, Bruce Boxleitner was properly manly and heroic, David Warner was off-puttingly creepy and villainous, and Cindy Morgan was very attractive despite the weird bodysuit... the production as a whole was...well... let's just say I was not enthused.
Still, I am nothing if not committed and a teensy bit OCD about the strangest things. And I was locked into watching Tron: Legacy. After all, how does one pass up the opportunity to witness Jeff Bridges Gets Re-digitized: This Time It's Personal? No, really.
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| I discovered two new colors watching TRON: Legacy. Bad Guy Orange and Olivia Wilde's Eyes Blue. |
First of all, blu ray is the only way to see this film. It is GORGEOUS in HD. This disc may very well be one of those showcase specials you pull out to convince nonbelievers that blu ray is actually better than DVDs and worth the purchase. The sound, even on just my TV's system alone, is phenomenal - and with Daft Punk's astounding triumph of a techno riff soundtrack which I can't stop listening to even as I write this, you'll want the full aural experience. (Word of advice: do not ask for the "full aural experience" anywhere you do not trust.)
TRON: Legacy is, I think, not just a tribute to the original TRON - and, sure, somewhat exploitative of its memory to create a new cash cow - but an homage to all science fiction. Why do I say this? It incorporates some of the best bits of sci-fi over the years. The zen and new age thinking? Check. Endless techno as featured most prominently in The Matrix? Check. Familial connections and complications both strange and familiar? Check. Bad-ass heroine? Check. Advancements in special effects cinematography? Check. This isn't just some summer blockbuster aimed at the horrific acne-ridden stereotype people envisage nerds to be. This is downright kickass sci-fi entertainment.
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| He knows disc-fu. |
It's also, at it's heart, a father-and-sons tale. Jeff Bridges' Kevin Flynn plays father both to protagonist Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) and Clu - his own digital creation engineered in his image, literally, to help him run "The Grid" he's created. Both sons feel hurt and betrayed by their father, and it's that emotional conflict which grounds the film. Sure, the metaphor gets a bit heavy-handed now and then, but I can say from prior experience that the writers of this film (Eddie Kitsis, Adam Horowitz both previously wrote on Lost and the Star Trek reboot) while great storytellers, aren't always the most subtle people. Still, they do specialize in father-son drama, and I have to say that all the right points hit home for me.
Beyond the themes of creation, parenting and legacies, this movie is just PRETTY. Most of the movie spends its time in The Grid, where two colors predominate: neon blue and neon orange. Bad guys are orange. Normal people and good guys are blue. Oh, and people in white are special. Very special. In all seriousness, the whole thing is a treat for the eyes. The action scenes are clever and, while they harken back to The Matrix and Star Wars like most films these days, the movie manages to make much of the action its own, relying on those omnipresent discs that serve the dual purpose of MacGuffin and weapon. Vehicles like the original film's lightcycles, arched flying ships, and blossom ships make reappearances, but we get new stuff like fighter jets and fairy wings! Ok, so the fairy wings were a bit weird.
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| Jeff Bridges and the Uncanny Valley. |
Bruce Boxleitner reprises his role of Alan Bradley, the creator of the character TRON, but only very briefly reprises his role of TRON. This was my one complaint. If they could digitally de-age Jeff Bridges, why not do the same and at least give fans a bit more face time with the namesake of the series? Granted, de-aged Jeff Bridges looks obviously digital from the start, and anytime they make him yell he looks even more like he belongs in the uncanny valley. Still, TRON does appear in the film - and not just in flashback - so I feel like it was a bit of a cheat to keep Boxleitner's face offscreen during the climax.
There's not much cast beyond that, but two names in particular deserve special mention. Cillian Murphy (AKA The Scarecrow) cameos as a devious but underutilized programmer and son of Dillinger, the villain in the original TRON. He looks remarkably young in the role, and for that I praise the costume department. He looks properly hipster-esque. What's more, they're clearly setting him up to be the villain in the sequel. I mean, barring him being a giant fan of the original film, why else would they cast him in a clear callback role and not even credit him? He's CLEARLY Cillian Murphy. Did they think we wouldn't notice?
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| Scene-stealing 101. Watch this man. |
But the real shining star in the cast and consummate scene stealer is the magnificent Michael Sheen. You might recognize him from such roles as Wesley Snipes on 30 Rock, the voice of the White Rabbit from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, coach Brian Clough in The Damned United, and Tony Blair in movies where they need someone to play Tony Blair. In TRON: Legacy he plays a fancy enigmatic madman of a club owner and man-who-can-do-things. His role is relatively minor, and it serves mostly as Plot Device D, but boy, does he make the most of it. Sure, actors love a good meaty script they can sink their teeth into, but you know what they sometimes love even more? Hamming it up, baby! (See the careers of Travolta, John and Cage, Nicolas if you doubt me.) Sheen is a revelation in the sheer joy of doing whatever the hell he wants in front of a camera. He's fruity, sinister, charming, and manic all in the span of about five minutes. It was my favorite five minutes of the movie.
In the end, TRON: Legacy isn't a cinematic milestone, no. But I had a LOT of fun watching the film, and I could barely manage its predecessor, so that's saying plenty. Sometimes, all you need is some good old-fashioned entertainment for two hours. I look forward to Jeff Bridges: The Next Generation Gets Digitized or whatever comes next with Murphy playing the smarmy asshole Dillinger Jr. to Hedlund's rebel with a cause hero. And hey, more Jeff Bridges is always better.
I give this movie 4.5 out of 5 happy moose.
End of line.
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