Dazzling images in director Joseph Kosinski's highly anticipated sequel “Tron: Legacy” include gravity defying races between the film’s trademark light cycles, a slick all-terrain vehicle driven by the film's pretty heroine Quorra (Olivia Wilde) and an aerial battle between a futuristic bomber (complete with gun turret on its tail) and high-flying soldiers powered by rocket wings.
"Tron: Legacy" is the year’s most beautiful film but it fails to live up to its gargantuan expectations due to a surprisingly flimsy story underneath the neon razzle-dazzle.
Fans who have been waiting 28 years for a new “Tron” adventure will smile during the film’s key action scenes of futuristic gladiator games and an explosive showdown between warring groups at a sleek nightclub in the other worldly terrain known as “the grid.”
Non-fans will soon grow tired of Kosinski’s loyalty to the original film’s cubist inspired design, its dense back story and long stretches of dialogue between the action.
“Tron: Legacy” may claim a distinct visual style but it fails like countless other fantasy blockbusters due to poor storytelling.
Twenty Seven-year-old Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the son of computer games designer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges from the first movie), finally reunites with his long lost father in the mysterious computer world known as “the grid.” Their reunion is emotionally heartfelt but Sam needs to leave the grid in order to prevent his father’s computer-generated twin called Clu from destroying this alternate reality.
Jeff Bridges reprises his character from the 1982 movie as something of a Zen master in white robes and a salt-and-pepper beard. He also acts opposite himself as the younger Clu and the impact is dizzy and fun.
Bridges is good-natured throughout “Tron: Legacy” and brings the film some welcome comic relief. It’s a shame Kosinski asks Bridges to take himself too seriously in a movie too philosophical for its own good.
Michael Sheen channels Ziggy Stardust as Castor, an outrageous nightclub owner who offers to help Sam get off the grid. Sheen rises to the film’s sparkly level with a high-energy performance that’s the brightest spot in the movie.
Olivia Wilde makes the most of her skintight suit and Louise Brooks-inspired brunette bob as Quorra and provides an action performance equal to the boys. Still, Wilde never fully rises above the level of beautiful eye candy in a performance that could have achieved the scope of the robot Maria in “Metropolis" if the script allowed.
The stumbling performance that holds the film back belongs to Garrett Hedlund as the film’s young hero Sam. Hedlund makes the most of his opening sequence parachuting off a downtown skyscraper after some impressive hacking at his father’s software company. It’s downhill from that scene and by the time of the film’s action climax Hedlund has turned into complete and utter cardboard.
The true stars of the movie are the neon-lit vehicles that zoom across the screen and the glittering cityscape of the grid that resembles Disney’s Magic Kingdom with more neon.
Daft Punk’s electronic music suits the adventure perfectly.
Kosinski is a trained architect in addition to a filmmaker so the beautiful shapes and forms throughout “Tron: Legacy” are a testament to his artistic eye. With cameraman Claudio Miranda (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”), production designer Darren Gilford (“G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra”) and an army of animators, costumers, modelers, make-up artists and set designers, Kosinski has created a fully realized alternative world. Kosinski is already set to remake the Disney sci-fi adventure “The Black Hole” in addition to a film based on his graphic novel “Oblivion.”
Once Kosinski polishes his storytelling skills, he’ll be a filmmaking force. Until then, we can at least enjoy the razzle-dazzle. Some directors don’t even provide that.
Three Stars
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Screenwriter: Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz, from a story by Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz, Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal, based on characters created by Steven Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner, Michael Sheen
Editor: James Haygood
Composer: Daft Punk
Cinematographer: Claudio Miranda
Production Designer: Darren Gilford
Producer: Grid Productions, Idealogy Inc
Rating: PG
Running Time: 96 minutes
Release Date: December 17, 2010