Movie Review: TRON Legacy
Normally I let my Movie Reviewer, Andy, take care of these things, and he may still yet, but I felt the need to do my own review.
I’m going to keep the spoilers to a minimum hear so feel free to read away.
TRON: Legacy is the sequel to Disney’s nerd classic TRON. The premise of Legacy being that Kevin Flynn has grown up and has a child but continues dabbling in the Grid where he met TRON all those years ago.
One day Flynn goes missing his child, Sam, takes it very personal. He grows up being a rebellious child until one day, when curiosity gets the better of him he visits his father’s old Arcade shop.
Sam finds himself digitized by accident and on the Grid his father helped build. Once he meets with his father, who has been trapped in the computer ever since Sam was a child, they struggle to get back out.
The Soundtrack
I’m sure by now many of you have heard the soundtrack for Legacy as developed by Daft Punk. It is incredible in and of itself, but couple with modern light show that Disney has created in TRON and it truly is a masterpiece.
Throw Backs
The movie was littered with references to the original TRON. If you are familiar with the old movie you’ll likely be impressed by some of the references.
The Visual Effects
With the exception of the first 3D movie I ever saw I have never been more excited about seeing a movie in 3D, albeit my expectations were low given you can’t really tell anything’s 3D for most 3D movies. Sadly Legacy was no different.
I could count on my hands the number of times I felt like the movie appeared in more than two dimensions, and most of them were weak. In fact, at the end of the movie I commented to my friends, “It’s really sad when you see a 3D movie and the best 3D effects occur in the end credits.”
This movie would have been equally as impressive if it had been in 2D.
Conversely, the rest of the effects were excellent. The lights in the costumes, building and vehicles really made this place an exciting world just to look it. The visuals were crisp. No complaints at all there.
The Best Part
The fighting. Disc battles, light cycles and light jets. If only someone would make a multi-player light battle game that incorporated light cycles, tanks, and jets with various Legacy-inspired levels, but at or near the quality of the movie (Battle Grids for Wii hardly looks the same).
The biggest problem we had with the fight sequences was that there were not enough.
The Video Game
I haven’t played it yet, but they made an third-person adventure game game to the style of Prince of Persia. It really should have been the game listed above.
The Big Disappointment
The movie lacked the element of surprise. Entirely.
The biggest surprise was when the guy sitting behind noticed my Droid phone and told me that V5 of Google Maps was available for download with new perspectives and faster-loading vector maps.
And man was he ever right.
But back to the movie,anytime they used foreshadowing it wasn’t a subtle hint of what would happen in the future, it was more like a wrecking ball smashing through your anticipation.
I knew who every character was before they introduced themselves and I knew the outcome of every situation before it happened.
And when the movie was said and done, the difference that the effect (or lack of a effect) of surprise brought the movie from a potential 9 out of 10 to a measly 7.5.
A solid 7.5 mind you. I can’t wait to see it again. But what a devastating effect such a simple literary device can have when use improperly.
Overall the movie was great, maybe even awesome, even with my high hopes going into the movie (I’d say my regular readers noticed a posted a lot about TRON lately in anticipation).
I will probably buy right away when it is made available on Blu-Ray.
When Disney announced it was reigniting TRON, Daft Punk were quick to pipe up.