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The framework of futility is revisited in this mind-bendingly dull sci-fi movie, more a screensaver than an actual film. This is a third installment to the original movie Tron from 1982, a film that was mould-breaking and boldly pioneering for its time in a way that escapes this one and its predecessor Tron Legacy from the previous decade. Tron: Ares nearly awakens just one time – when Evan Peters gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson's character playing his mother, in an old-fashioned bit of real-world action. This is a piece of tough love you might want to administering to all the producers involved in this film, and it's sad to see the respected Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so uninspired.

Plot Overview of Tron: Ares

The situation currently is that an evil AI corporation with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a rival to the VR company Encom, first established in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn, played by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger's role, played by David Warner) is headed by the founder’s annoyingly geeky grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to develop and produce profitable things such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into actual reality using a kind of 3D printer.

The problem is that however fearsome, these creations disintegrate after 29 minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can keep these things alive permanently, and even stores it on her person on a very low-tech flashdrive. So the dreadful Julian Dillinger deploys his enforcer on her: Ares, the superhuman fighter which can leave the VR world for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of robots, is beginning to show signs of not doing what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith portrays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena's role and poor Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Analysis

And Ares himself – the hero of the film's name – is acted by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and subtly omniscient grin, details that were perhaps designed by inputting the words “extremely annoying” into an AI human creation programme. Nobody who remembers the 90s TV classic My So-Called Life will always find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Mr Leto, and I was also quite amused by his expansive (and critically misunderstood) comic turn in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is unremittingly, unrelentingly awful here, although he isn't helped by a limp plot point which is supposed to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Eve Kim's role and subcontract all the badass wickedness to Athena's character, thus rendering her marginally more interesting. It is supposed to be adorable when Ares the character says how he loves 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode band are better than Mozart's compositions.

Franchise Elements and Final Impression

Consistent with the franchise identity of the franchise, there are motorcycles from the virtual underworld which whizz about the environment in linear paths, adhering to the angular layout of classic video games (or even nightclubs); a single bike even emits a lethal beam which cuts a cop car in two. But there is zero tension or jeopardy or emotional engagement anywhere. This franchise now looks as relevant as an automobile CD system.