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The matrix of pointlessness is reloaded in this mind-bendingly dull sci-fi film, more a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. It's a third installment to the classic Tron film from 1982, a movie that was groundbreaking and courageously innovative for its day in a way that eludes this film and its predecessor Tron Legacy from the previous decade. Tron: Ares nearly comes to life just once – when Evan Peters' character gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson's character portraying his mother, in an old-fashioned bit of real-world action. That's a bit of firm parenting you might feel like administering to all the producers engaged in this film, and it's unfortunate to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so uninspired.

Plot Overview of The New Tron Film

The situation now is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger has become a rival to the virtual reality firm Encom, first established in the 80s arcade-game era by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn, played by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (initially founded by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger's role, acted by David Warner) is led by the founder’s annoyingly geeky grandson's character Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to design and create profitable things such as indestructible soldiers and armored vehicles in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into actual reality using a kind of three-dimensional printer.

The issue is that no matter how intimidating, these creations crumble into dust after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has discovered the plot-driving “permanence code” which can keep these things alive for ever, and even stores it on her person on a very low-tech flashdrive. So the dreadful Julian Dillinger sets his attack dog on her: Ares, the humanoid uber-warrior which can exit the virtual realm for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of androids, is starting to exhibit symptoms of not doing what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith portrays Ares's stoic deputy Athena's role and poor Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Acting and Roles Breakdown

And Ares himself – the hero of the title – is acted by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and faintly all-knowing smile, touches that were perhaps created by inputting the words “extremely annoying” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who recalls the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life will always find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Mr Leto, and I was incidentally very entertained by his expansive (and critically misunderstood) comic turn in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Leto is consistently, persistently awful here, although he isn't helped by a limp plot point which is supposed to allow him to show flashes of “compassion” for Eve Kim's role and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena, thus making her marginally more interesting. It is supposed to be charming when Ares says how he loves 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode are superior to Mozart's compositions.

Franchise Elements and Final Impression

And in keeping with the franchise identity of the series, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which whizz about the environment in linear paths, conforming to the angular layout of antique arcade games (or even dance clubs); one even shoots out a lethal beam which slices a police vehicle in half. But there is zero tension or jeopardy or emotional engagement throughout. This series now looks about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.