So here we have my exceptionally geeky review for Tron:Legacy, a film that is visually stunning, with a good story and one that really did entertain the hell out of me. So please check it out after the jump...
Here we go again with another story of how 80s sci-fi has ruled my life and how it continuously influences my viewing pleasure, sure I have a lot of horror and action but I always return to my first genre love...Sci-fi. Again, as stated in previous post, these are the films I grew up with, a lot like people who grew up in the 70s have that nostalgia for the films they saw, but the 80s was where sci-fi really took off, story wise and visually. Ok we had 2001:A Space Odyssey in 1968 and that pushed the envelope for special FX then in 1977 Star Wars came out and the envelope was pushed even further but in 1981 the director of Animalympics(?) went one step further and created a completely digital world for the film Tron. The Film was a bench mark for science fiction cinema and ever since it's release, countless films have been inspired by it. You have the circuit board dream sequence from Joe Dante's Explorers (1985), The Lawnmower Man and of course, The Matrix. Then you also have to figure in Pixar and Avatar, all of which would not have been possible if it wasn't for director Steven Lisberger's insane vision. But what would Tron look like if it were made 30 years later?
Tron: Legacy is what it looks like, a more technologically advanced version of Tron with better costumes and a daft punk sound track. But Tron Legacy is much more that just an update. For people who have never seen the original film will have no idea at first who Flynn, Clu, Rom or Tron are, and it's not entirely explained until mid way through the film. But for fans of the original, including my geeked out ass, this film will be like a fanboy wet dream, fuck, remember when the opening credits on Superman Returns start, it's like fucking heaven man, seriously, the only thing that would make me jizz more than that would be a new Back To The Future movie but sadly that would never happen. But the minute I saw the the ENCOM logo, I was like an 8 year old me again and the moment we see Flynn's arcade...jizz... I know this is so geeky but fuck it this is the shit I grew up with, most kids nowadays have the Pirates Of The Caribbean flicks or the Star Wars prequels (shudder) that in 20 years they'll be geeking the fuck out to, hell I geek out to shit like Logan's Run and Soylent Green and I wasn't even born in the 70s. But enough of my fan boyism on to the the more cinematic aspects of Tron: Legacy.
The film is the directorial début of Joseph Kosinski, a man who had only previously directed adverts for XB360 games, Halo 3 and Gears Of War, but he has complete control over the camera and the shooting of this film. The technology used is so utterly amazing and the actual world of the GRID looks stunning. We still have the awesome arch crafts but which are slightly more modern looking and we have an updated version of the light cycle, but seeing as this is 30 years later and the GRID is more advanced we also get light jets which are really cool looking plus we have this kick ass shuttle thingy piloted by Quorra (i'll get to her shortly). The light cycles have lost the whole straight edged turn and have developed more into motor cycles that can circle and skid which is shown in an incredible race. But for me one of the coolest returning factors to Tron is the light disc. The Disc holds all the information pertaining to the particular avatar, it's coding if you wish. Just reminiscing about 1982's Tron is getting me giddy like a school boy.
The Cast is pretty fucking cool, the Dude him self and original Flynn is back, Mother fucking Jeff Bridges man, playing duel roles of Flynn and Clu, we also have Bruce Boxleitner back who played Tron in the first film and also played Alan Bradley too.
The we have stepping into the role of Sam, Flynn's son is Garret Hedlund, who is pretty cool in this but was totally bad ass in Death Sentence, he's kind of like a cheaper, younger version of James Franco. Also popping up as usual these days is fellow Welshman and man of the moment at the...um...moment, Michael Sheen, who plays a sort of in-game nightclub owner and former 'resistance against Clu' fighter, who turns the tables on Sam so he can run the city, and then we have Olivia Wilde as Quorra, a program that has evolved and who is the last of her kind (of program) who is Flynn's right hand woman. Olivia Wilde is gorgeous and she's very good as Quorra. Our first introduction to her character is when she pulls up in a computer world dune buggy and pops open the hatch for Sam. I totally expected her to say “Come with me if you want to live” Terminator style. But her character is sort of like Lee-loo off of The Fifth Element crossed with Pris Off Of Blade Runner with a little dash of Trinity thrown in there and a pinch of Alice from the Resident Evil films put in for good measure. Did I mention she is gorgeous.
My only major gripe with the film is the CGI used for Clu, they've taken Bridges' face and digitized it to make him look younger, it does look like him but it does come across some times like video-game graphics, which is shame as David Fincher used a technique for Curious Case Of Benjamin Button that would have worked a lot better, the same as Brett Ratner (shudder) did to make Picard and Gandalf look younger. But that is my only problemo with the film.
Daft Punk, who if you didn't Know are two DJ's who dress up as robots and make music, did the entire score for the film and it is a phenomenal score, you have orchestral and synth music mixed with pounding techno and house beats and it all works. The soundtrack is totally worth getting even if you're not a fan of dance music, I sure as hell no I'm not, but couldn't resist the awesomeness of this score.
So What is my Geeked out verdict on TRON: LEGACY?
Fuck Avatar, this is the visual treat I was waiting for, and even though it's been thirty years since Tron, it felt as though it was only a couple of years. Everything combined made this film worthwhile for me and seeing for the first time on blu-ray really kick huge amounts of ass. Just visually stunning and entertaining like a mother fucker.
TRON: LEGACY
FILM: 9/10
The scene when Clue is addressing the army he amassed reminds me of the first Apple commercial. The way each soldier is lined up perfectly represents the perfection and when Clue said the “user” world will be open to all of them is a reflection of the idea that Kevin had for programs in the real world only Clue had perverted that in himself. I watched it in HD 1080p, the same as Blu-ray with my DISH Network HD receiver on VOD. I love how the picture looks on my 82” TV because anything less than HD is not worth it; plus I get my HD free for life as a qualifying customer with a top package. Sweet!
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