*Note, I saw this at a midnight screening in 2D after which point I had to go to work at five am. Go me. ;)...For the sake of being honest and not leading any of my two readers astray-HARK I must add a viewer here, M, you can be my exalted THIRD reader, yay!-I must tell you that this review will be full of spoilers because frankly, I can't resist, and also, I'm not sure a "proper" review can really be written by me without their use. Therefore, if you'd rather not read this for that reason, feel free to stop here. You hath been warned!
Now. Let us get the plot straight first off:
1) The original Tron ended with Kevin Flynn (who shall heretofor be known as just Flynn and his son, just Sam) inheriting Encom from Dillinger (doth that name ring any bells from Tron Legacy? *cough* Cillian Murphy! *cough*) NOT, I repeat, NOT getting sucked into the server and disappearing. That happened in the PAST of this film, so, our story picks up twenty years beyond Flynn's disappearance. His company has been poorly managed (by his and his son's standards) by a bunch of lackeys concerned only with the pursuit of money, not knowledge or progress. Therefore, his son Sam decides to go digital Jedi and release a new version of Encom OS free to the people of the interwebs just seconds prior to it's global launch. Hardy har-har! Digital Anarchy: "Of the people, by the people, FOR the people!"
*Be warned, this movie comes very close to condoning this kind of behavior, which I thought was bold for a Disney film; so make sure to have a conversation with your kids about the consequences of such actions if you must.*
If you aren't aware, Flynn stood for FREEDOM of information in the OG Tron, and battled a Sauron-Vader-like digital overlord known as Master Control Program, who was aided by then CEO of Encom Edward Dillinger. There was a program who "fought for the users" known only as Tron (modeled after Flynn's close friend Alan Bradley) and Flynn himself created a digital reflection of himself to work in the grid known as C.L.U. or, Codified Likeness Utility. Clu fought alongside Tron to defeat MCP, and with it, Dillinger himself thereby ending the tyranny of MCP and putting Flynn in control of Encom. Granted, in the first film Flynn himself does get sucked into the grid and thrown into the games just as his son does in Legacy, but I was *attempting* to keep the synopsis simple.
So, Sam has just fucked the company in the ass and is feeling RATHER proud of himself at which point he goes home to find Alan in what appears to be yet another surrogate father moment.
Let me say that I completely thought Garrett Hedlund would be the weak link of this movie. I've seen all his movies, (seriously, ALL of them) and I just wasn't sure he had the chops for this, even being aided by Jeff Bridges himself. But, he completely surprised me. He was roguish, heroic, ballsy, a little humorous and a lot aggressive, which I appreciated seeing in the dude I was supposed to root for the whole time, because, it made it EASY to root for him.
Back to the movie, now: Alan has much more interesting news than a lecture on ruining the company's stock share, and, being his father's son, Sam is loathe to resist temptation. From here, he's thrown into the grid, into the games, mirroring his father's experience, but with the goal of finding his father and bringing him home.
Ok, enough with the bloody exposition. I am going to sound like a fangirl for the rest of this text, but whatever. If you're reading this I know you loved it too. From THE moment Sam arrives on the grid I was in fucking heaven. The Daft Punk score started immediately and the change in the visuals could be felt just as much as it could be seen.
Sam is scooped up by a completely revamped and wicked cool Recognizer and plopped into a group of malfunctioning programs who are at once giving you the impression that being picked up by one of these bitches is no bueno. When the sirens dress him in his suit and give him his identity disk you know it's ON. His first task, not dying in the ident-disk war. WHICH, might I add is one of the BEST ways to start this whole manic ride. The visuals and score during his two battles will literally have your jaw on the floor, but the real kick ass starts when Sam takes on a mysterious character known as Rinzler, who, as it were, has MAD, MAD skills. One of my favorite sequences in this film is when the horizon line/gravity changes during his battle with Rinzler and they are fighting (to the audience) upside down and by using disk-to-disk hand combat.
It's clear that despite our hero's A for effort he is clearly going to be schooled by Rinzler...until he is asked by an almighty character to identify himself. (Can I also mention that the hovering gladitorial feel of this sequence is completely absorbing and awesome? The idea that a bunch of binary codes all have human faces and gather round to watch fellow programs, friends even, be "derezzed" is so much the human condition it's scary.) Sam states his name and LACK of program-ness and is ordered to be brought before the almighty...CLU. Who, of course, Sam initially thinks is in fact his father. The moment quickly passes in an aggressively frightening manner when Clu tells Sam that he isn't his father, but that he is very happy to see him. Put yourself in that situation! I mean, Christ! There's this digital alter ego of your father, he looks like your dad, sounds like your dad. A dad you haven't seen in twenty years, a dad you desperately want to find and bring home...and this guy is him, but he's NOT. This guy is him, but he wants you DEAD. What a mind fuck. Anyway, moving on.
So, finally having a bargaining piece in hand to lure the real Flynn out of his off-grid hiding spot, Clu decides to challenge Sam to...a lightcycle battle! Now, I must say the reaction that Clu gets walking out onto that lightcycle game grid is kind of awe-inspiring. He's got slomo badass walk, there are ovations all around, programs are going crazy, there are fireworks going off. Clu. Rules. All. Aside from the incredibly dynamic visuals of this scene, of which there are MANY-I particularly love how the geometry of the grid seems to change from one level to the next, or how things move, light up or make a sound as they are touched by a cycle-one of the things I love most is that it shows you a lot about Sam as a person. It's clear after he loses his first teammate that his humanity is one of the defining things that separate him from Clu. This may seem natural, but Clu wants him dead, he could have used all those minions to his advantage to save his own skin, but he doesn't. He tells them they'll only survive working together, but he says it in such a way that you KNOW he wants them to survive as well, not just himself. There is a really awful moment when Sam goes back for a fallen comrade only to get there a beat too shy, and you can actually see the pain in his face. Naturally, there comes a point when he will no longer survive, at which moment an outside influence intervenes to save his ass in what I can only describe as a Tron version of the Batman Begins Tumbler. This is not to belittle the vehicle at all, it's just that it literally looks just as cool but Tron-ified.
This is where Olivia Wilde first makes her appearance and from the minute she took off that helmet and laughed I knew I was going to love Quorra. She's just as ballsy as he is, but a bit more naive and curious, however, Sam is about to have a lot of things to be curious about. As one can imagine, Quorra takes Sam home to see his dad, his REAL dad. The moment of reunion, for me, was as touching and beautiful as it was heartwrenching. Both Bridges (who appears like a zen apparition in a digital living room and with all the glory and power that the image provides) and Hedlund are pretty amazing in that moment. Hedlund turns into a little kid...almost scared to be touched by Bridges for fear his dad isn't really real, just another cruel joke in a soulless place, but when Flynn says "You're here...you're here." and hugs him with tears in his eyes the moment hits Sam full force and his body absorbs the knowledge that he isn't alone anymore, that he has his father again and that he has to get him home. I'd heard many people say they thought the moment was cold and heartless, and to them I say, "The fuck you say! Were we watching the same movie?" The only reason it became a bit awkward is because it had to. Flynn, I think even at that point, KNEW he couldn't go home again, but KNEW that Sam would die trying to save him, so for a while he has the idea to distance himself from Sam, to make what has to be done easier on both of them.
(At this point the rest of the story is this: Flynn explains to Sam that he lost himself in his digital paradise, because of some trick of technology a digital people manifested themselves and their DNA could hold the key to thousands of revolutions, the ISOS. At that point, Clu was then lost. He felt threatened, like maybe he wasn't needed anymore, or wasn't important anymore. Clu wanted to create the perfect world, it was his task that Flynn gave him and when the idea of that was threatened, Clu kidnapped him and even with Tron they were unable to defeat Clu, who had of course gathered a small army of followers already. He then destroyed all the Isos (all but ONE of course *wink wink*) and decided to make an army in preparation for getting into our world and eradicating us of our imperfections (kicker though, he needs Flynn's ident-disk to escape, he can't leave on his own). There is one final showdown at which point "the hard choice" has to be made and Flynn's real power is finally seen.)
Flynn tells Sam the plan is to do nothing, because doing nothing results in no one getting hurt and Clu not getting his way, but it also means no one goes home and everyone is a coward, and Sam won't suffer that shit. So, as a rebellious young man is wont to do, he rebels, steals his dad's bike and goes to find Zuse, a man who, allegedly, can smuggle them out of the city and to the portal that Sam and Flynn passed through.
Michael Sheen plays Zuse (also known as Castor) a wicked awesome night club owner who has turned to the dark side. He has a wonderfully bizarre part and I really loved him in this. (PS Watch out for Daft Punk as the night club Djs in their trademark helmets.) Enter the second twist of the film, Zuse is on Clu's payroll. A battle ensues at which the ever threatening Rinzler appears (whom any noble movie-goer at this time must realize is somehow not quite right). We think Sam is cooked for sure this time, but voila! Quorra appears yet again, and this time she broughts a friend.
The level of respect, power and all around AWESOME of Kevin Flynn is palpable when he steps into the club. The lights flicker, programs flee, he disables whatever the hell he wants to just by touching it or thinking it. In the battle, Quorra is injured and (oh snap!) Flynn's disc is taken. (During a subsequent meeting with Clu and Zuse he hands it over, thinking that naturally he will receive all the glory. And what happens, he gets blowed up. Clearly, no one ever told him to never trust the dark siders.) They hop a freaking amazing solar-sailor-Sunshine-lookin'-lazer-ship-train that is moving toward the portal. Sam feels guilty at being the reason for Quorra to be hurt and his father's disk to have been taken, but Flynn is able to literally PULL the injury code from her DNA and all is right with her once she reboots. Third (somewhat less shocking twist) she's the LAST ISO! Whaaaaaaaaaaa?! "She's the miracle."
Sam and Quorra have a nice exchange while Flynn tries to recover his zen until they realize they're docking somewhere odd. In fact, they're at ground zero for Clu's army of programs. Clu at once gives a rousing speech about their destiny being outside the walls of their digital lives (eerily similar and contradictory to Flynn's earlier flashback speech at an Encom summit). Sam and Flynn hatch a plan which Quorra smartly fucks up in order to be captured by Rinzler, and Sam goes and busts some serious heads in order to retrieve his father's ident-disk and stop his evil digital doppelganger from hatching his plan. They snag a wicked awesome x-wing lookin' plane and head off toward the portal, a chase ensues which I can only describe as digital-eyefucking-manta-rays-ribbon-candy-light-trails-what-Avatar-should-have-been AWESOMENESS. Quorra minds the controls in the front while Sam mans the bombardier guns in the back. One by one the baddies fall and crash and derezz but one is always on their tail until...he remembers who he is. Of course, we all knew this, or I hope YOU did, but when TRON yells out: "I FIGHT...FOR THE USERS!" I 'bout lost my shit. I think I cried a bit. All you haters out there who want to say it was cheesy can kiss my ass, it was great, and totally hearkened to the OG Tron which just really brought the whole film full-circle for me. Basically, Tron falls into the "ocean" and gradually as he sinks his red/orange lights turn to white/blue and you know he's Tron again.
The battle isn't over yet, however, because Clu still lives and even as they approach the portal it begins to close. Flynn sees the error in his ways, he apologizes to Clu, hoping to end their war by saying that he was wrong in tasking him with making "the perfect world" because since he is merely a representation of himself, that perfection will never really BE perfection, nor could anything BE perfection. Clu steps to him, and you think maybe he's had a change of heart, but instead he lashes out at him and separates himself and Flynn from Quorra and Sam. Sam screams for his father in a moment where you can feel his heart tearing apart, you can feel that Sam KNOWS how close he is to that idyllic life he wants and in the same moment KNOWS it can never be. His father...is simply out of reach. The portal closes ever more and a look of somber knowledge passes over Sam and Flynn's faces. Clu however, is not faint of pixels, and steals Flynn's ident-disk once again, only to find that this time, it isn't Flynn's it's Quorra's. Whoops, bitch. You lose. But still, Clu WILL not yield. Even as Quorra and Sam prepare to "beam" into our world he jumps for the portal and makes it across the ever widening gap, at which point, Flynn comes to life again and uses all the power left within him to prevent Clu from reaching the portal.
I can barely FIND the vocabulary to say how amazing that moment is. Like a digital Gandalf on the Bridge of Khazad-Dum he literally claps his hands together and pulls Clu away from them, and by default, he pulls him back into himself. Flynn is an old Jedi Master, but even he cannot withstand the power of absorbing his digital self, and like a nuclear bomb, he derezzes right before our eyes. Kevin Flynn, you are the creator, and we salute you.
...You need to THINK about that moment a lot before you can even begin to understand the psychological ramifications of it. I was so in awe of it, and I still AM.
Back in "the real world" Sam has paged Alan, and lets him know that yes, he will be taking his company back now, because he was right about everything. Alan looks perplexed but understanding in the same moment as a soft smile appears across his face. Outside, Quorra stands against a light fixture outside of Flynn's and we fade into the sunrise.
SIGH. This movie is just plain-out-knock-down-drag-out-FUN and wicked cool to boot. PLUS, if you aren't an asshole and can read between the lines of the linear narrative there is really a lot going on with this film in terms of relationships, social commentary, and the nature of humanity.
What-generally speaking-do we all want but to feel loved, to feel like we belong to something, to someone. We search for acceptance, achievement, self improvement. And when it comes down to it all Flynn was trying to do was make his world a better place. All Sam wanted was to find his dad and to know that he didn't leave HIM. All Quorra wanted was adventure in a new place (she loved Jules Verne remember?). So, in a way, they all got what they wanted, even if it wasn't in the way they wanted it.
Plus, there was the undercurrent of manifesto with regard to how Flynn stood on FREEDOM of information. His son obviously understood what his father stood for and sought to achieve that in whatever way he could while taking minimal responsibility. It's safe to say that Sam had to grow up, Flynn had to...adjust his expectations, and Quorra, she needed a purpose for being the last of her kind.
I just...I dunno. This movie, with it's amazing music, crazy awesome visuals and absorbing world, it just captured me, as I think it did every other nerdly friend of mine. Is it a perfect film? Of course not. Was there strategy behind certain things? Of course. Tron is not dead. Dillinger is going to be a new villain in the next film (which I would assume there would be). Some were annoyed that they buried a caliber actor like Cillian Murphy in an uncredited role purely to set-up a potential sequel, but what the hell? Murphy TOOK the role. If he was offended by it's responsibility in any way wouldn't he have, you know, NOT taken it? I just find it presumptuous for these people to so gratuitously HATE on this movie for no legit reason.
Oh, and on the note of hate, a lot have complained about dialogue, and I truly am flummoxed by that. Nearly ALL the characters in this film are ones and zeros. They're CODE. They're programs. Perhaps it is not their purpose to sound "human". Just a thought, you chuckleneads.
I would say "You have to go see Tron!" to just about anybody I thought would be open to the concept. It is not necessary to have seen the first film, though it does help knowing the backstory for the little things such as Dillinger and Flynn's overall attitude on his company and his life. However, I would also recommend this movie to anyone who is a Jeff Bridges fan. He really is remarkable. It's interesting to see him play off himself as a younger and decidedly more evil version of himself and it's also interesting to see the vibe he has with both Wilde and Hedlund. Since the film gives the impression that Sam is in love with Quorra, it's strange to think that Flynn had a fatherly relationship with Quorra and also WAS Sam's father. Somewhat awkward, but I can deal.
Look, bottom line: SEE THIS MOVIE. If you're a geek, a nerd, love action movies, love sci-fi movies, love 3-D movies OR just love Tron I really doubt you'll be disappointed. I rather think you will have an awesome time and want to talk about it over dinner or coffee or some kind of light blue beverage. ;) I can say without a doubt that I will see this movie a minimum of two more times (one of which WILL be in 3D. I will risk the migraine, I don't CARE. I just HAVE to see it.) and I will enjoy it just as much each time as I did the first time. I went with high expectations and I was not let down, and trust me, I would say it if I was. *See my Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince review for proof.
As far as 2010 goes, my top three are thus: 1) Inception 2)Tron Legacy 3) The Town. I haven't seen Black Swan, The Fighter or True Grit yet, but I can guarantee all of those will be top-10.
Fare-thee-well Tron-onites! I hope you see it, and I sincerely hope you love it.
