TRON: Legacy

"Old World in a new perspective, a carefree charmer in the lead role and Jeff Bridges in one of his career-defining roles. And on top of that, a perfect soundtrack by Daft Punk and Kosinski's otherworldly visuals from beginning to end. From an outdated classic that only a handful of enthusiasts appreciated, after thirty years it becomes a saga that could have boldly headed towards further sequels, despite fate and Disney ultimately wanting it differently. And I don't mind at all that the script quotes from numerous classic films, because the result, in the best sense of the word, was chewed up, spat out and left me astonished. One would immediately want to start searching for some suspicious-looking computer." (04/23/2011)

Visually amazing, no doubt, I recommend going to the cinema just for that. The soundtrack by Daft Punk is the other great thing. All the rest – the script, the performances – is rather average, and Garret Hedlund is awfully miscast as the protagonist, that guy doesn’t have a pinch of charisma. I don’t mind that the story is simple (you can see some attempts at depth, but they end up harming the film because they don’t work at all), but the way it is put together; there isn’t any gradual reveal of the reality of that cyberspace, like, for instance, it was very well done in Pandora last year. When Sam falls into the light, he doesn’t look particularly surprised, or even tries to find any answers, as a result, you never get to know the limits of that world, which makes it hard to root for the characters, because you get the feeling that if anything goes pear-shaped, the old creator Bridges will only have to push a button to make everything all right again. That sounds a bit too critical for a four-star rating, right? Just to be clear, TRON: Legacy is not a bad film, far from it. The reason I’m being critical is that this film only needs a few tweaks in the script to be a great gem comparable with Matrix. Fortunately, the lukewarm reception by the dear critics lowered my expectations significantly, so in the end I’m satisfied; I’d much rather watch another Tron sequel (and even with Kosinski behind the camera) than most of the upcoming comic-book adaptations (Green Hornet, Green Lantern, Thor, etc.). 80 % (12/18/2010)

A visually and atmospherically absolutely brilliant piece of work, and I firmly believe that similar to films like The Matrix a decade ago, this film will set the pace and trend for the next several years in terms of technical execution and creativity. It's all the more regrettable that, in terms of plot, it's essentially a banal fairy tale that fails to entertain on its own. If they had managed to attach at least an average story to the “stylized” framework, it could have been a milestone in world cinematography. As it is, it's just an advertisement for how far today's technology can go, while also being a challenge thrown at James Cameron or Zack Snyder. (05/28/2011)

At times the words about the triumph of film design come to mind, but the boredom reliably overwhelms everything. I, as a viewer, have long since sobered up from the 3D fascination and the new Tron has nothing new to offer. Neither story-wise nor narratively; adjectives like "riveting" or at least "interesting" have no place in Kosinski's world. I enjoyed the old Tron infinitely more, even with its simple 8-bit graphics. (01/10/2011)

Kosinski will (probably) remain a one-film filmmaker. Whoever watches his commercials on YouTube and then Tron Legacy will understand that this director is a design genius with a unique sense of visuals, which is perfectly emphasized by Daft Punk's music, but he is also an absolutely bland storyteller. The attempts to create something epic are very funny, whereas the rest of it is kind of dysfunctional. And yet, unless you might want a serious cinematic adventure, it doesn't let up because the primitive plot actually doesn't hurt the film at all. Regardless, there are two ways in which the film can be seen. Either just "watch" it (perhaps in HD over time), or "experience" it in 3D (and I say that whilst having quite an aversion to this technology as a cheap decoy from clueless filmmakers). (01/05/2011)