Tron Ares Movie Review: Visually Dazzling but Narratively Glitched
Eve Kim (Greta Lee) serves as the film's ethical center, a scientist grappling with the aftermath of something she created.
Disney's Tron franchise has always been among the most varied intellectual properties the studio has created. Tron (1982) and the visually stunning but emotionally dull sequel Tron: Legacy (2010) were the first two entries in what would be a long franchise, and Tron: Ares, directed by Joachim Rønning, attempts to reinvigorate the franchise for a new generation. While the new film restricts the visual space of all sci-fi films again, balancing spectacle and narrative appears difficult again this time.
Plot: Tron: Ares investigates the delicate delineation between digital and real. Jared Leto stars as Ares, a sentient program that connects the digital and real. Humans and artificial intelligence exist together in the new world, and the film highlights their respective obstacles. Eve Kim (Greta Lee) serves as the film's ethical center, a scientist grappling with the aftermath of something she created. Eve Kim (Greta Lee) is the character in the story that serves as the moral compass, as a scientist suffering the effects of her creation. The film is timely, as it wrestles with the implications of AI consciousness digitally and the moral implications of digital conscientiousness. While it would make for a compelling interest in its own right, the film often opts for a surface level discussion rather than a much deeper exploration into compelling ideas.
