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The framework of futility is reloaded in this mind-bendingly dull sci-fi film, closer to a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. This is a threequel to the original movie Tron from the early 80s, a movie that was groundbreaking and courageously innovative for its time in a way that eludes this film and its predecessor Tron Legacy from 2010. Tron: Ares almost comes to life just one time – when Evan Peters gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson playing his mum, in an old-fashioned bit of real-world action. That's a bit of firm parenting you might feel like administering to every producer involved in this film, and it's unfortunate to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so lifeless.

Story Summary of Tron: Ares

The scenario currently is that an evil AI corporation with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger has become a competitor to the VR company Encom Inc, first established in the 80s arcade-game era by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (initially founded by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger, played by David Warner) is led by the founder's odiously nerdish grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to develop and produce profitable things such as indestructible soldiers and armored vehicles in the VR world and then transfer them into actual reality using a kind of three-dimensional printer.

The issue is that no matter how intimidating, these creations disintegrate after 29 minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has discovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence algorithm” which can keep these things alive permanently, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic flashdrive. So the ghastly Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares the warrior, the humanoid uber-warrior which can leave the VR world for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of robots, is starting to exhibit symptoms of not doing what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance portrays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena and poor Jeff Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Character and Performance Breakdown

And Ares himself – the protagonist of the film's name – is played by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, facial hair and subtly omniscient grin, details that were perhaps designed by typing the words “incredibly irritating” into an AI human creation programme. Nobody who remembers the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life series will always find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Jared Leto, and I was also quite amused by his expansive (and critically misunderstood) comic turn in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Leto is consistently, persistently terrible here, although his performance isn't aided by a weak storyline which is supposed to allow him to display glimpses of “compassion” for Eve Kim's role and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena, thus rendering her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be charming when Ares says how he adores 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode band are better than Mozart's compositions.

Franchise Elements and Final Impression

And in keeping with the brand-identity of the series, there are motorcycles from the virtual underworld which speed around the place in long straight lines, adhering to the rectilinear design of classic video games (or indeed dance clubs); a single bike even shoots out a lethal beam which slices a cop car in half. But there is no drama or jeopardy or human interest throughout. This franchise now looks as relevant as an automobile CD system.