Saw this last weekend and enjoyed it (enough). I am a die hard Tron fan (particularly the 1st film) and was never really too keen in this one, for the usual expected reasons; however there was no way a new Tron film was going to be in the theater and I wasn't going to see it (unless all the press actually said "it is terrible, worse than anything else ever, absolutely stay away 1000%).
Not a great film, maybe not even good, although I didn't find it offensive and it did enough well to keep me invested. I love NIN and wasn't sure that they were going to be the best match for this film, but in hindsight I love what they did. Keeping the action mostly in the real world seems to be ruffling a ton of people's feathers, didn't actually mind that as it is something a bit different for the franchise and that's not a bad thing.
If they made Athena a little smarter/deadlier this might have worked better. I can understand that they were going for spectacle and trying to stay within budget, so I guess this was how it was going to go (it would be great if modern filmmakers could operate much like their counterparts did years ago, "let's find a way to make things work with what we've got/less is more" than the whole machine gun at a molehill thing they've got going now, but I am certain unless you are a VERY established filmmaker like Nolan or Bay, you have to just color within the lines that the higher-ups are going to decree.
Anyway as a mega-fan of the 1982 film in particular, there was one part which surprised me which I felt was "just put in there for me" and that was a very pleasant discovery. That bit ended up falling a bit flat, if there was some cool battle or real exposition sequence there it could really have just made the film for me honestly - I'm partially of the mind to inquire about "what incredible parts did they cut from what could have been this amazing sequence" VS "better off not knowing since it will just make me disappointed that it didn't make the cut," but for what it is worth, I do appreciate (enough of) what we got.
As for the leads - like everyone else I was never jazzed about Leto, not even remotely, although I do recognize(r) that he was the driving force to get the film made & without him, this would likely have never turned up at all. I think it worked well enough, and his character did really NOT ruin the film in any way. I wish they did give him a different look that would have tracked more appropriately to the film, cut his hair and give him a shave (yeah I am well aware that his look is very much his brand, still it was distracting). His arc was a little funny and felt like it needed a bit more of a bridging, but I accepted it.
Eve Kim was another story. I didn't mind her in the role, and she did fine enough with what she had to work with, but man.. between this actress (Greta Lee) and Garrett Hedlund as Sam in the previous film, each of these leads felt a bit like they were more "along for the ride" rather than leading the film, her noticeably more so. They could have given her a bit more to do to flesh out her character, SOMETHING, she just felt kind of like an afterthought. A lot of the decisions for the production felt rushed.
I very much want to catch the film in the theater again, in 3D since I hear it's a more profound way to enjoy the film, hopefully I'll get a chance to do that before it is out of the theater - I have a very strong sense (yet again) that this will be the last time in my life to see a modern Tron film on the big screen in such a grand fashion, or at least the last time it will still be any kind of accessible to the type of film I'd want to see. I still feel like it is kind of a let-down following what Legacy setup, but in the week since viewing it, it has grown on me. Every Tron film, always an underdog.
OT, and I know she is retired for a very long time now, but I wonder whatever became of Wendy Carlos. For me, the first film and its soundtrack are so inseparable in the ways they have touched me. I loved the Daft Punk score for Legacy and, as mentioned, the new NIN score/soundtrack worked for me as well, but Wendy's whole thing was just so otherworldly, so magical, so strange. I would love to hear what kind of work she would come up to collaborate with these newer films (or at the very least, those who are descended from/directly inspired by the style of the audio worlds she concocted so many years ago). It is something that is often brought up maybe as a footnote when these films are discussed, but to me - and many others - her work, the soundscapes are just so critical to properly capturing the essence of what makes these films so effective. Hopefully, she is able to look back at her involvement with the original film and feel some amount of that appreciation even today.
OK TLDR part - if you are any kind of a real Tron fan, please see this film in the theater while you still can. The nerds have (again) really dropped the ball here "it is not exactly what I want, therefore I don't want to see it at all". The movie isn't great but it is a fun ride. If this truly signifies the end of the Tron franchise, that's a disappointment, but I'd still rather watch it die like this rather than suffer true Modern Disneyfication the way that Star Wars and Marvel currently are. In such a case I am satisfied to leave my beloved Tron franchise dead and buried in the past, with its relative dignity still intact.
deadline.com
