TRON: Ares, a film review

The original video game-movie establishes franchise status with this third offering, marking the awaited return since 2010’s Legacy. Much like the first film over forty years ago, creator and producer Steven Lisberger, boldly states this one also takes chances, crafted in an experimental realm. Mankind and artificial intelligence have their first encounter of consequence when advanced artificial program Ares (Oscar® winner Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club) is transported on a crucial mission into the real world. Balance, control, and what it means to be human are explored through this 3D sensory saga.

Capturing this tale of polarizing approaches to coexistence with artificial intelligence is director Joachim Rønning (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales). The production proudly works to evoke nostalgia and does so delicately through a cohesive narrative. Grandson of the original picture’s antagonist, Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story) is the corporation’s fresh CEO possessed by a reckless ambition that overshadows his genius. He has created Ares, essentially a state-of-the-art super soldier, but as he pitches the program to interested parties, his mother Elisabeth (Gillian Anderson, The Crown) knows as well as he does that all of the kinks are not ironed out.

Superior sound design and a scathing score

On the lighter side of the tech moon is Eve (Greta Lee, The Morning Show), head of ENCOM, the company Grid-creator Kevin Flynn (Oscar-winner Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart) started before vanishing into obscurity. Driven by tunnel vision, Eve hunts for Flynn’s Permanence Code which holds all-powerful potential for mankind’s benefit. Fiercely determined like Eve, Julian too is in pursuit of the code only he is propelled by malicious motivation. The devil swims in the pool of desperation. Julian is the poster child for the perils of AI in the wrong hands. Pressure and doubt drawing near, he sends Ares into the natural world. But navigating human conditions may have unintended effects.

Fulfilling a musical-milestone, the original soundtrack is supplied by Nine Inch Nails, the band’s first film score ever. This precise choice was made to steer things down a grittier alley than before, the industrial rock pioneers grounding everything in the story’s emotional pulse. The ambient, raw textures, and fuzzy warmth meld, inducing an eerie trance that is the movie’s prevailing attribute. 

Patchy plot development

The 119 minutes aren’t without dynamic chase sequences on the infamous Light Cycles. But much like the Light Cycles, the movie’s pace heedlessly speeds, never easing up on the gas. One might wonder if that coupled with the relentless 3D Imax intrusion serves as cover for lack of compelling dialogue, and an inability to build tension within the developing plot. Considering how high the stakes are, the suspense disenchants, leaving you to fixate on the neon and electronic noise, awaiting the next crash-bang-boom. This deficiency materializes early, during a chase between Eve and Dillinger’s minions, where her and Ares first meet.

“Expendable” is the word every AI entity resents hearing, and every villainous designer regrets saying. Touted as such by Julian, Ares finds himself climbing into an overused template, that of the super-soldier void of human flaws, controllable and lethal, that threatens to go rogue. Breaking some mold, the film tackles a question most movies that deal with artificial intelligence pose to some degree. Rather than exploring AI’s potential impact on humanity, this take delves deeper into how AI will navigate humanity.