3-D return to sci-fi classic Tron still relies on Jeff Bridges' human touch

10 April 2012

There’s something surreal about watching a Disney movie which all but champions computer terrorism and presents access to free information as a semi-divine right. You find yourself wondering if there’s going to be a cameo from beleaguered WikiLeaks co-ordinator Julian Assange. Has the mouse house flipped?

In many ways, of course, Joseph Kosinski’s sequel to the 1982 cult sci-fi classic couldn’t be more conservative. Most of its $200 million budget has been spent on creating a new-improved "grid" — the world created by missing CEO Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), which his rebellious, 27-year-old son, Sam (Garrett Hedlund) now has the chance to enter.

After being suited up by some foxy ladyeez, Sam meets villain Clu, his dad’s youthful-looking avatar (a CGI version of Bridges), and gets to play frisbee and drive a very fast motorbike. Sorry, he engages in a disc battle and then a light cycle race. Daft Punk song Derezzed adds to the manic/trippy mood. Everything about this 3-D computer city is whooshy and fluorescent and designed to tantalise boys (young and old). True, because most of the evil characters are wearing helmets, their sinister commands are somewhat distorted and inspire not so much fear as confusion. Still, the boxes get ticked.

The "heart" of the movie is just as calculated. Sam meets up with a girl called Quorra (Olivia Wilde). She takes him to his Dude-like dad. The latter suddenly realises that Family Comes First. Quorra rolls her wide eyes a lot. The scriptwriters rehash East of Eden.

What keeps the strangeness bubbling is Bridges’s performance.

When Sam talks about the "poor getting poorer", Kevin nods as if this is genuinely bad news.

Where characters in The Matrix, or even Inception, seem untouched by bog-standard suffering, Kevin gets it.

This reboot may not be as revolutionary as it thinks, but it’s definitely worth a second glance.

Tron: Legacy 3D
Cert: PG

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