Released in 1982, the original Tron movie has — until geek became chic and, more importantly, profitable — been the sort of quasi-obscure cult item dismissed as video game juvenilia with the same wave of the hand now reserved for comic book movies not directed by Christopher Nolan. Although championed as an overlooked gem by Roger Ebert, one of a few critics collected by Rotten Tomatoes who praised the film, and the recipient of Oscar nominations for costumes and sound, Tron remains a film whose singular achievement is rarely, if ever, explicitly stated amidst scriptural complaints. When you distill film, as a medium, to its essential method and purpose, that achievement is: Presenting audiences with a singularly unique vision of something never before seen. Given the number of films released year after year for almost a century, this surely is a feat worthy of more than a critical yawn or a footnote in the history of cinematic accomplishments.

But here we wade into the mystifying waters of film criticism, where different critics experience the same film but come out with vastly different impressions. Besides highlighting how critiquing art, like theology, consists of grasping at reason to justify one’s feelings, it also illustrates the decay that journalistic criticism has been feeling thanks to the advent of the internet and the ability for moviegoers to wildly dissimulate and aggregate their opinions. The battle lines are drawn between the relative merits of the blockbuster spectacle that entertains and the serious film that allegedly transcends; lines that often create a division between the movie-going public who enjoy movies that critics neither like nor respect.

It Turns into a Wonderland

Into the fray enters, 28 years later, Tron: Legacy, which picks up from the previous film. Kevin Flynn has disappeared into a computer world ruled by his perfection-obsessed doppelganger, Clu. He leaves behind a son who, aimless in life save for occasional pranks at the expense of vultures circling the Flynn legacy, is drawn into the computer after him. As masterminded by first-time feature director Joseph Kosinski, the film is a dark and neon phantasmagoric wonderland of industrial design perfectly fused with a blood-pumping electro-minimalist score by Daft Punk. Made all the more eye-popping in Imax 3-D, every element big and small forms an astonishing fantasy world, from the architecture and the curvy vehicle design to form-fitting costumes inhabited by lovely bodies and inspired, as with the original, by circuit board patterns. What some critics see as derivative in the visuals can be seen instead as elegant homage, such as Kevin Flynn’s white and silver habitat that recalls the alien hotel room at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s there because Kosinski can put it there. Since the reference fits within the film’s overall aesthetic, the question becomes not why but why not, since it’s beautiful to look at? Kosinski’s aesthetic flair also yields some of the finest work in the third dimension — which audiences have been ready to spit back into Hollywood’s eye thanks to a glut of bad or indifferent 3-D experiences — since James Cameron proved its viability. Kosinski blends 2D with attractively rendered 3-D in a way that is evolutionary for the medium and sensible in storytelling terms.

Figuring Out Its Quality

It seems inexplicable, then, that a browse of the Tomato Meter reveals disagreement as to whether the film is visually stunning or not, let alone entertaining, begging the question as to whether the gaggle of critics flocked together by Rotten Tomatoes has seen the same movie. In this vein, it is curious to note the film’s mixed rating of 48 percent in comparison to comparably hyped blockbuster, Avatar, which scores an 83 percent fresh rating. Like Tron: Legacy, Avatar was announced to the world with the fanfare and merchandising reserved for yet another celluloid messiah. The end result of James Cameron’s return, however, bowled over the critics even though Avatar is little more than a preachy colonialist fairy tale delivered with serviceable performances, stereotypes in the place of characters, and white condescension. Its redeeming qualities rest in the bar-setting use of 3-D and the imaginative, intelligent and beautiful ecosystem of Pandora, the very stuff xenobiologists and science fiction aficionados dream of.

Although no one would deny that Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz’s script is far from literary, there is certainly enough scaffolding to support the film’s spectacle. One can discern the distinctive manifestation of themes such as technology gone awry, the flaw in the perfect machine order vs. the superiority of the imperfect human spirit, the possibilities of spontaneous machine life, and the bond between father and son. None of them are developed with a philosopher’s sophistication, and Clu’s power trip is one we’ve seen countless times before in movie villains. But within the film’s science fantasy dreaming, the themes are influential with a tangible internal logic, and the plot has a leanness that more highly regarded action fare like Iron Man 2 – hardly a paragon of original storytelling – could have used to cut down on bloat moments. When given the choice between a basic plot that doesn’t trip over itself or a more ambitious cliché with two left feet, the Keep It Simple principle applies.

Tron: Legacy also manages to play off a sense of wonder. Jeff Bridges’s opening narration articulates the kind of question a romantic technologist would ask: Which metaphors would best encapsulate the inner workings of computer and programs? For those wags who confuse the film with speculative fiction, therein lies the answer to how people can enter the machine universe. Who would want to stare at a screen of ones and zeroes for two hours?

In other aspects, the script makes no difficult demand of the actors, and neither should we; expectations can be safely tucked away for the slew of Oscar baiters now coming out just in time to receive nominations. Performances are as good as they need to be, with Jeff Bridges proffering his famously laid-back persona in the role of Kevin Flynn and sharpening himself as Clu, who sports Bridges’s digitally rejuvenated face and the only effect within the film that sometimes feels like the polymer quality of plastic surgery. Handsome Garret Hedlund brings youthful machismo to the film as Sam, a fitting successor to Jeff Bridges from over 20 years ago. Michael Sheen, as an electrified nightclub owner, brings his best Ziggy Stardust to the proceedings in one of the film’s most enjoyable performances. Also in the film, but with not nearly enough screen time, is Bruce Boxleitner who reprises his role as Alan Bradley and, to a far lesser degree, the titular Tron. On the female side, Beau Garrett doesn’t get much to do beside look ravishing, but she does it very well. Olivia Wilde, as the beautiful warrior Quorra, succeeds in infusing the blend of child-like innocence and toughness required by her character.

Emotion in the performances and story is what most critics seem to latch onto in their rush to cast aside Tron as a heartless but shiny automaton. That Kosinski resists squeezing blood and tears from the script, however, should earn him thanks for distinguishing Tron: Legacy from, say, Cameron’s gushing histrionics in Avatar. In any case, while I will chastise Avatar for allowing the technology of cinema to enslave the story rather than the other way around, there is a key difference between the two films other than condescending sentimentality. In Avatar, the story is too weak and mushy to master the lovely visuals and overcompensates with an excess of emotion. With Tron, the visuals are the story. You can take Pandora out of Avatar, setting events in an Amazonian rainforest if you like or even Middle-Earth. But the fantasy of anthropomorphic programs within a computer is not so easily separated from the imagery of glowing circuits and crystalline deresolutions.

So it comes down to this: When Daft Punk hijacks your body, and your eyes are lavished with astonishing imagery, the pretension that films must always be transcendentally meaningful to have worth can finally give way to the pure thrill of an immersive cinematic experience. For some, that means a blockbuster from James Cameron, and it’s a fair enough preference provided we grant the blockbuster its legitimacy. But when I want spectacle, I’ll gladly take the cool, honest designs of a Tron: Legacy over the splattering, manipulative schmaltz of an Avatar. Electrify the boys and girls, indeed.

Entertainment: ** (out of two)_
Craft: ** (out of two)_

Gold star recommendation

Tron. Walt Disney Studios. Written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. Directed by Joseph Kosinski. Starring Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner, Michael Sheen and Beau Garrett. 125 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for sequences of sci-fi action violence and brief mild language).

Assistant Editor: THE FRONT PAGE ONLINE

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