Monday, December 27, 2010

12-27-10: Tron: Legacy

Last night I went to see Tron: Legacy with the only other member of my family with good taste in tech-based movies: my dear mother. There's only one movie theatre near my parents' house down here in North Carolina, but it's much cheaper than what I'm used to in New Haven.

I made the usual mistake of reading the reviews before going in. Couldn't help it. I knew that the soundtrack was good (Daft Punk composed the score) and that it was in 3D, and that the quality of plot development wasn't quite what people had hoped for.

I don't remember the last time I saw the first film (came out three years before I was born), so I had completely forgotten some of the details regarding the original story line. For instance, I completely forgot the name of the bad guy (Dillinger), so when they revealed his son's character (who doesn't play any further role in the film - why bother bringing him up?), I was at a bit of a loss. I also forgot about how the character of Tron came about, but that wasn't really an issue either.

The film is dazzling in its look and feel. The acting was decent. The soundtrack was, indeed, awesome. Overall, I thought it was quite entertaining, but some of the plot elements just didn't work. The idea of bringing back the Clu character (who was killed off in the first film only to be replaced by Flynn himself) was interesting, but the end was sort of predictable. I still don't understand why they brought up Dillinger's son, played by the capable and uncredited Cillian Murphy. It felt more like The Matrix at times than it probably should have (Flynn is treated, literally, as a god, and Michael Sheen's character is almost a digital British copy of the Merovingian). I also didn't quite get the role of a certain group of "pure" characters (won't spoil that part of the story). I did think Olivia Wilde (13 from House) did a good job.

If you haven't seen the film, I recommend watching the first film beforehand. Some of the plot relies on the viewer knowing a little bit about the back story, but if you just want to see it for the entertainment, it's a good take. I'd give it a 7 out of 10.

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