.2025.10.14

TRON:ARES - A VISUAL SPECTACLE THAT BYTES OFF MORE THAN IT CAN CHEW.

    Greetings, programs!

    Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Being an avid Tron fan and technological enthusiast, I just had to go check out Tron: Ares for myself in theaters, on opening weekend no-less, and bring my thoughts about the film here for you to enjoy.

    Do you enjoy sci-fi films with special effects eye candy? Do you enjoy cyberpunk stories about heroes fighting against a megacorporation set on world dominance? Or how about modern tech questions about the usage of artificial intelligence in a rapidly developing society? Well, get your data disks ready, fellow user, because Tron: Ares brings all of that in this latest installment of Disney's Tron franchise.

SYNOPSIS

    Years after the events of the previous film, Tron: Ares is about an artificial intelligence code-named Ares (Jared Leto) as he is summoned from inside a computer by his creator Julian Dilinger (Evan Peters). Ares' mission: to hunt down Eve Kim (Greta Lee), a rival tech developer, and steal her research.

    Sorry for not divulging more than that. To give any more details to the plot points would begin to spoil the story for you. The film throws a lot at you with exposition right from the beginning in case you haven't seen the previous two films Tron (1982) and Tron: Legacy (2010). It tries it's best to catch you up as quickly as it can, but it's a lot of data that the film just doesn't have the bandwidth to deliver smoothly in time.

ACTING/CHARACTERS

    Jared Leto does a great job playing the artificial intelligence as Ares. The way he delivers his lines shows a good blend of artificial text and human speech. However, I do wish he and the writing pushed that more throughout the film to match his character growth from a basic program to full consciousness. Visually, Leto carries himself well with the action choreography and fight scenes. He really sells himself being an expertly programmed warrior and hunter while maintaining a cool demeanor. Not only that, he sports a pretty darn cool costume with the Tron-themed black and neon lighting while being handsome and easy on the eyes. Leto was a good choice for a cover character for the film itself.

    Greta Lee's performance as Eve Kim is serviceable. No slight to the actor herself, but the character Eve Kim was written as a vehicle for the audience to move along with. The character mainly fills in the audience with exposition or asks questions keep the story progressing onward. For being one of the main characters who happens to be involved with computers, Eve doesn't really do much, well, computing. I don't feel any sense of expertise or qualifications Eve Kim is supposed to have. She mainly stumbles on the answers or discovers the work other more interesting characters had already done. All the while, characters that actually possess those skills keep patting her on the back for her supposed efforts. In hindsight, it's a shame the role didn't give Lee more to work with to flex her acting prowess with.

    If any actor should be highlighted in this film, Evan Peters as Julian Dilinger would be my choice. Peters was able to really ham it up and express the eccentricities of his character as a self-absorbed CEO and egotistical computer genius. He was a good foil and opposite to Jared Leto's Ares. The Disney casting staff made a solid choice going with Peters. I would like to elaborate more, but to do so would give away too many plot points for you.

AUDIO/VISUAL

    I'm a big fan of "wave" music. Chillwave, synthwave, darkwave and so on. Musical genres that are instrumentals utilizing synthesizers and digital instruments. The first Tron film prided itself on it as it helped elevate the film's theme of an wonderful adventure through computer-based world. Tron: Legacy continued that tradition while also being composed by Daft Punk, a once world-famous techno music duo before breaking up in 2021. Their composition invoked similar tones but heightened them for drama and action more upbeat that the original film's score.

    I wished Tron: Ares continued this trend. However, the production staff decided to go with Nine Inch Nails to compose the music for the film. Nine Inch Nails, a rock band, did an adequate job incorporating some trends of synth music in the score. But the reliance on traditional instruments like the drums or the guitar took me out of the film. You could argue that, thematically, since the film was about the computer realm and physical world blending together that the music would do the same. But, to me, I found it more distracting than anything else. It would make sense a little if these audio twists were only during scenes in the real world, but that isn't the case here.

    The visuals in this film are the true star of the show, much alike all previous Tron films for their respective times of release. The cyberspace cityscapes, vehicles, and characters really make you feel like you're an environment and people alien to your normal, everyday life. The exotic visuals, which are wonderfully rendered into realism, makes you wonder why any character in the film would want to be in our world. Our planet seems so boring and dull compared to the virtual utopias inside a computer server.

    Reflecting upon it now, having digital vehicles zooming around the real world helps create the radical difference between the two. I do envy the artistic designers working on this film. It must have been a lot of fun bringing these cybernetic forms to life. No matter what your feelings are about the film, you will walk away impressed with what you saw.

DIRECTION

    The film was directed by Disney veteran Joachim Rønning. Rønning has worked on other major Disney titles such as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017), Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019), and Young Woman and the Sea (2024). It seems he has a talent for not only Disney's vision and filmmaking process but also handling sequels in their stable. I believe he did a great job packaging everything the writing demanded which I will go into shortly.

    Rønning ensured good contrast of the visuals. Strong themes of color, design choice, and camera work ensured a great nod to the Tron films before but also forging a new, action-packed look for a third installment without doing exactly as previous directors had done in the series. For a film that was highly dependent on the previous films, Rønning helped streamline it all into enjoyable experience that wouldn't lose casual viewers and fans alike.

ANI.THOUGHTS

    I'll be frank from the start. I enjoyed the film and I thought my time was well spent. Mainly because Tron: Ares and the franchise itself caters to what I enjoy. Science fiction, great effects, robots, computers, cyberpunk themes, and a hero's journey you can root for. However, I can't ignore the glaring issues that the film has.

    First of all, Tron: Ares owes a lot to its predecessors ranging from references, nods, story beats, and even the plot itself. It's a new film trying to spark life in one of Disney's less loved children as opposed to Marvel, Star Wars, and their live-action remakes. The casual viewer either hasn't seen Tron films before, or that they might've seen one years ago and forgot about it. Most people that I've encountered in person or online have a vague concept of what Tron is or what the films are even about. Heck, Tron the name is a character from the first film that barely get's a cameo in the second film. He's not even mentioned or seen in this one!

    So, Tron: Ares has to throw a lot at general audiences. Most of the film is spent with either long exposition to catch the viewer up or completely simplifies what the first two instalments took the time to build. Locations, characters, namedrops, and references are shown or told, but they won't hit as hard with the gravitas they deserve to someone who doesn't have a frame of reference.

    Secondly, the film has too many objectives that it strives for. Tron: Ares has a checklist it hopes to accomplish.

• Tell a specific story.
• Is thought provoking about current day technology and artificial intelligence.
• Reintroduce the Tron franchise into public thought.
• Tie up what has happened since the previous two films.
• Hopefully start a new series a films with characters to follow that isn't Star Wars or Marvel.
• Have plenty of nostalgia and references.
• And be entertaining and understandable for general audiences of all ages.
• Look cool.

    Tron: Ares turns into a massive tug-of-war with itself trying to accomplish all of these that it ends up being shallow on all counts. It's hard to be thought provoking and philosophical if you're wanting to sell a movie to children and teens who weren't even alive around the time of the second film's release fifteen years ago. Difficult to continue a story about characters who are an afterthought in Tron: Ares. There's no point in having winks of references, phrases, and in-jokes that go right over the head of everyone watching. So those moments aren't as rewarding as hoped and just use up precious screentime. Tron: Ares ends up being a visual spectacle that bytes off more than it can chew.

    Something that irked me in particular was the film had so many questions it could explore but it passed on them in favor for other wants of entertainment. What is the meaning of having humanity? What is the morality of how we treat artificial intelligence? What are the possible consequences of bringing a digital construct into physical reality? These types of questions and thoughts appear throughout the film's runtime but are sprinted past or handwaved away. I know it's my love of technological philosophy and being a transhumanist speaking here, but it would be a nice change of pace for a Tron installment directed towards an older audience to properly dive into these questions.

ANI.RECOMMENDATION

    Tron: Ares is a enjoyable sampler plate of cinematic food on it's own. A fun action-adventure sci-fi movie that, for most people, is a one-and-done film experience. You watch it, had a good time, and then probably forget it about afterwards. Most films tend to be like that these days. If you're okay with that then the go see the film or maybe rent it later on. Or you could just wait until it's on Disney+ and stream it whenever its released there.

    But, if you want this dish of appetizers to become a full course meal of entertainment, I highly recommend taking the time to watch Tron and Tron: Legacy beforehand. It will make the time and money spent to see the film that much more worthwhile. You won't be lost in the wash of bright lights and character exposition and it would elevate the movie experience that much more. It's not like going to see a Marvel movie these days where you need to see the 37 films beforehand to prepare for Tron: Ares.

Wow, has there really been 37 MCU movies? Yeesh.

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