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The framework of pointlessness is revisited in this mind-bendingly dull science fiction movie, more a screensaver than an actual film. This is a third installment to the classic Tron film from the early 80s, a movie that was groundbreaking and boldly pioneering for its time in a way that eludes this one and its predecessor Tron: Legacy from 2010. The new Tron film nearly comes to life just once – when Evan Peters gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson's character playing his mum, in an old-fashioned bit of real-world action. That's a piece of tough love you might feel like administering to every producer involved in this film, and it's unfortunate to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so lifeless.

Story Summary of Tron: Ares

The situation currently is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger Corp has become a rival to the VR company Encom, first established in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn, played by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (initially founded by Encom executive Ed Dillinger, acted by David Warner) is led by the founder's annoyingly geeky grandson Julian (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to develop and produce lucrative items such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the virtual reality grid and then transfer them into actual reality using a kind of 3D printer.

The issue is that however fearsome, these things disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has discovered the plot-driving “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic USB drive. So the ghastly Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares the warrior, the superhuman fighter which can leave the VR world for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of robots, is starting to exhibit symptoms of not doing what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith plays Ares's stoic deputy Athena's role and unfortunate Jeff Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Character and Performance Analysis

And Ares himself – the protagonist of the title – is played by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, facial hair and subtly omniscient grin, details that were perhaps designed by inputting the words “extremely annoying” into an artificial intelligence character generator. No one who remembers the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life series will ever find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Jared Leto, and I was incidentally very entertained by his expansive (and critically misunderstood) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Leto is unremittingly, unrelentingly terrible in this film, although he isn't helped by a limp plot point which is intended to allow him to show flashes of “empathy” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the villainous actions to Athena's character, thus rendering her marginally more interesting. It is meant to be charming when Ares says how he adores 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode band are better than Mozart's compositions.

Series Features and Final Impression

Consistent with the brand-identity of the franchise, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which whizz about the environment in long straight lines, adhering to the rectilinear design of antique arcade games (or indeed dance clubs); a single bike even emits a lethal beam which cuts a police vehicle in half. But there is zero tension or jeopardy or human interest throughout. This series currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.