Tron: Ares arrives with a razor-sharp neon glow and a story that struggles to match its visuals. The sequel leans heavily on retro-futurist vibes, trading new ground for familiar echoes of the franchise’s past.
The film’s strongest through-line is its cast’s performance dynamics, though the central figure, Ares, never quite earns our empathy. Jared Leto is asked to embody humanity in a robot, but the attempt lands as stylized posing rather than a living presence. Greta Lee’s Eve Kim provides a welcome anchor, while Jodie Turner-Smith’s Athena shows a bit more complexity in a cast that otherwise feels underutilized.
Visuals, mood, and action
Rønning stages the Grid with gleaming surfaces and practical effects, yet the look often remains at a remove from the action on screen. The neon world is striking, but the camera choices keep it at a cool distance, making it hard to feel the stakes in the chase sequences.
A standout moment arrives during a neon jetski chase, a brief rush that briefly injects momentum into otherwise static direction. Beyond that, many sequences read as meticulously designed but emotionally aloof.
Music by Nine Inch Nails adds edge, but the score can’t compensate for the story’s lightness. The plot touches on AI’s potential to simulate real people or dead ones, but this idea isn’t developed beyond a passing reference.
Verdict
In the end, Tron: Ares feels more like a glossy album promo than a living film. It looks right, but it lacks the narrative heft to sustain its ambition, suggesting a sequel that may never fully justify itself. For fans seeking spectacle over substance, it offers style with a shallow core.
Source: Original article
