The Tron franchise has returned to the spotlight with the release of Tron: Ares. Directed by Joachim Rønning, Tron: Ares shows the titular AI (Jared Leto) embarking on a quest in the real world to claim his freedom from the virtual world in the Grid. What should have been a game-changing installment to the iconic Tron saga paled in comparison to the film that came before it, 2010’s Tron: Legacy.
Long before he directed Top Gun: Maverick or F1, filmmaker Joseph Kosinski unleashed a groundbreaking, visually stunning blockbuster with Tron: Legacy. This movie showcased the Tron franchise’s true potential as Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) ventured into the Grid in an epic sci-fi blockbuster unlike anything anyone had ever seen before. Despite its flaws, Tron: Legacy surpassed Ares in multiple fields, making it a cult classic still worth watching 15 years later.
Tron: Legacy’s story is fresher and more engaging
Tron: Ares features a unique premise where the digital world invades the real world. It also features a long exploration of the AI Ares’s first experiences outside the Grid. However, even with this more distinctive story, Tron: Ares doesn’t add many fresh ingredients to the franchise.
The film tries to appeal to modern audiences by exploring humanity’s relationship with AI. Though this could’ve helped the franchise stay timely, it doesn’t delve deep enough with its analysis of AI to contribute anything new or noteworthy to the conversation.
Ares also relies too much on nostalgia to attract its audience, overloading it with references to both Legacy and the original 1982 movie. Ares himself is an embodiment of the film’s nostalgia factor as he robotically expresses his love for ’80s culture. He even spends considerable time exploring a Grid that looks straight out of the first Tron film in a blatant attempt at invoking the audience’s fond memories of it.
Overall, Tron: Ares wasn’t the immersive and groundbreaking sequel seen in Legacy. Given the technological advancements in filmmaking made since the first Tron movie, Tron: Legacy was able to present a far more realistic and awe-inspiring virtual reality, pushing the franchise to new horizons.
Legacy also spends a lot of time exploring the society in the Grid’s neon, cyberpunk world, which is what made the franchise stand out in the first place. Ares could’ve explored how the Grid and its programs are different now, especially since so much time has passed since the events of Legacy. Unfortunately, given the relatively short amount of time spent in the Grid in the film, it looks much the same as it did before.
Tron: Legacy has better characters and performances
Both Legacy and Ares faced the same issue with their bland protagonists and the lackluster performances of their respective lead actors. Regardless, Ares struggled more to introduce many intriguing or developed characters to the franchise.
Aside from the wealthy and heroic CEO, Eve (Greta Lee), the human characters in the film feature little growth and fade into the background. Eve’s friend, Seth (Arturo Castro), barely stands out with his corny jokes, but that’s pretty much all he does. Meanwhile, the only programs in Ares that can be considered actual characters were the titular hero and Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith), and they left more to be desired.
Legacy, on the other hand, portrays many more programs in the Grid with more history and personality. Quorra is a prime example of this thanks to her tragic past, her relationship with Kevin (Jeff Bridges), and her curious, kindhearted character. Even Castor (Michael Sheen) shines in such a short time with his flamboyant persona and jaded morals.
Tron: Legacy also features a more compelling familial relationship between Kevin and Sam Flynn. Tron: Ares spends hardly any time on Eve and Tess’s (Selene Yun) relationship as siblings, given that the latter is dead.
As father and son reconnect in the Grid in Legacy, the film presents tense and heartwarming moments, making it a much more intriguing family story. Legacy thus makes particularly better use of Bridges as Kevin, who is forced to confront his mistakes as the Grid consumes his life and pulls him away from his family.
Tron: Ares falls short in the villain department as well. Athena is another generic example of the “AI-gone-wrong” archetype. Even with Smith’s terrific performance, Athena is an unremarkable villain, as she doesn’t have any distinct motives beyond her directive to hunt Ares and Kim.
At the same time, Julian (Evan Peters) and Elisabeth Dillinger (Gillian Anderson) also come across as the predictable evil billionaires driven purely by greed as they try to weaponize AI. Julian shows far more potential as a character, and the film’s mid-credits scene sets him up to be something greater in the Grid, but only if Ares performs well enough to garner a sequel.
Legacy features a far superior villain in Clu. While the CGI used to de-age Bridges as Clu doesn’t always look right, he remains an intriguing, well-rounded villain. Feeling betrayed by his absent creator and compelled to make a “perfect” world based on his programming, Clu becomes a charismatic tyrant who presents a genuine threat to the world outside of the Grid as he tries to escape.
The fact that Clu looks like a young Kevin also captures how the latter is his own worst enemy. As a reflection of Kevin’s arrogance and misguided behavior, Clu makes for a more fascinating villain than Athena, who lacks sufficient history or connection with Ares to make a lasting impact on audiences.
Both Legacy and Ares had some significant bugs in their systems, yet they each had stunning visuals, incredible music, and some intriguing ideas. In the end, Tron: Legacy had greater success in pushing the franchise forward.
With a vibrant virtual world rich with more compelling human and digital characters, Legacy shone brighter than Ares as an example of what the Tron franchise can accomplish. Since Ares is clearly setting up a fourth Tron film, one can hope that the filmmakers will follow Legacy‘s example and put the franchise back in the right direction.
Tron: Ares is now in theaters.
