Courtesy | IMDb
Disney is back with another installment in the “Tron” franchise, but this time, it didn’t quite deliver.
“Tron: Ares” hit the big screen Oct. 10, debuting with a measly $33.5 million at the box office in its first weekend. It is set to lose Disney $132 million overall, according to Deadline, a Hollywood entertainment magazine.
Years after the events of 2010’s cult-classic, “Tron: Legacy,” this third installment follows an AI program —named Ares — that serves the villainous Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), the CEO of Dillinger Systems. Eventually, Ares gains human-like emotions and turns on Dillinger. Ares spends the rest of the movie protecting Eve Kim (Greta Lee), the heroine and leader of Encom, a rival tech-company.
The main problem with the film is familiarity. There are already multiple movies with an AI model gaining human consciousness and going rogue. We see this in “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Mission: Impossible,” and “Ex Machina.” Additionally, there were no fresh takes on the modern conversation surrounding AI. Instead, the filmmakers chose to say the same thing others already have — if AI becomes too self-aware, bad things will happen.
The AI-going-rogue trope is so tired at this point that audiences expect it. As such, “Tron: Ares” is very predictable and there aren’t many surprises. It is easy to guess what will happen in the story 30 minutes before it does. This also means the action scenes are easy to yawn at, despite having good camera-work and decent choreography.
Jared Leto’s performance as the titular character, Ares, is dry and uninteresting, and his attempts at conveying emotion aren’t believable. At one point, he tries to sacrifice himself for Eve, and though the music swells dramatically, the audience can’t help but laugh at Leto’s blank expression.
Greta Lee’s portrayal of Eve is also dull. Her character is driven by the desire to honor her late sister, and though this is good ground on which to set a character arc, nothing really comes of it. The friendship between her and Ares is uncomfortable, as the audience can’t help but wonder if she, a human, is romantically drawn to Ares, a cluster of pixels. They do not end up in a romantic relationship, but one can’t help but raise an eyebrow.
One of the most interesting parts of the “Tron” franchise is its setting, a digital world called The Grid. This movie severely underuses it, and though “Legacy” built a setting that felt both tangible and aesthetically unique, its portrayal in “Ares” fell flat. There are a couple of action scenes that take place inside of The Grid, but its design is no more interesting than an everyday WiFi router.
Perhaps the most popular and recognizable element of “Legacy” is its score. Daft Punk crafted a soundtrack that cemented them as genre-defining composers for science fiction, masterfully blending synth and orchestra. Because the duo broke up in 2021, Disney hired Nine Inch Nails to compose “Ares,” and its score isn’t half of what Daft Punk created in 2010.
Oftentimes, NIN’s score sounds more like nails on a chalkboard than it does music. The soundtrack is barely playable on its own, another difference from the endlessly repeatable score in“Legacy.” Additionally, there isn’t a scene in “Ares” that doesn’t have music, and that’s to its detriment, as it makes supposedly calm scenes feel chaotic. Even in scenes that attempt to evoke silence, a synthy screech plays in the background.
Though the majority of the film is flawed, there are some upsides. Evan Peters’ portrayal of Julian Dillinger is the most interesting part of the movie. His performance as a young but deranged CEO is suspenseful. The film even has references to Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” connecting its philosophical themes into Peters’ character — he is a naive young man who creates something he ultimately can’t control, and the consequences catch up to him.
Despite a few good elements, “Tron: Ares” is an unsatisfying attempt at a franchise reboot. At this point, it’s better for Disney to leave The Grid and pursue other sci-fi avenues.
