As far as I'm concerned, the time has come where special effects, in and of themselves, are no longer enough to carry a movie. It has actually been that way for quite a while.
Any good film requires a story behind it, a story that interests the audience, endears them to the characters, and involves them in the setting. Tron: Legacy's story, well, doesn't do that. It's not particularly compelling, it lays flat. The hero sort of stumbles into his dad's computer-generated world, they sort-of don't get along, there's a girl who's theoretically important, and the bad guy wants to get to the real world to do ... well, something. Not entirely sure what.
Now honestly, what can you expect from a live-action Disney movie? So few are very good. However ...
OK, look. I've become a stickler for missed opportunities. I'm like that in general with pretty much any topic: politics, economics, technology, and art. In life, there are these moments in time, space, or thought, where something brilliant is THIS way, and something mundane is THAT way. It's that ability to spot those tiny moments where the path diverges from mundanity that sets genius apart from the rest of us. Granted, you still have to take action, but spotting it is the first battle.
So what does this have to do with Tron: Legacy?? To find out, read on, but MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT ahead!
There is a tiny, tiny little plot thread in this film. Almost unnoticeable, almost irrelevant, seemingly nothing more than an excuse to plop a hot, futuristic babe in the film. The writers decided, in what must have been an inspired instant, to include the notion that a special set of programs (ISOs), can be spontaneously created in this world created by Flynn (played by Jeff Bridges). This is truly a remarkable thing, and for about 5 minutes it is treated remarkably by the writers. And then, this truly remarkable event is ... cast away. In weak flashbacks, they show the genocide of the ISOs by the villain. What a way to kill off a great idea! Then we get back to mundane plot (father-loves-son, son-hates-father-until-they-bond, yawn, zzzzzzzzz).
THIS is the big missed opportunity of this film! The writers should have realized "holy cow, what a great idea! And we can have these ISOs have special powers, or they could be unaffected by Flynn's creator-powers, or there could only be a few left who are being hunted down, or they could be the salvation of the Grid-world, or, or, SOMETHING!" Now I will grant you that "saving endangered species" and "fighting for our right to exist" plot line has been done in hundreds of movies, but wrapping a story around a spontaneously-created sentient lifeform living inside a computer would have been INFINITELY more interesting than what the writers roped together to fill out an excuse to make a 3-D extravaganza.
5 out of 10. Decent special effects, a few of shots were spectacular in 3-D, and a good soundtrack. But a weak plot that could have been SO much better, if only someone had grasped that small idea-opportunity and acted on it.
Any good film requires a story behind it, a story that interests the audience, endears them to the characters, and involves them in the setting. Tron: Legacy's story, well, doesn't do that. It's not particularly compelling, it lays flat. The hero sort of stumbles into his dad's computer-generated world, they sort-of don't get along, there's a girl who's theoretically important, and the bad guy wants to get to the real world to do ... well, something. Not entirely sure what.
Now honestly, what can you expect from a live-action Disney movie? So few are very good. However ...
OK, look. I've become a stickler for missed opportunities. I'm like that in general with pretty much any topic: politics, economics, technology, and art. In life, there are these moments in time, space, or thought, where something brilliant is THIS way, and something mundane is THAT way. It's that ability to spot those tiny moments where the path diverges from mundanity that sets genius apart from the rest of us. Granted, you still have to take action, but spotting it is the first battle.
So what does this have to do with Tron: Legacy?? To find out, read on, but MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT ahead!
There is a tiny, tiny little plot thread in this film. Almost unnoticeable, almost irrelevant, seemingly nothing more than an excuse to plop a hot, futuristic babe in the film. The writers decided, in what must have been an inspired instant, to include the notion that a special set of programs (ISOs), can be spontaneously created in this world created by Flynn (played by Jeff Bridges). This is truly a remarkable thing, and for about 5 minutes it is treated remarkably by the writers. And then, this truly remarkable event is ... cast away. In weak flashbacks, they show the genocide of the ISOs by the villain. What a way to kill off a great idea! Then we get back to mundane plot (father-loves-son, son-hates-father-until-they-bond, yawn, zzzzzzzzz).
THIS is the big missed opportunity of this film! The writers should have realized "holy cow, what a great idea! And we can have these ISOs have special powers, or they could be unaffected by Flynn's creator-powers, or there could only be a few left who are being hunted down, or they could be the salvation of the Grid-world, or, or, SOMETHING!" Now I will grant you that "saving endangered species" and "fighting for our right to exist" plot line has been done in hundreds of movies, but wrapping a story around a spontaneously-created sentient lifeform living inside a computer would have been INFINITELY more interesting than what the writers roped together to fill out an excuse to make a 3-D extravaganza.
5 out of 10. Decent special effects, a few of shots were spectacular in 3-D, and a good soundtrack. But a weak plot that could have been SO much better, if only someone had grasped that small idea-opportunity and acted on it.