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The framework of pointlessness is revisited in this tediously complex science fiction movie, closer to a screensaver than an actual film. This is a threequel to the original movie Tron from 1982, a film that was groundbreaking and boldly pioneering for its time in a way that escapes this one and its forerunner Tron: Legacy from the previous decade. The new Tron film almost awakens just one time – when Evan Peters' character gets a slap in the face from Gillian Anderson's character portraying his mum, in an traditional bit of analogue reality. That's a bit of firm parenting you might want to handing out to all the producers involved in this film, and it's sad to see the estimable Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith's character 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 Inc, originally set up in the 80s arcade-game era by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, played by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (initially founded by Encom executive Ed Dillinger's role, acted by David Warner) is headed by the founder's odiously nerdish grandson's character Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to design and create lucrative items such as invincible troops and armored vehicles 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 creations disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has uncovered the plot-driving “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities for ever, and even keeps it on her person on a extremely basic USB drive. So the ghastly Julian Dillinger sets his attack dog on her: Ares the warrior, the humanoid uber-warrior 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 disobeying what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith plays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena's role and unfortunate Jeff Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in wise white robes, like a Poundshop Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Breakdown

Moreover, Ares – the hero of the film's name – is acted by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, facial hair and subtly omniscient grin, touches that were perhaps created by inputting the words “incredibly irritating” into an artificial intelligence character generator. Nobody who remembers the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life will always find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Mr Leto, and I was incidentally very entertained by his broad (and critically misunderstood) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is consistently, unrelentingly awful in this film, although he isn't helped by a weak storyline which is intended to allow him to display glimpses of “empathy” for Eve Kim's role and delegate all the villainous actions to Athena's character, thus rendering her slightly more engaging. It is meant to be adorable when Ares says how he adores 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode are superior to Mozart.

Series Features and Overall Impact

Consistent with the brand-identity of the franchise, there are motorcycles from the virtual underworld which whizz about the environment in long straight lines, adhering to the angular layout of classic video games (or indeed dance clubs); one even emits a lethal beam which slices a police vehicle in half. But there is no drama or danger or emotional engagement throughout. This series now looks about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.