Tron: Ares is set fifteen years after Tron: Legacy. The stakes are raised in the continued digital dominance between two tech giants: ENCOM and Dillinger Systems.
Each seeks something known as The Permanence Code. A way to make Programs from The Grid “live” or solid in the Real World of the Users. Dillinger Systems are now run by the Grandson of Edward Dillinger, one of the original villains of the classic 1982 Tron film, Julian Dillinger. Julian tasks the new MCP: Ares with getting the Permanence Code.
Ares, however, is unlike any other Dillinger-made Program.
The Cast & Characters
Blue (The Good Guys)
Eve Kim, now CEO of ENCOM, is played by Greta Lee. She, along with Ares, is the co-anchor lead of the film. She has a somewhat tragic back story which seems to be the fuel for her desire to make the world a better place. Some might see her as standoffish in her approach as to whether AI is good or bad, but her response is a carefully edited sound bite used by the media to put her in total juxtaposition to Julian Dillinger. She is very clearly painted as a Humanitarian. She wants to make the world a better place, making food from digital coding, solving world hunger, and addressing other issues barely touched upon in the script.
Seth Flores, the sidekick of Eve, is played by Arturo Castro. You’d be forgiven for thinking he’s the romantic interest for Eve, vying against Ares for her attention. But nope, he’s actually just a friend. He’s not quite the comedic hub of the film either. Thankfully, the film doesn’t try to add in too much humour as the weight of its topic is rather heavy.
Red (The Bad Guys)
Julian Dillinger is played by Evan Peters. He’s the son of the plot device deliverance character Elizabeth Dillinger. He emulates his grandfather in many ways, and just as Ares grows as a character, Julian, in turn, becomes just another Bad Guy, just like his grandfather. Dillinger Jnr doesn’t want to solve world hunger: he wants money and fame. He wants to build better soldiers and war machines because, as far as he’s concerned, that’s what the world needs. Or rather, that’s what will give him the most money. Sadly, by the end of the film, he’s a one-dimensional, almost cartoonish character.
Athena, who is loyal as per programming by Dillinger, is played by a stoic Jodie Turner-Smith. Second in command to Ares, Athena is also named after a deity of war. Unlike Ares, however, she remains utterly constrained by her programming and becomes the default Bad AI character as she relentlessly pursues her goal of capturing the Permanence Code and Eve, no matter the cost.
White (The Unaligned)
Elisabeth Dillinger is played by Gillian Anderson. I personally felt this was a massive waste of a great actress, and at first I didn’t realise it was her, as her accent is decidedly bland-sounding. She delivers her lines and slaps with perfunctory grace and ease, but it never quite feels like she’s in it heart and soul. She doesn’t argue too hard with her son, Julian. She’s there to deliver some plot & narrative but not much else, even her “printing room floor” scene with Athena is over all too quickly. There could have been some serious gravitas between the pair.
And of course, Jeff Bridges makes a return as Flynn. Or… does he?
Flynn didn’t survive Tron: Legacy, so what we have here is a construct much like other Programs, but using a lot of the original Flynn’s mindset and mannerisms. This Guru Flynn mirrors Ares quite well. The User who became a Program as opposed to the Program that wants to be a User.
Ares: Red, White & Blue?
Ares is played by Jared Leto. Named after a god of war, he is meant to be the perfect soldier. Many will no doubt find a problem with the casting of Jared Leto. He’s known to be problematic as an actor, especially in his role as The Joker. However, as Ares, I personally think it’s a good match. You expect him to act out, to go a “little Nic Cage”. But he never does. He starts rigid in his movement and line delivery, but as the film moves along, as Ares starts to learn more, he loosens up. There are some interesting throwbacks to Flynn himself, especially with the beard and the use of a couple of key phrases.
The character does grow pretty quickly. You get to watch the almost murderous and torturous learning cycle he goes through and how it changes him in small ways, foreshadowing what is to come, in the opening scenes of the film.
The Core Theme of Tron: Ares
This isn’t about the small guy programmer vs his old work buddy from the first Tron film. Nor is it about the legacy of what it means to be the new CEO in the absence of a massive company in the second film.
The Tron saga has outgrown the characters and has reached the heights of corporate wars and espionage waged on a digital frontier that its creators could only have imagined and dreamed about.
Tron: Ares is focused on “What is Identity” and “What does it mean to be Alive“.
It is heavy on the “Is AI good or bad” theme. Perhaps a little too in your face at times. But it’s also a Pinocchio for the digital generation. It asks us, “Is it AI that is evil or is it the programmers who write the code who are evil?”.
The Music of Tron: Ares
When I heard that Nine Inch Nails was going to do the soundtrack for Tron: Ares, I will admit to being cautiously optimistic. I’m an old Nine Inch Nails fan, or rather, I’m a fan of old Nine Inch Nails. This soundtrack slaps, and it slaps hard. But it’s not the banging dance floor hits of the Tron: Legacy soundtrack, as performed by Daft Punk.
This is more emotive. It calls to something inside, a yearning, a need… a desire to belong.
One thing Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross are good at is weaving a digital tableau of sound. There was just enough of the old Nine Inch Nails sound to grab my attention. The old haunting melodies that Trent Reznor was so good at crafting, filled with emotions that sometimes are uncomfortable to face, have been honed by Atticus Ross’s touch and brought up to date and ready to haunt a new generation as they drift off to sleep at night.
And the inclusion of a single Depeché Mode track -chef’s kiss-. Along with the almost Christian Bale American Psycho-esque delivery about just why Ares “likes” it, it actually made me chuckle.
Cinematography & Colour
Tron: Ares is about 75% “Users world” and 25% “Grid” in presentation. With a blend of urban and suburban scenes in the Users’ world. The daytime shots are all very lovely, lots of plants and greenery, bright natural colours, but it’s the night-time shots are where it really comes to life, though. The masking of the real world and digital world as seen in the previous films, cityscapes and motherboard like overlays that blend from one to the other. The sudden vivid reds are an almost visceral reminder of just how alive the Users’ world is and what there is at stake in it all. Showing what we have and what we risk becoming.
The Grid of Ares, however, was a stark contrast to the Tron: Legacy downtown cityscapes. It’s more Industrial, with giant cranes and dock-like structures, boxes and data packets strewn around as if waiting for the Lasers to summon everything to make it in the real world. There was even a general lack of Programmes in frame like in Legacy.
I won’t lie, I did prefer the look & feel of Legacy when it comes to the Grid. However, there was an amazing throwback to the classic Tron film when it came to Flynn’s private server. A near-perfect recreation of the old light cycle arena, with a crack in the wall! The colour palette of this all too short part of the film was an absolute call back to the film that started it all in 1982, Tron.
Programming Imitates Life
The Soldiers didn’t move with the fluidity of the Programs of Tron: Legacy, well, Ares does to start with, but it’s quickly lost as he’s humanised by his interactions with the Real World, as seen in the films opening five minutes, and in multiple trailers online.
The bike & car chase scenes all run along, though they do feel a little sluggish at times. But the moment the Recogniser comes into view, there is a sudden and palpable sense of dread. Here is a thing that should not exist. It defies all laws of gravity.
The Light Cycles are much chunkier in the Real World than the Grid, but that makes them move more realistically, as if reality is forcing them to obey the rules. And the new Flight Packs are certainly a significant threat to the two unfortunate fighter planes sent to deal with the Recogniser. The film makes some interesting colour changes for Ares as the film progresses to show his changing nature.
Easter Eggs
Tron: Ares is chock full of fun little easter eggs as well, some of which will take multiple viewings to capture, but here’s a small selection of them!
- Fighter Pilots: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
- Bus Destination: Mobius & Mead
- The Orange! As significant at the start of the Saga as it is at the end of the Saga.
- The Cosplayer during the Space Paranoids Relaunch Party!
- The Akira Bike Skid!
SARK
I would just like to add a little something about SARK. Played in the original movie by David Warner and voiced from archived recordings in this film.
David Warner doesn’t return, and I won’t spoil just how SARK features in the film. But what I will say is that the “de-resolution of the self” is a personal nightmare, and to see it appear in the film only hints at what might be in store for the saga in years to come!
Load Old Save or Start New Game?
Tron: Ares manages to draw heavily on the first two films of the saga, and whilst Bruce Boxleitner/Tron themselves never appear, it does at least bring up Sam & Quorra from the Tron: Legacy movie in passing. In fact, the end scenes of it hint strongly at the fact that they may have a role in whatever film comes next!
Final Verdict
Over all I enjoyed Tron: Ares a lot more than I thought I would. The soundtrack kept me engaged when the visual queues missed the mark. There was a good mixture of brevity & humour, with neither taking prominence. The fight scenes were tightly choreographed, and the chase scenes did exactly what they were meant to do: take you from plot point A to plot point B with some explosions along the way.
I found the characters well enough acted and the story engaging enough as an old fan of the original movie, computer games, animated series & sequel movie.
Was it Shakespeare? No.
It was Tron: Ares, and that is good enough. Just leave your dislike of Jared Leto at the door, and you’ll be fine.
Find it on: IMDB
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