Saturday, 18 December 2010

Tron Legacy - Movie Review


Earlier today I had a rather strange experience. We had booked 2 tickets for the afternoon performance of Tron Legacy in 3D at the 14 screen multiplex near where I was staying, but then it started to snow... so, in the end we trudged through several feet of the white stuff for nearly two hours to get to the cinema (after phoning to check they were open of course!).When we arrived, we found the cinema brightly lit and all the staff present, but there were only a handful of customers other than ourselves - cue my young relative and I sitting down to watch the film entirely on our own in the middle of a 400 seat auditorium - that's dedicated sci-fi fans for you!

Anyway, if you don't know what Tron Legacy is all about, its a sequel to 1982's Tron, which was notable for being the first movie in history with computer-generated scenes. It starred Bruce Boxleitner as 'Alan/Tron', with Jeff Bridges as 'Flynn/Clu', who gets sucked into the virtual world of the computer programs. In this 21st century update, its the turn of his son, Sam, to get the 'virtual' treatment...

If you read other reviews of the movie, you'll find a lot that criticise it for having a very simple storyline. Admittedly that's true - it's basically all about the team fighting their way from point A to point B, but it does hang together quite well and the acting and dialogue are perfectly passable throughout. In fact, one or two of the characters are positively mesmerising - Michael Sheen, who plays 'Castor/Zeus' for example, completely dominates the screen in his scenes (watch carefully for his cute little Charlie Chaplin homage - a very nice touch).

Of course most people won't be watching the film to admire the storyline, they'll have come for the visuals, which are genuinely breathtaking - updating the original Tron look with even more outrageous sweeping neon vistas and blistering bike battles, Tron Legacy really is a feast for the eyes. Sci-fi fans will also spot several visual queues echoing 2001 and other classics... If there is a flaw, Jeff Bridge's artificial alter-ego, 'Clu2' was rather unconvincing in the facial department, and that's obviously the reason why another rather important character wears an opaque helmet throughout. Given that Avatar executed facial animation perfectly only a year ago they must have encountered some real problems - I wonder what they might have been?

Anyway, in closing I should mention something that really puts the final gloss on this fine movie, and that's the wonderfully atmospheric soundtrack put together by Daft Punk, the French electronic music duo, which is an absolutely perfect fit for the visuals. It adds that final touch that, I think, probably makes this my favourite movie of the year. Go see it!

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