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The framework of futility is reloaded in this mind-bendingly dull sci-fi movie, closer to a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. This is a third installment to the classic Tron film from the early 80s, a movie that was groundbreaking and courageously innovative for its day in a way that eludes this film and its predecessor Tron: Legacy from the previous decade. Tron: Ares nearly comes to life just once – when Evan Peters' character gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson's character playing his mother, in an traditional bit of real-world action. That's a bit of firm parenting you might feel like handing out to every producer involved in this movie, and it's unfortunate to see the estimable Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith being made to look so uninspired.

Story Summary of Tron: Ares

The scenario now is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger has become a rival to the virtual reality firm Encom, originally set up in the 80s arcade-game era by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn's character, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This Dillinger (originally set up by Encom executive Ed Dillinger's role, played by David Warner) is led by the founder's annoyingly geeky grandson's character Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to design and create profitable things such as invincible troops and armored vehicles in the virtual reality grid and then export them into the real world using a sort of 3D printer.

The issue is that however fearsome, these things disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence code” which can maintain these entities permanently, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic flashdrive. So the dreadful Julian Dillinger sets his attack dog on her: Ares, the humanoid uber-warrior which can leave the VR world for twenty-nine minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of androids, is beginning to show signs of disobeying what he is commanded. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance plays Ares's stoic deputy Athena and unfortunate Jeff Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Character and Performance Breakdown

And Ares himself – the protagonist of the title – is played by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, beard and subtly omniscient grin, details that were possibly created by inputting the words “incredibly irritating” into an AI human creation programme. No one who remembers the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life series will ever find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Jared Leto, and I was also very entertained by his broad (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's film House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is consistently, unrelentingly terrible here, although he isn't helped by a limp plot point which is supposed to allow him to show flashes of “compassion” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the villainous actions to Athena, thus rendering her marginally more interesting. It is meant to be charming when Ares the character says how he adores 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode are superior to Mozart's compositions.

Series Features and Final Impression

And in keeping with the brand-identity of the franchise, there are motorcycles from the VR netherworld which speed around the place in linear paths, conforming to the angular layout of antique arcade games (or even nightclubs); one even emits a lethal beam which cuts a cop car in half. But there is no drama or jeopardy or human interest throughout. This series currently appears about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.