Tron’s real Legacy is that of filmmakers substituting ‘Cool’ for story Some spoiler alerts ahead.

Tron Legacy does not fail though neither does it succeed in fulfilling it’s hype. The store begins with Kevin Flynn’s (Jeff Bridges) mysterious disappearance and the subsequent orphaning of his son Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund). Sam quickly grows up to become the rebellious major stockholder of Encom, his father’s now greatly successful digital enterprise. When Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner), Flynn’s old business partner receives a page from Flynn’s old phone number we are introduced to the bulk of the plot as well as the first two major problems with the plot: who carries a pager in 2010? And how was Flynn’s Arcade not broken into at some point in the preceding 20 years and ripped apart by teenage punks? Not to mention the question of what was powering the Grid these last 2 decades?
Regardless, Sam finds his way into the Grid, Flynns digital Utopia only to be caught and sent into the game. In this way, the story follows closely its 1982 predecessor. Sam fairs well in the game ultimately finding himself face to face with Clu, also played by Bridges but with an amazing CG facelift. After a beautiful light cycle fight, the one all the fans have been creaming to see, myself included, he is rescued by Quorra (Olivia Wilde) who it turns out, is an orphan program raised by the original Flynn in his hideout across the wastelands. So far the story has given us no surprises. One question though is where is Tron? Tron, if you’ll remember from the original, was the hero of the users: a program who fought selflessly against the Master Control Program.
Tron, it seems, has been staring us in the face the entire time, though our suspicions aren’t confirmed until well more than halfway trough the movie. He now serves Clu and wears a mask. Yup, no facelift for Boxleitner here. We never get to see the face of the film’s namesake. Except in flash back. The costuming, though amazing makes it difficult to tell who is who among Clu’s elite warriors. When Tron does finally comes around to the good guys it comes off like a coin toss decision. The script hints at the importance of selflessness and taking one’s self out of the picture, but fails to come through with this in the end. In addition to Tron’s anticlimactic heroism, Quorra gives herself up momentarily, but she is nearly instantly rescued. It is when Flynn demonstrates his godlike power -huh? -at the end, reclaiming Clu and exploding in a blast of energy that apparently has the power to choose what in it’s path can be destroyed, that the writers ultimately fail the theme. There is little show of sacrifice.
We end with Sam and Quorra in the real world. Sam has, for no reason at all decided to go back to Encom to take his rightful place as CEO, and Quorra, eager to see a real sunset. Instead, the Young Flynn takes her for a ride on his motorcycle across a bridge giving her a view of the mountains. WTF? She actually asked him about a sunset while escaping Clu on the grid. It’s a no-brainer. GIVE US A GODDAMN SUNSET. Never mind the enormous symbolism. Never mind what it says in the script, consider the glorious juxtaposition of a natural and wondrous sunset after the spectacular job the GC artists did with the artificial world.
OK, the movie didn’t totally fail. Bridges performance is terrific as both Flynn and Clu. And Wilde could make anyone want to look at at a screen for 127 minutes. There was plot, and for an effects heavy 3D picture, it did a good job of veering from the typical archetypes. Ultimately though the real star of the show is the production design. Tron has been re-envisioned for the new generation and it is spectacular. The fights are easy to follow and keep you firmly planted on the edge of your seat. For what it’s worth, the best show of design is Flynn’s hideout. Like living inside of an iPad, it is bright white and clear acrylic modular heaven.
All in all, I have to give it 3.5 stars. Though admittedly, my judgment could be biased. What it really lacked for me was a bunny in the seat next to me.

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