Tron: Ares (2025) – …loading

Released: 9th October
Seen: 18th October

In 1982, Disney released the movie Tron and to say it was a revelation is an understatement. Tron is the kind of film where they had to invent technology to figure out how to make it, keep in mind this was before CGI animation was even possible in any real capacity. The computers used to make Tron didn’t even have one-tenth of the power of the phone you are probably reading this on. It was revolutionary, a display of what a computer could bring to the world of cinema and even though it still made back its money ($50 million on a $17 million budget) it has been considered mostly a cult film and thus wasn’t really given a sequel treatment. Well, a combination of that and the fact that the animation department would’ve murdered someone if they had to go through that process again. A sequel would have to wait until the computers could handle the job, which is how we got Tron: Legacy in 2010. It was a fine movie, visually spectacular (besides the de-aging that they did to Jeff Daniels) and made a ton of money… and for some reason it took 15 years for them to try again with Tron: Ares.

Tron: Ares takes place several years after the last movie with ENCOM (the main company from all these movies) no longer in the hands of anyone in the Flynn family (the main family from the franchise). It’s now being run by Eve Kim (Greta Lee), who used to run it with her sister but her sister is dead because it’s a Disney movie and every protagonist requires a dead relative at some point. Eve has gone off on an expedition to try and find a code known as the Permanence Code, a code which will allow her to essentially drag things out of the digital world into the real world and have them survive for longer than 30 minutes which she hopes to use to save the world and do good. She’s not the only one who wants this code, her competitor Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), CEO of Dillinger Systems, wants it so he can get a big army contract to supply them with instant disposable digital soldiers because he’s the obvious bad guy. One of those digital soldiers is the titular Ares (Jared Leto) who is under Dillinger’s orders to go after Eve and get the code. This means instead of real people going into the digital world, it’s time for the digital world to come into the real world.

If we’re being honest about Tron: Ares, its plot is really only there as something to hang the visuals off and the visuals that are being hung off this plot are absolutely stunning. It feels like the technology has finally caught up to the ambitions of the film makers because every single frame of this film is a visual marvel, it’s actually insane what they’ve pulled off here. There’s the modern version of the online world, AKA The Grid which is a truly spectacular sight to behold with every single inch of it feeling like it’s made inside the most nightmarish computer you’ve ever seen. Because the version of this film is made by the Dillinger company, its intense evil red colour truly gives this film a distinct visual contrast to the previous films in the franchise but it maintains enough of the style so it clearly belongs in the same world. 

Then there’s the real-world scenes where elements of the digital world enter and I won’t lie, I expected that to suck. I expected the contrast to be too intense for it to work but they manage to blend it perfectly. The big moment of Tron: Ares is a race with the iconic Light Cycles that takes place in the middle of the real world and it is truly spectacular, not only to see those streams of light running through the streets but to see real world cars have to deal with the damage they can create. It is a visual treat that surpasses all expectations. 

Finally, they have scenes that take place in a stunning recreation of the original Grid, the one that old computers could barely even manage to create, and they have done it perfectly. Recreating that style is harder than it sounds, especially trying to nail it with modern technology, but they absolutely do. In fact, every single world and style is not only perfectly created but also blends effortlessly without ever feeling like it’s out of place. It manages to juggle all these wildly different worlds, bounce the action between all of them and never really feels like it’s dropping any of them.

It helps that the story is simple enough that, really, you can just kind of zone out and enjoy the visuals. It’s two groups of people searching for a magic code and bringing in digital aliens to do the fighting. This is incredibly basic, and it works well for Tron: Ares. It also lets them explore ideas of what it means to be a human, the dangers of AI and how tech companies will sell their souls to the government for a few million dollars… ya know, things that have no relevance at all today whatsoever. The simple story and effective use of metaphor make for a story that’s easy to follow and interesting enough to keep you going if, somehow, the incredible visuals don’t do that job for you. It elevates the film beyond what I would call a “Nice Video, Shame About The Song” movie; it actually means it has substance beyond the visual, even if that substance is really less important.

What makes that plot work (as much as it needs to) is the performance by a cast who are almost uniformly great. Greta Lee is a fantastic protagonist who you can’t help but root for, managing to be effortlessly charming even while spouting off nonsensical technical jargon to whoever happens to be sharing a scene with her. Evan Peters basically steals the damn film with his turn as an insane asshole tech giant who everyone treats like a genius when he’s really a moron who inherited everything from a parent (INSERT ELON MUSK JOKE HERE). Then there’s Jared Leto who is… well, to be kind to him, he’s had his moments when he started his career, but ever since he won an Oscar, it feels like he gave up on having talent, and sadly, Tron: Ares kind of keeps that trend going. When he’s meant to be an emotionless robot, he does fine. I believe that he’s never experienced an emotion before and it works… once he’s asked to actually display an emotion, that is when I stop buying it and the latter half of the film, he just stops being good. At best, he becomes a body that can do stunts and a voice that can deliver a dull speech but anyone who shares a screen with him acts circles around him, even if all they’re doing is walking and talking. I’d almost prefer if he delivered a performance like he did in House of Gucci, at least that was hilarious.

Look, Tron: Ares does have quite a lot going for it and can be a really fun time. It’s the kind of film that really feels like it’s trying to take advantage of the scale that a cinema screen allows, it’s doing some fun new things with the franchise and pushing everything in a new direction but if you are somehow going into this hoping for a grand plot worthy of the third part of a franchise… no, not happening. It’s a really fun film, a joy to watch and full of some truly impressive effects that will undoubtedly make this a technical awards darling but its simple plot and the Jared Leto issue bring it down from the highs of the previous films in the franchise. Now we just have to wait another 20 years for whatever sequel they decide to unleash at that point.