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Synopsis: “Mankind encounters AI beings for the first time when a highly sophisticated program, Ares, leaves the digital world for a dangerous mission in the real world.”

It’s been a long time coming for another installment into the Tron franchise, with Tron: Legacy releasing in 2010; there have been many years gone by with fans waiting to get back into the Grid. This is where Tron: Ares enters the arena, a story that diverts from Sam Flynn and focuses on the imminent arrival of AI into the real world. With dueling tech companies Encom and Dillinger racing to make programs permanent, it’s a promising story that falls short of saying anything worthwhile about AI. Its luminous visuals and score that shakes your brain make Tron: Ares an electronic spectacle—but is that enough to distract from its weaker moments?

For those that haven’t been up on their Tron lore, don’t worry, Tron: Ares opens with a quick recap of what happened after the events of Tron: Legacy. ENCOM is now in the hands of Eve Kim (Greta Lee), who has solely been running the company since her sister passed away tragically. Their direct competitor is Dillinger, run by Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), an egotistical control freak with a fixation on AI and Greek gods, who also took the head spot of the company from his mother, Elisabeth Dillinger (Gillian Anderson).

Instantly, their differences in how they lead are spotted; Eve is interested in how AI can change the world in positive ways, whereas Julian is more interested in making programs follow his commands, even when he has to lie to his board of investors. With the permanence code in Eve’s hands after months away researching, Julian sends his program Ares (Jared Leto) to get the code for himself.

Julian’s programs are at his call; he speaks to them through a face scan resembling Zordon from Power Rangers mixed with the Wizard from The Wizard of Oz. He is intelligent, there’s no doubt about that, with his ability to code something into existence, but only being able to keep it in the real world for less than 30 minutes. He has created numerous programs through AI that serve his bidding, without the ability to say no or have feelings about any of what is demanded of them.

Ares is the master commander of the programs, leading his fellow programs Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith), Caius (Cameron Monaghan), and a few other nameless bots, all equipped with the abilities to dominate in combat, the intelligence to hack systems, and seemingly unlimited regeneration. With Julian’s inability to crack the permanence code, Ares begins to evolve beyond his intended purpose.

The most frustrating part of Tron: Ares is that it has a stacked cast for the most part, but barely explores their characters enough to truly care about them. Eve is the most compelling of them; she has a relatable nature about her in the way she navigates technology and its potential. She’s a woman who is grieving the loss of her sister and finds herself doing projects to keep herself close to the memory of her sister. Lee plays her character well, especially with the amount of exposition she has to get out to the audience, and when the film focuses on her, it’s at its best. But very few characters get this amount of characterization; Julian, for example, comes off as more of a spoiled brat son than a threatening figure. Suffering from an ego that expands beyond the Grid.

Outside of weak characterizations, the plot begins to get repetitive, which is a shame because the topic of AI invading our everyday lives is incredibly topical for the times we are living in. But Tron: Ares doesn’t really say much about the dangers AI poses to environments. Sure, it’s scary to think that there’s a potential for AI bots to disregard their commands and go rogue, but with AI being shoved down our throats in every aspect of our lives, it comes across more as a film that accepts the harmful downsides of artificial intelligence because it helped us out a time or two. The film feels like one long chase scene, with the only aspects of the film pushing it beyond its narrative lulls being the score, neon visuals, and a few of its performances.

Ares as a character is nothing revolutionary, and Leto is serviceable in the role; his character is a powerful pawn for Julian, and as the film evolves, Ares finds himself in complicated scenarios. Leto plays him as an emotionless being that mostly works, but the script injects humor into dialogue that bombs more than it lands. When Ares is on screen with his other red-lined programs, he easily becomes the least interesting, with Turner-Smith’s Athena stealing every scene she shares with Leto. Being named after the God of War and the Goddess of Wisdom holds some power within the film, but their outcomes are often puzzling, leading one to wonder why Turner-Smith wasn’t the lead. Both have really impressively choreographed fights showing how their minds and feelings change for one another over time.

Much like its predecessors, Tron: Ares excels in its unique visuals, and like Legacy‘s Daft Punk score, Nine Inch Nails crafts a score that is perfectly suited for this film. Seeing this in an IMAX theater that was newly opened, with the sound blasting so hard the seats were shaking, almost elevates any issues that the film has. When the film operates within the Grid is when it’s at its best; even when Director Joachim Rønning’s direction is stale, the beauty of the space is intoxicating. Pairing the generated constructs that go beyond the sky with a relentless score elevates the action pieces into thrilling spectacles. Using the original Grid, as seen from the film’s marketing, was a treat, especially with bio-digital jazz man himself Jeff Bridges. But the choice to reveal its use in trailers and promo makes the audience anticipate its arrival rather than be surprised by it.

At the end of the day, it’s easy to enjoy Tron: Ares on its face value, with its stunning visuals and its pulse-pounding score, but with real threats of AI looming in our lives, it’s exhausting to see a film barely scratch the surface of potential issues that assimilating artificial beings into our world presents. The allure of the Tron franchise is humans entering this vast digital world and the wonderment of it all, especially with the touching father and son dynamic from Legacy. It feels odd to strip that away in service of a film that encourages acceptance of technology that, even in our time, we don’t understand its potential or dangers. With Disney using Grok, and even Tesla bots in their red carpet for this film, there’s a message being served that is pro-program, rather than pro-users.

Overall, Tron: Ares is worth a watch for fans of the franchise and moviegoers looking for a film with impressive VFX and sound. But its lack of narrative focus and thinly explored characters will leave a lingering frustration even when the film ends with a promising future.

Rating: 3/5

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