Tron: Legacy Megathread [** SPOILERS FROM POST 153 ONWARDS **]

Vokes

Grabbed me a BFI IMAX ticket for this there today. Hopefully the film won't be too pants but at least i know the score is gonna be epic on that sound system, so looking forward to it . The Game Has Changed, Fall and Solar Sailer are particularly strong tracks.

Just had a look there for Tron on Blu-ray but no dice. Strange that they haven't released it yet.

lafors

Vokes wrote: »

Grabbed me a BFI IMAX ticket for this there today

Jammy git

Phony Scott

Total Films review is up...and sadly the film is very disappointing by the looks of things, either that or the reviewer didn't get it...

Richard Dower

^ yeah but it says good things about the eye candy, and i'm not refering to Olivia Wilde....i'm going for the visuals, the plot could revolve around and monkey with a cigar and i'd still see it.

Will this be a repeat of 1982?....a film ahead of it's time that no one got?

Mitch Connor

anyon on her win pigsback tickts to the showing of this in the Savoy on Wednesday night?

Was really hoping I would grab a pair of tickets but I have heard nothing at this point, so I assume i didn't win... though I think you can still enter the competition so maybe they are just real lazy when it comes to actually giving out the tickets.

tylerdurden94

My mate nabbed some tickets for this screening in The Savoy on Wednesday but doesnt know if its in 3D, anybody here have an idea?

bigred100

tylerdurden94 wrote: »

My mate nabbed some tickets for this screening in The Savoy on Wednesday but doesnt know if its in 3D, anybody here have an idea?

No idea, wouldn't mind knowing as well though.

tylerdurden94

bigred100 wrote: »

No idea, wouldn't mind knowing as well though.

Its 3D

Pyongyang

Richard Dower wrote: »

the plot could revolve around and monkey with a cigar and i'd still see it.

One of the quotes of 2010 right there!

Sleazus

Saw an advanced preview tonight. Very good. Visually... just wow. The sound is even better. And I dug the simple storyline - it is like an old-school sort of fairytale, which works really well.

Clu (the younger Jeff Bridges) isn't perfect, but he's pretty damn good. He does stray into the uncanny valley once or twice, but it really good.

If I may be excused a plug, I have a review of the movie up here.

Miguel_Sanchez

Saw it tonight at the Savoy.

It looks great but isn't much cop storywise.

Good soundtrack though -

with Daft Punk appearing in the bar scene as DJs.

quad_red

Saw it at the Savoy last night. The best bit was the chicks in skin tight jumpsuits in the lobby.

Honestly, the film was pretty poor. It was an impressive technical achievement and Jeff was (as always) dependable. But the rest of the cast were either painfully incapable (Hedlund) or were dealing with woefully underwritten/badly written material (Wilde, Sheen).

And the plot was incoherent, mumbled, po-faced nonsense without any sort of interior logic or plausible development.

What was good? The music was awesome and the light bike sequences were absolutely class. Bridges and Wilde, dealing with cliched and underwritten characters, do well to make likable, relate able characters.

But again, Hedlund is wooden as hell. He has zero charisma and the film flounders without a sympathetic, believable lead.

And the effects were so dark and so garish that it actually became difficult to look at after a while. I also don't think the 3D was particularly well done. And whilst an impressive technical achievement, Clue/young Bridges was still always blatantly a cgi creation (you know what I mean :P ).

Skerries

quad_red wrote: »

Clue/young Bridges was still always blatantly a cgi creation (you know what I mean :P ).

thats called uncanny valley where animated faces don't look right

johnny_ultimate

Wee bit of housekeeping:

Personally, I think it is best if we leave all general discussion about the film here, unless you want to write a detailed review in which case the film reviews thread is your best bet. But for back and forth discussion, here is probably best!

It worked for the Inception thread to keep all discussion in one place, and like that thread it'll probably be best to allow spoiler free discussion in here a few days after the 17th so we can all discuss it freely. Until the majority have had the chance to see it, though, SPOILER TAGS!

I just think it's the best way to discuss the film, rather than having a load of separate threads and splitting discussion about it! Everyone cool with that?

johnny_ultimate

Also, I feel it is my duty to share what may well be the best music video tie-in ever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4cgLL8JaVI

Richard Dower

^ is that Olivia Wilde at the end?...brilliant use of original Tron graphics!

johnny_ultimate

Short impression: lies somewhere between 'meh' and 'decent'.

Longer impressions follow.

Hmm, good or bad points first? Let's be nice and start with the good. I can only echo what others have said that the soundtrack is simply a big old pile of electronic win. It pulses with energy and brings the film to life. Daft Punk, you rock. Backing it are the (mostly) excellent visuals and cinematography. The real world scenes even have quite a bit of invention (I particularly liked the camera movement in the tunnel at the start of the film). The virtual world is a neon wonderland, and while it is pretty much one trick and two colours, the neon is hypnotic and unique enough to keep you engaged, especially during a handful of setpieces. The inevitable light cycle sequence is a masterstroke, a glorious mesh of colours, movement and clever tricks. The other action scenes are great fun too, although disappointingly brief and few in number.

Two of the cast save this film from the deeper recesses of mediocrity. Jeff Bridges is his reliable self,

playing two roles, one of which is a more wizened, cynical Dude (a good thing). Clu I must admit does walk the uncanny valley tightrope, and while the illusion is often impressive the movement of the face is that little bit... peculiar. It's impressive, but still uncanny.

And Olivia Wilde is a hell of a find. Of course she's attractive, but the energy she puts into a role which isn't all that beefy is admirable. Perhaps it only comes across favourably in comparison to the likes of Gemma Blandeton, but her moxy is admirable. Give this girl meatier roles please!

And now, the negative. Plotwise, there's nothing all that wrong about, and the themes of obsession, identity and the sly promotion of open source software are pleasant ones to see in a Hollywood production. But for the duration of the running time, too much time is spent on exposition, and back stories that are predictable and uninteresting

(who else saw the Quorra and Tron twists a mile off?)

. The action is fun, but it takes too long to get there. It's largely humourless, barring a few cheap chuckles, and the script is often extremely lazy (please: never, ever have the words "you've got to be kidding me" in a film again). It gets by on a purely sensory level, but the themes aren't examined with enough gusto to keep you rooting for our bland hero. Perhaps it's his proximity to Wilde and Bridges, but Hedlund is a pretty lame protagonist. The usually reliable Michael Sheen hams it up a notch too high in a small role, and the

Daft Punk cameo

is fun at first but probably rubbed in a bit too hard over a lengthy scene.

There are also a few subplots which could easily have been excised. What's the point in introducing

Cillian Murphy's character

, who has interesting characteristics but is completely discarded after one scene? The

Zeus

subplot is almost entirely redundant, seemingly just there to beef up the running time.

They're small annoyances, but the ho-hum narrative hold the film back from being anymore than merely OK. It's far from awful, and on a sensory level dare I suggest it is a more impressive achievement than last year's big holiday release that also had an unusual obsession with the colour blue. Elsewhere, there are a handful of fun references to the original film and other surprises

(diggin' the Black Hole poster and the jukebox in the arcade particularly)

. And let me restress that the soundtrack is superb throughout, stressing the superb. Joseph Kosinski may have created the prettiest, most expensive music video ever. Unfortunately, trying to add plot to the mix caused problems, and while many of the ideas presented are curious and interesting, the manner of their delivery regularly fails to engage. Also, don't see it in 3D, it's even more useless than usual.

So we're left with a gorgeous looking and sounding film that sometimes drags its feet along the ground narratively. Still, as a cinematic experience, it passes the time, and did I stress that the soundtrack is awesome? Because it is.

P.S.: Over-analysis alert!

Did anyone else think that having the 'real-world' scenes in 2D and the 'virtual' scenes in 3D was a sly 'F U' to Disney? Like 3D may look pretty and all, but at the end of the day traditional 2D is where it's at, and where you will ultimately find happiness? No? Just Me? OK, carry on.

P.P.S:

Totally better than Avatar.

krudler

I liked it, the story was a bit meh (I havent seen the original in about 15 years, I prob shoulda watched it beforehand lol) but the visuals and the music are incredible in it, sags a bit in the middle but Jeff Bridges is great as always and Michael Sheen is funny in it.

As for the cgi faced Bridges, its not perfect, you can tell when he speaks the mouth just looks wrong and some of the movements are a bit iffy, but man its getting close to a proper cgi human face, there are some shots where if nobody told you he was cgi you wouldnt know the difference

BlitzKrieg

I had this at the end of my review on the reviews thread

but I'll post it here for discussion

On where the hell is tron's world?

The biggest flaw with this film for me by a long shot, is unlike the first film, where the *grid* is in relation to our world seems completely irrelevent, we dont have programs that fill roles in their world and ours (like how Tron in the original was a security program) they have roles but its not reflected by a role in a computer.

Why are there games if no one is playing video games? What do they do beyond persisting. It bugged me to no end and pretty much ruined the ride for me in a big way. I never got a sense of place. The original Tron was paper thin on plot but even then I could understand the stakes, its one half trying to stop a thief and the other half a thumbs up for free flowing information.

If you fail to place this universe in the same scenario, then the stakes disapear. Yes Clu is being a tyrant...but he is the tyrant of a motherboard in an abandoned computer in an abandoned arcade. Big f*cking deal.

I have to say it bugs me for the reasons I explained above but also because I swear the film was screaming at itself to do something more interesting with itself.


In the film's opening there is a big thumbs up bit for *net neutrality* and piracy etc (which I'm thinking really ****ing scared disney so we get this bull**** instead) and we had the son of the first film's big baddie showing up and all talk about keeping software secure and safe and selling it high, while our hero puts it online for free.


You know a big thumbs up to the wonders of the internet.



And then we get the world of Tron, which you could say its a closed network with no internet access essentially the safe and secure software mentioned before, and the original miracle was going to release genuine A.I from this network on to the web, thus getting that totally free internet with programs developing naturally and sharing themselves in a sort of hippy commune way where we wouldnt need big companies to make the software and have us pay them for it.


basically Linux.


And I'm not guessing this, this is how the film really sells itself in the first 10 minutes. They say this to the audience many times over and over, in the board meeting, in the clips of Flynn talking before the audience, even when Bruce says it to Sam at one point about free share of software. It is drilled home again and again.


Finally I'm thinking the original ending (this is me guessing now) was that they needed flynn's disc to open the network onto to world wide web (you know admin passcode)...not the *real* world and that Clu's armies would march through the web taking over the world via the internet and controlling everything from cyberspace. And Qurra being the last genuine A.I was going to be sent to the internet to spread free internet to everyone. Not to the real world (which still makes no sense) and the ending would have the right touch of tragedy with Sam seeing the girl he loved disapear to the internet but feeling her presence everytime he **** off to internet porn.



But seriously trying to sell that to disney is asking them to stick a big *PIRATE ME* sign over the film so they of course did not go with it.


So f*ck you imaginary exec in my head!

Saaron

I saw it last night and i really enjoyed.. One of the best movies to come out in 2010 in my opinion(bar "A serbian film") and daft punk did a great job on the ost. Some seriously awesome tunes!:pac:

Sad Professor

I was thoroughly unimpressed with the 3D in this film. I've kinda had it with 3D now. No more. It's not worth the premium. I hate the glasses and I hate the darkened image.

The film itself has quite few good things going for it. Some of the actors, the visuals, the soundtrack. But mostly I loved the whole style of the film. The costumes, the lighting, and the world that Kosinski created. The action scenes bored me though and the film is let down by the concept which is just as stupid now as it was in 1982.

The best thing to come out of the film is Kosinski who will hopefully do more sci-fi films in a similar style. The guy would be perfect for a Logan's Run remake or a Mass Effect film.

Bacchus

One big meh from me. There was just no spark to it. It just went through the paces. Action scene, exposition, action scene, exposition, action scene etc. I didn't go in expecting much from the plot but it offered nothing on any level other than eye candy. There was never a sense of tension or that the characters were ever in danger. The story moved along slowly with sudden action scenes to jump start it further.

The action itself.... meh. The initial fights and lightcycle sequences looked pretty and sleek but lacked any excitement. I found the 3D distracting in those scenes too. Later action scenes.... were there just 2 more after that?... I think so... were also pretty but uninspired. Only the

Daft Punk cameo

added some blood pumping excitement to the proceedings. For a movie whose main selling points are the action and looking cool, it fails on the action front. It is quite weak on the acting front too (and why is Bridges playing "The Dude" instead of Kevin Flynn?) which leaves just the pretty neon lights and style of the Tron world to entertain.

One positive though. The Daft Punk soundtrack is awesome.

Richard Dower

Sad Professor wrote: »

I was thoroughly unimpressed with the 3D in this film. I've kinda had it with 3D now. No more. It's not worth the premium. I hate the glasses and I hate the darkened image.

The film itself has quite few good things going for it. Some of the actors, the visuals, the soundtrack. But mostly I loved the whole style of the film. The costumes, the lighting, and the world that Kosinski created. The action scenes bored me though and the film is let down by the concept which is just as stupid now as it was in 1982.

The best thing to come out of the film is Kosinski who will hopefully do more sci-fi films in a similar style. The guy would be perfect for a Logan's Run remake or a Mass Effect film.

He's doing a remake of The Black Hole next....another Disney lost gem.

constitutionus

got to see this on sunday.

i enjoyed it !

not great but good, and it LOOKED gorgeous. definetly a case of the style far outstripping the content .

but there was some nice little philosophical ideas in there and i loved the nod's of the head to the original.

the 3D seemed to be a waste of time IMO as i cant recall any scenes that stood out as impressive. ill be going again with the brother as he cant see 3D films and there is a 2D version out there (which i didnt think was the case) so ill post if there really is a big diffrence and i just didnt cop it.

as others have posted the CGI de aging is a bit off but TBH im still glad they did it as it really did add to the film to see younger counterparts to the original characters. TBH one of the things that bugged me is why is flynn ageing ? he's a digital being in there so surely he should be virtually immortal. i thought stuff like that was WHY he was claiming the grid would change everything.

and dont start me on sam bleeding. that doesnt make a lick of sense !

i get a feeling theres a sequel in the offing here but im lost as to where they can go with it. certainly the ending leaves it open.

all in all though i reckon this film will appeal more to fans of the original. i was one so i liked being brought back into that world again.

geoffraffe

The best part of the 3D for me came from the stoned Indian dude beside me. He leaned over to me during the trailer, stinking of grass, and asked if I was seeing double on the screen. He kept taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes in disbelief. Then as the disney logo protruded from the screen he became the typical stoner "Cool man, Wow!". Had a chuckle at this and that's pretty much where the entertainment stopped.

The film was meh at best. Didn't care for the son, or the tron universe TBH. The 3D (which was billed to be as good as avatar) wasn't even average. In fact it made no difference whatsoever. I knew that plot would be thin but I hoped the action would make up for it. Alas, no.

I wasn't bored but I wasn't far off. One to watch on blu-ray me thinks.

KerranJast

I've not been able to get this film out of my head since last night which is a good sign.

The Ones:
- Jeff Bridges: His portrayal of the aged Kevin Flynn is one part cocky 80s Kevin Flynn, one part zen-like The Dude and one part haunted soul.

He has created Eden but seen it corrupted by his own flaws. Trapped in a living nightmare he's tormented by an ageless clone of himself who has all of humanity's ambitions but none of it's soul.
Flynn is stuck in a terrible conflict between his guilt over missing 20 years of his son's life, the horror what his digital "son" CLU has become and his surrogate father relationship to Quorra and the responsibilities that entails given her true nature

- Olivia Wilde as Quorra: I've never see her work before but she's a star in the making.

She's radiant as the ass kicking yet naive ISO Quorra and her chat with Sam about the sunrise was really sweet. She's daaaamn sexy too

- The New Grid:
The Grid 2.0 is Blade Runner on neon steroids. The best thing the makers did creatively is to shelve Grid 1.0's cartoonish vistas (which were fantastic in the 80s) and move to a fully formed digital world that incorporates a lot of human architecture from Flynn's mind but also the bizarre and illuminating vistas of the world of Programs.
I especially loved the new twists on the classic TRON games bringing in more 3D aspects like

multi-tiered lightcycle battles and the finale air chase

- Daft Punk Soundtrack:
Epic. Like an extra cast member

(in the club scene that's literal)

the French duos electronic and string symphonics drive the film on. That opening scene of Sam whizzing through the traffic on his Ducati was a foreshadow of things to come. They really managed to fuse the 80s synth style to contemporary beats incredibly well.

- Tie backs to Tron 1982:

A welcome appearance by Bruce Boxleitner, the big ass security door at ENCOM, Flynn's arcade, Journey & Eurythmics in said arcade and in Grid World, Tron himself. There are a raft of little references to the old days even down to the dusty old handheld game discarded in Flynn's old office at the arcade.

It's well worth watching the old film before heading to Legacy.

- CLU as a villain:
This actually was inspired. Imagine the joy of finding your lost Father only for there to be a malevolent version of him there too who's around the same age as you and wants you dead. :eek: That's some Freudian stuff right there

The Zeros:
- Throwaway cameos:

The board meeting at the start was never mentioned again really and was the introduction of Cillian Murphy that necessary except for sequel bait?

- Garrett Hedlund as Sam: He was decent but you never really got the impression he was in any danger. For a guy transported into a computer he adapted ridiculously quickly and wasn't great at conveying a fish out of water vibe.

- Misuse of Tron:

The way Tron was redeemed was not very well handled. A much better solution would have been for him to be disabled by Sam & Quorra back at the fighter launch point and for that to reboot him. He could then have arrived in the nick of time to distract CLU.

- CLU & "young" Jeff Bridges' appearance in general:
The lip syncing was a tad off in several scenes and his eyes were always distracting. I'd much have preferred that they went with a more grainy digitized model rather than trying to replicate a younger JB.
The "uncanny valley" has not yet been resolved. AVATAR managed to avoid it by using giant blue alien protagonists to get around the audience's inherent disbelief.
Until such time as they can perfect human skin tone and eyes they need to be more sparing with such models. That said there was no excuse for the bad lip syncing job in this day and age.

Overall Tron:Legacy was a top notch cinema experience. I'm saying pretty much exactly the same things as AVATAR last year. It's a popcorn thrill ride with some engaging performances, brilliant set pieces and on top of it a killer Daft Punk soundtrack.

Mr. K

I saw it on Saturday. Decent film, very stylish. I'd actually watched the original Tron earlier that day (my memory was fuzzy), so I noticed the subtle nods. The soundtrack was the star of the show though!

constitutionus

i actually felt kinda sorry for

CLU, he did exactlywhat he was created to do. not his fault flynn gave him an impossble mission. especially when the ISOs surfaced, changing the entire game plan.

he's like a living breathing example of "be careful what you wish for!"

i thought they got that across fairly well at the end.

Phony Scott

Recently unearthed 1982 Tron Holiday Special

bledmillennium

3D was underutilized. Story is bearable. The entire movie is buoyed by its attractive fight scenes. Overall, however, is a big, fat MEH.