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The matrix of pointlessness is revisited in this tediously complex science fiction movie, more a screensaver than an actual film. It's a third installment to the classic Tron film from 1982, a film that was mould-breaking and courageously innovative for its time in a way that escapes this film and its predecessor Tron Legacy from 2010. The new Tron film nearly awakens 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 analogue reality. That's a bit of firm parenting you might want to administering to every producer involved in this film, and it's sad 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 currently is that an evil AI corporation with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger has become a rival to the virtual reality firm Encom, first established in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn's character, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (initially founded by Encom executive Ed Dillinger, acted by David Warner) is headed by the founder’s annoyingly geeky grandson Julian (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to design and create profitable things such as indestructible soldiers and armored vehicles in the VR world and then export them into actual reality using a kind of 3D printer.

The problem is that no matter how intimidating, these creations disintegrate after 29 minutes. But Encom's present chief executive Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has uncovered the plot-driving “permanence algorithm” which can maintain these entities permanently, and even stores it on her person on a very low-tech USB drive. So the dreadful Julian deploys his enforcer on her: Ares, the humanoid uber-warrior which can exit the virtual realm for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of robots, is starting to exhibit symptoms of disobeying what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance plays Ares's stoic deputy Athena and unfortunate Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Character and Performance Breakdown

Moreover, Ares – the protagonist of the title – is played by Jared Leto with trendy lengthy locks, beard and subtly omniscient grin, details that were perhaps created by inputting the words “incredibly irritating” into an AI human creation programme. Nobody who recalls the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life will always find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Mr Leto, and I was also very entertained by his broad (and widely misinterpreted) comic turn in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is consistently, unrelentingly terrible in this film, although he isn't helped by a limp plot point which is intended to allow him to show flashes of “empathy” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena's character, thus rendering her marginally more interesting. It is supposed to be charming when Ares says how he loves 80s synth pop and that Depeche Mode are superior to Mozart's compositions.

Series Features and Overall Impact

And in keeping with the brand-identity of the series, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which whizz about the place in linear paths, conforming to the angular layout of classic video games (or even nightclubs); one even shoots out a death ray which cuts a police vehicle in two. But there is zero tension or danger or emotional engagement throughout. This series now looks about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.