'Tron: Ares' Isn't The Worst Legacy Sequel BUT It Has One Extremely Fatal Flaw

On the newest episode of PBS Kirk, Jeff, Gooch Klemmer and I went over the latest movie from the Tron Franchise, 'Tron: Ares'. 

I'll preface by saying I don't have a big attachment to the Tron franchise. The original is a cool time capsule and i think Legacy was a pretty solid legacy sequel, no pun intended. There just isn't much there that makes me invested in more of these movies, though. On top of that, they've waited so long for a sequel to the legacy sequel that this movie, itself, is also a legacy sequel. And I would get it if they had some crazy cool script in mind but this movie is just not that. 

To start out with what works. Just like the last movie, it has an A+ soundtrack his time courtesy of Nine Inch Nails. And the CG is about as good as you're gonna get in the disney world. The action is good in spots (although not as good as Kosinki's) as well so it's not like this is some zero-effort slop the mouse is dumping out to cash in on a name brand with. 

The problem really comes down to two things:

1. The story is as formulaic as it gets. Disney is a bird that ate Tron and Terminator 2, chewed it up and barfed it in our mouths expecting us to say thank you. On top of that, they also added in the generic tech-bro villain, which is played terribly by a good actor in Evan Peters. 

2. This movie foundationally relies on the viewer building empathy with Jared Leto and that is functionally not possible. I think this is the best performance he's had since BR 2049 (very low bar) but he is just not the right fit for what this role needed. This, to me, is the biggest problem for the movie. We can forgive a movie we've seen before as long as the lead can hit us with brute-force charisma and that's just not the case here. 

It's not a great movie BUT I will say that it is better than a majority of legacy sequels. So many are made without a care in the world, clearly built to cash in on a known name. This is technically well-made enough that I wouldn't accuse them of not caring.