Let’s be honest: “Tron: Ares” exists less because audiences demanded it and more because Disney wanted to remind everyone they just opened a new roller coaster at its theme park. But credit where it’s due, this is one of the studio’s more visually daring swings in recent years, even if it can’t quite outpace its own circuitry.
After lying dormant since 2010’s Daft Punk-infused “Tron: Legacy,” the franchise returns with director Joachim Rønning and writer Jesse Wigutow trying to resurrect that glossy techno mystique. Their approach? Plug nostalgia directly into the motherboard while throwing enough 21st-century flash to melt your retinas. The results are messy, mesmerizing, and occasionally electrifying.
The smartest thing Disney did was recruit Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails to compose the score. Their industrial pulse and layered ambience turn the film into a living soundscape: metallic, moody, and alive with menace. It’s a perfect evolution from Daft Punk’s symphonic beats, giving this “Tron” a darker, grittier identity that feels tailor-made for the AI age. The visuals follow suit: downtown Vancouver becomes a gleaming digital playground, lightcycles tearing through the streets in balletic, pulse-pounding chaos. For pure spectacle, “Tron: Ares” often soars.
Story-wise, the film takes place amid a tech cold war between two rival corporations: Encom and Dillinger. Both are in a race to achieve “digital permanence” using laser-based 3D printing tech that can fabricate anything in the real world, only for it to vanish after 29 minutes. Greta Lee, commanding and poised, plays Encom’s idealistic CEO determined to use the tech for humanitarian ends. Evan Peters, chewing the scenery with feral charm, embodies Dillinger’s ruthless ambition. It’s a clever setup that could have tapped into real-world debates about AI ethics and corporate greed, but the script settles for high-concept gloss over genuine insight.
Enter Jared Leto as Ares, Dillinger’s sentient enforcer living inside a crimson-tinged version of the grid. At first, he’s a loyal soldier, executing commands without hesitation. But when he and his second-in-command, played with elegant restraint by Jodie Turner-Smith, begins to develop emotions,“Ares” flirts with something soulful. Could this digital being crave freedom, love, or meaning? The movie gestures toward those questions but never fully follows through, too distracted by the next CGI demolition derby to linger on its own best ideas.
Still, it’s hard not to admire the ambition. “Tron: Ares” wants to be a meditation on creation and consciousness, an existential blockbuster for the algorithm generation. It just doesn’t have the script to match its ambition. When the action cools, the dialogue sputters; when the story gains traction, the movie detonates another skyscraper. Yet through it all, Reznor and Ross’ propulsive score and Rønning’s slick direction keep things from flatlining.
And then there’s Jeff Bridges. His return as Kevin Flynn, though brief, gives the film a jolt of authenticity and warmth. Hearing him mumble “fascinating” while surveying this new digital age is a moment of pure fan service—but it’s the kind that works. Suddenly, you’re reminded why this world mattered in the first place.
“Tron: Ares” is a paradox: a movie about artificial intelligence that often feels artificially intelligent. It’s loud, overdesigned, and occasionally hollow, but also sleek, stylish, and surprisingly alive. For a studio that’s spent the past decade sanding down its edges, this one dares to glow a little brighter. It may not reboot the franchise into something lasting, but it’s proof there’s still a spark left in the grid.
Stay through the credits. It’s not just another tease, it’s a promise that, maybe, Disney’s still got a few good bytes left in it
TRON: ARES is now playing in theaters.