Tron & Tron: Legacy

I'll freely admit that, in the 80s, I wasn't a fan of the movie Tron.  I played the video game for endless hours (and endless quarters, I'd like to have back), but the movie didn't really do much for me.  So, when the sequel came out, I was less than excited about it.  But, after a while, I thought, why not go back and see if I was wrong about the original and then check out the sequel to see if the 'cult' following was somehow warranted.

If you've never seen it, the original Tron is about a computer programmer who's sucked into the game system and forced to play games to get to the 'master' program that will give him escape access. 




By today's standards, Tron is terribly dated.  The special effects were state of the art in the 80s, but they're just 'quaint' now.  It was actually kind of fun to see the 'state of the art' technology in the original, with the giant computers and the 'tech' talk that's used now by everyone and their grandparents!  The real problem is the story, it's just mundane and not that interesting.  Jeff Bridges is sucked into a computer and forced to either compete in 'games' or die.  He must escape from the evil 'programs' in the computer or be stuck in the virtual world for the rest of his life!  The problem with Tron is that the villains are less than villainous, the heroes are less than heroic and the story is just a standard 'get outta here' type of story with obstacles that don't seem to be that big a challenge to the participants.  Tron seemed to be designed by Disney to be eye-candy for kids and a sales-gimmick for a video game...not really a movie that they expected to be a 'Disney classic'.  It's barely worth 1 cigar out of 4, and it really should be put back in the 'Disney vault'...and put it way in the back, we won't be needing to find it again!!

Tron: Legacy is a sequel to the 'cult classic'.  The story here picks up years after the original with Jeff Bridges missing.  Now, his son is going to find out where he is...even though it seems that he's been missing for quite some time, he's just now getting to it....anyway... 





So, he's off to the arcade from the original movie to do some research...but finds himself sucked into the same system that Jeff got sucked into in the original!  Oh No!  What will he do??  Oh yeah, find his dad and find a way to escape...same as the original.  The only real difference here is the advance in technology.  Jeff Bridges appears, both as himself and as his younger self...via some sophisticated Disney technology, although the cgi version of Jeff is a bit obviously cgi...but that's because he's 'in the system', you'll say...well, be that as it may, it was cool but distracting.  If you were a fan of the first, then you'll love the sequel.  If you were bored with the first, prepare to be double bored with the second!!  The second rates just a single cigar out of 4...like the first, barely!

The bottom line of these are two of the worst, most boring movies that Disney has ever released!  Don't think of this as a double-feature, think of it as a video endurance test that you might not pass...I have to admit that I barely got through them both...and did it only after several breaks!  If you can them both in one day, in one sitting....you're a better bad movie guy than I am!