Revisited - Tron: Legacy (2010)

Last week I did a controversial pick for my Revisited and followed up this week with another one, Tron: Legacy. Let's get this out of the way first, I never watched the original Tron. I tried, but I just couldn't get over the aged graphics and storytelling for me to sit down and watch it the whole way through. Even with this movie I didn't seek it out, it more or so just fell on my lap. During one secret Santa years ago, my sister gifted me this movie and well as soon as I got home I watched it. I didn't know what it was about nor did I know what I was getting myself into, only that the cover looked cool. So two hours and five minutes later I sat there almost surprised to what I just watched. It was a good movie, not great, but good and I think it deserves respect for what it is. It had killer designs, great acting from Jeff Bridges and David Sheen, and my goodness is that Daft Punk soundtrack amazing. I think it mostly received backlash for it being a sequel to a such a cult classic 80's movie.

With this movie they did try to revisit the ideas from the previous one, but also cement new ones. I also liked the villain and the duality theme that goes through the movie between Clu and Flynn. Its a very entertaining movie and one I would put it on again even though I watched it more than once. I even remembered playing the Video game version of the movie which acted as a prequel and had so much fun racing the light cycles and derezzing people like it was my job. Tron's universe is a very fun and interesting playground and with plans of more sequels, I don't think were going to run out of Tron movies. So sit back and relax, go rent the film and just watch it. Stop being a critic and just sit and watch the movie like when you were a kid, like when you actually watch movies for the fun of it.

In 1989, seven years after the events of the first film, Kevin Flynn, who has been recently promoted CEO of ENCOM International, disappears. Twenty years later, his son Sam, now ENCOM's primary shareholder, takes little interest in the company beyond playing an annual prank on its board of directors. After being freed from police custody for his most recent prank, Sam is asked by Alan Bradley, an ENCOM executive and Flynn's old friend, to investigate a strange pager message originating from Flynn's shuttered video arcade. Sam discovers a large computer in a hidden basement, which suddenly digitizes and downloads him into the Grid, a virtual reality created by Flynn that exists within ENCOM's computer mainframe.He is quickly captured and sent to "the Games," where he is forced to fight a masked program named Rinzler. When Sam is injured and bleeds, Rinzler realizes that Sam is human, or a "User" and takes him before Clu, the Grid's corrupt ruling program who resembles a young Kevin Flynn.

Clu nearly kills Sam in a Light Cycle match, but Sam is rescued by Quorra, an "apprentice" of Flynn, who conveys him to his father's hideout outside Clu's territory. Flynn reveals to Sam that he had been working to create a "perfect" computer system and had appointed Clu and Tron (a security program created by Alan) its co-creators. During this construction, the trio discovered a species of naturally occurring "isomorphic algorithms" (ISOs) not conceived by Flynn, bearing the potential to resolve various mysteries in science, religion and medicine. Clu, considering them an aberration, betrayed Flynn, seemingly killed Tron, and destroyed the ISOs. Meanwhile, the "Portal" permitting travel between the two worlds had closed, leaving Flynn trapped in the system. Having gained complete control, Clu sent the message to Alan in order to lure Sam onto the Grid and reopen the Portal for a limited time.

As Flynn's "identity disc" is the master key to the Grid and the only way to traverse through the Portal, Clu expects Sam to bring Flynn to the Portal so he can take Flynn's disc, go through the Portal himself, and impose his idea of perfection on the human world. Against his father's wishes, Sam returns to Clu's territory on Quorra's tip-off to find Zuse, a program who can provide safe passage to the Portal. At the End of Line Club, its owner Castor reveals himself to be Zuse, then betrays Sam to Clu's guards. In the resulting fight, Flynn rescues his son, but Quorra is injured and Zuse gains possession of Flynn's disc. Zuse attempts to bargain with Clu for the disc, but Clu simply takes the disc and destroys the club along with Zuse. Flynn and Sam stow away aboard a "solar sailer" transport program, where Flynn restores Quorra and reveals her to be the last surviving ISO.

The transport is intercepted by Clu's warship; as a diversion, Quorra allows herself to be captured by Rinzler, who Flynn recognizes as Tron, reprogrammed by Clu. Sam reclaims Flynn's disc and rescues Quorra, while Flynn takes control of a Light Fighter on the flight deck. Clu, Rinzler, and several guards pursue the trio in Light Jets. Upon making eye contact with Flynn, Rinzler remembers his past and deliberately collides with Clu's Light Jet, but Clu uses Tron's spare baton to escape while Tron falls into the Sea of Simulation below. Clu confronts the others at the Portal, where Flynn reintegrates with his digital duplicate, destroying Clu along with himself. Quorra, having switched discs with Flynn, gives Flynn's disc to Sam and they escape together to the real world, rematerializing themselves. In Flynn's arcade, Sam backs up and deactivates the system. He then finds a waiting Alan and tells him he plans to retake control of ENCOM, naming Alan chairman of the board. He departs on his motorcycle with Quorra, and she witnesses her first real sunrise.

So to bring it all together, the film isn't a masterpiece and no, it's not garbage. It is simply good. The acting throughout from the multiple actors is good to great. The graphics as well as the set designs are stunning and sleek to say the least. However, that soundtrack, the fantastic soundtrack that Daft Punk gifted us is a masterpiece within itself. The movie isn't suppose to make you cry your eyes out, leave you in a state of wonder, nor is it supposed to make you go on a self discovering journey. This movie is suppose to entertain you and it does it's job rather well in my opinion. I said it before and ill say it again, watch the movie for the inner kid in you. Do it for the person who you were before who binged watch shows and put on movies because the cover looked cool. Watch the movie because you love movies. This has been Revisted, thanks for reading. Ricardo signing off.