CRAP!!!! I had this WHOLE review written and then when I hit save draft it DISAPPEARED!!! RAAAAAAAAAAAAGE!!!!!!!! /rage So, New Year’s resolution is more movie reviews, so look forward to that! And now it’s movie time!
TRON: Legacy is a pretty good movie, wonderful casting, good plot, but NOT worth forking up the extra cash for IMAX 3D, or any 3D for that matter. The first thing it says when it begins is something along the lines of “Several of the scenes in this movie were shot in 2D and are intended to be viewed as such.” Of course the first thing I thought was what a mistake 3D was.
Now, I’m not against 3D. I mean, I loved Avatar, and that was an example of great IMAX 3D usage, but I hate gimmicky 3D, and that’s pretty much what this movie consisted of. There was no 3D besides when people got assimilated during the light disk battles, and hardly any in the Light Cycle battles, which was disappointing. I expected more from Disney, considering they’ve been great with 3D lately. So my advice is if you’re going to see this, don’t waste the money on 3D when you can get an equally good experience in 2D.
Anyway, this movie is a sequel to the 1982 movie Tron, but if you haven’t seen that, don’t fret! There is a 5 – 10 minute cut at the beginning of the film that recaps parts of the original movie. Sort of a “Previously on…” type thing. Even if you miss that, you aren’t going to lose too much of the story. Sam Flynn, son of Kevin Flynn, is abandoned by his dad at a young age and then his mom dies and then he runs away from his grandparents and then he grows up. There ya go, first 10 minutes of the movie all there for you in one easy-to-read run on sentence! Anyway, when a chairman from the company his dad started, Encom, receives a page from Kevin Flynn, he tells Sam about it, and it turns out his dad has been trapped in the Grid since he left. Adventures ensue, and Sam gets back home with an extra person. I’ll leave it up to you to speculate who it could be.
They had a nice little line-up going for them, with people like Jeff Bridges, Olivia Wilde, CGI Jeff Bridges, and Garrett Hedlund on board. The acting could have used a little boost here and there, but overall, the acting didn’t really disappoint. I am impressed with Mr. Bridges though, seeing as he stars in 2 of this holiday season’s movies (True Grit and this). Olivia Wilde did a great job in her role, even though I’m still mad at her for leaving House, and Garrett Hedlund did swell as Sam Flynn, although I have never heard of him before.
Graphics were great, bright neon lights, flashy animation, good CGI, the works. EXCEPT CGI Jeff Bridges! He looked horribly unrealistic. You know those plastic dolls? He looked like one of those. Like freakin’ Nancy Pelosi after her botox injection. He didn’t even begin to look real. I guess it’s understandable given he wasn’t real, he played C.L.U., but you’d figure you’d want him to look real. And if Bridges wasn’t in True Grit he probably could’ve shaved the beard and played C.L.U. instead of forcing the CGI himself to play him. Fortunately, the light cycle and light disc battles made up for the poor work on CGI Bridges (now known as “Jeffy”).
Overall, good idea, but just ok execution on the part of Disney. If the 3D had been as expected this could’ve been a recommendation for 3D from me, but since only about a quarter of the movie was actual in 3D, it’s just not worth it. Go see it, by all means, it’s a good movie. Just don’t spend the extra for a 3D viewing. Save that for The Green Hornet, which comes out Jan. 13! That’s gonna be great in 3D. And you will get a review on that movie when it comes out, so look forward to that.
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The Reel Reviewer 