Kevin Flynn’s (Jeff Bridges) son Sam (Garrett Hedlund) finds himself, like his father before him, pulled into The Grid, a place of hostility and certain death. Sam quickly realizes that he’s not alone, that he is stuck here with Kevin and his only friend, Quorra (Olivia Wilde)–and together they will have to try to find a way out. Tron: Legacy sees emotions rise to the surface and father and son reunite–and it will take all that they have to find a solution to their growing problem.
I’ve always found Hedlund to be hit or miss. There are times when he’s stellar in his performance (Four Brothers) and others when he struggles to hit the mark (Pan). With that being said, I’m never sure what to expect when watching a film that casts Hedlund as one of the leads–but he finds his way here, delivering what could potentially be his best performance to date. Not only is he stellar throughout, he is maybe the perfect person to play Bridge’s son. Throughout the course of Tron: Legacy viewers see two individuals that genuinely look and sound like father and son–allowing viewers to accept, from beginning to end, that these two are in fact father and son.
While Tron was certainly intense, constantly playing with the idea of mortality, Tron: Legacy raises the stakes, making things far more intense than I could have imagined. So many things come together and allow this intensity to become a reality. The visuals take a massive step in the right direction, the score/soundtrack amps up every single instance of intensity, and the writing throws viewers into a world where every step of the way reflects some hardship that we have faced in our lives. I could feel my pulse rise, again and again, throughout Tron: Legacy, as the situations depicted on screen became more and more powerful as the film moved forward. I was pulled into the film, becoming part of the journey–and I loved every second of it.
It’s hard to believe that a sequel nearly thirty-years in the making would be able to live up to its predecessor, possibly even surpass it, but here we are, and Tron: Legacy is everything that I believe fans of the original would have wanted from a sequel. Tron: Legacy doesn’t try to extend itself too far, and it doesn’t attempt to create something that feels out of place in regard to the original film–it only continues to build on what Steven Lisberger created in 1982. It pays homage to the film that fans fell in love with, and it develops something bigger and better, all in the image of Tron.
Tron: Legacy is incredibly sexy (not a term I typically use to describe a film), as it has all the qualities of a film that would be described as such. The sleek aesthetic of the costumes, the bright and vibrant (and upgraded) nature of The Grid, and the performances by characters such as Beau Garrett (Gem) all lend themselves to this description–but nothing is over the top (except maybe Michael Sheen’s Castor). Everything levels itself out, and Tron: Legacy manages to possess just enough eroticism to spark a unique interest. The reality is that viewers who sat down as children and watched Tron when it was first released in 1982 have slightly different interests now. Sure, they likely still love the idea of Tron and will certainly love Tron: Legacy as it is able to continue that story in a fun and innovative way–but they are adults now. The series of writers certainly understand this, and they use this understanding to entice these older viewers from beginning to end.
This may piss some people off, but Tron: Legacy just might be better than its predecessor–as it improves on just about everything from the 80’s. The world-building potential of a film in 2010 is far superior to what Tron would have had access to–and the team tasked with bringing Tron: Legacy to life wasted not an ounce of that potential. Tron: Legacy doubles down on intensity, employs a nearly perfect score, and casts Hedlund (quite possibly the perfect person for the job). Tron: Legacy exceeds any expectations that I had for it, and from beginning to end I found new aspects of the film to fall in love with.
Directed by Joseph Kosinski.
Written by Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz, Brian Klugman, Lee Sternthal, Steven Lisberger, & Bonnie MacBird.
Starring Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner, James Frain, Beau Garrett, Michael Sheen, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐½/10
