The Culture: I Saw Tron Ares

We interrupt the gaming talk because my sister took me to see Tron: Ares for my birthday.

Bottom Line Up Front: This is neither a good film nor a dumpster fire. It is Very Okay, but it is still not a clean film; the poz is there, just muted. Wait for cheap tickets or home video as this is the weakest Tron film yet. I did not like it. It tries to say things and flubs it. Forgetable film.

I am not unbiased. I saw the original Tron in 1982 in the theater. I saw Tron: Legacy in the theater (again, a present from my sister). I am a fan, and I love both of the prior films. I have heard all about how this particular film came to be and I am disappointed that no one other than Kevin Flynn (and thus no one but Jeff Bridges) would be returning.

I was prepared for a total dumpster fire, a Last Jedi treatment. This was what I expected. I did not get this. I did not get a dumpster fire.

That does not mean that I saw a good film.

Ares is a severely flawed film crippled by Hellmouth fuckery. Before I get to what was done okay let me talk about what is wrong:

• The Girlboss: Yes, our female lead is a girlboss. She is not a Mary Sue; her narrative arc in this film is not She Was Great All Along, but she's driving this narrative bus and she presumes that what she does is correct and the plot contrives to make it so. She is the Protagonist, but she is not the Heroine. There is a secondary Girlboss (Mama Dillinger) and a Tertiary Girlboss (the Hero's Number 2).
• The Designated Enemy As Antagonist: Yes, our primary antagonist is a straight White man who is a manbaby consumed by hubris.
• The Harmless Eunuch: Yes, the girlboss's sidekick is a fat soy White guy.
• The Multiculti Crew: Yes, the girlboss's crew are all Approved Minorities arranged in Progressive Stack status order; the Jeet is the most competent of the bunch, and even he needs to be tard-wrangled by the other chicks. Teritiary Girlboss's crew are all Neutered GoodWhites.
• The Inability For The Title Character To Be In His Own Film: Not even in disguise, or in a flashback; there is no Tron in Tron: Ares.
• You Can See The Wires: You don't have to have any formal training or practical experience in storytelling to see every single narrative beat well before it happens; this is the sort of plot the average 5 year old child can see coming. Thankfully the trailers this time don't give away the entire story, thus defeating the point of seeing the film entirely. This extends to what was not originally shot, but picked up in reshoots to mollify negative test audience reactions to the non-appearance of returning characters.
• 'Memberberries: Misaimed; Gen X is this IP's audience, but all the use of this is aimed at Gen Y, who would not remember the 1980s.
• The Wrong Narrative Structure: Tron is a Boy's Own Adventure property; don't let the trappings fool you. Ares is not that.

You expect me to say that there were things done right, yes? Well, sure, but that's a short list. Better to say what was not done wrong-badly, but not wrong.

• The Premise: Encom is in competition with a heretofore unknown Dillinger corporation, formed by the original Dillinger post-Tron (implied to be after the end scene where Young Kevin flies in to a rooftop landing at the end of the 1982 film), and somehow directly in competition post Legacy as they were not in 2010. They are both in the 3d Printing/AI space, with the former (following Flynn) being pro-social and the latter (following lore and character) being the usual Military Industrial Complex-aligned shitbags. They deliver on this premise and it drives the plot.
• The Dream vs. The Nightmare: The original film, and Legacy, contrast the potential of the speculated technology vs. the obvious applications for Technocratic control.Not only is this theme maintained, the Girlboss (and her sister) are both Flynn acolytes and thus equally motivated idealistic dreamers. The new Dillinger is very much cast in his forefather's mold, resisting his mother's attempts at tempering his ego to make him play the long game (which said mother was winning when he took over), and this family curse theme is made explicit by the end.
• Timely Themes: This film uses speculated advancements in 3D Printing to build on what was explicitly pointed out as potential in Legacy and how it would work in the real world. It does so poorly, as the rules of how things work on the grid--remember, these are meant to be simulations--does not translate to reality consistently.
• Returning Themes: The original was a pure Boy's Adventure film. The second blended intergenerational reconciliation. This? This takes up the question of mortality that Legacy put into question, but runs with it in unexpected directions; the Girlboss and the Antagonist are both dealing with permanence and accepting mortality, with the former learning to accept the necessity of mortality by helping the Hero solve his problem with it.
• He Fights For The Users: This is the catchphrase of Tron, said again in Legacy, and it guides the Hero--Ares--in his own change from Dillinger's warlord to Girlboss's protector; he stops fighting for his original User, and instead comes to fight for the User of the ENCOM system who is the proxy for the population at-large and the Progressive Drive To The Star Trek Utopia.
• Characters Get What They Deserve: There are no subverted expectations; every character gets what the narrative tells you that they deserve. Mama Dillinger gets got as a result of family hubris, the company gets wrecked by the Feds due to corporate fuckery that makes the usual Shadowrun or Cyberpunk jobs that go sideways look tame, the lesser Girlbosses suffer for being Bad Bitches, while the Girlboss gets to fulfill her sister's mission and the Hero gets his freedom (and is implied to be seeking Sam and Quorra) after meeting not the original Kevin Flynn but a program based on him because Quorra is the only other digital lifeform to persist outside the Grid
• Grid Segments Are As Expected: We only get brief views of the ENCOM, Dillinger, and OG Flynn (i.e. the archived original ENCOM Grid). They build on what Legacy did, but not by much, save for how they depict outside actors intervening into a Grid. (Watch for people to clip those things and upload them.)
• Previous Elements Logically Interated Upon: Yes, there's a Lightcycle fight; it's done on Real World city streets, and how it's shown is framed to remind you of how past films depicted them when they were on the Grid. Yes, there are Disc Wars and all that stuff all reframed for being in the real world. No, it's not done consistently, even accounting for Movie Timekeeping.
• The Conclusion Makes Sense: You're not left going "Wait, that's not what happens given what we've seen." All of it is showed to you before the fact, even if what they did to do that is poorly done--no, you don't quote Frankenstein for setting up a conclusion into a Journey of Self-Discovery--and yes they again set up an obvious follow up film. Maybe in another decade.
• Efficient Use Of RunTime: While you're watching the opening credits, you're being set up on the Premise so you hit the ground running and can Get On With It. There were bits that dragged, but only bits, and they used the obvious presence of omnipresent surveilance to justify brisk pacing by showing how fast opposing characters can catch on to what their enemies are doing.

"But the movie will bomb!"

Tron bombed. Legacy bombed. Ares bombing is, sadly, EXPECTED.

That means bombing doesn't mean shit. This series is a Cult Classic and built itself up on Home Video and Special Screenings; Ares is obviously a weak film, and it is obviously originally another film wearing this IP as a skinsuit. That said, they did put in Minimal Viable Work required to make it fit into the franchise. The Girlboss could not succeed without men to save her ass, and her mission was not her own- it was her sister's who was a massive Kevin Flynn fangirl (and don't tell me that's unbelievable; such women exist) that believed in his vision and took Girlboss along with her until she died. The Hero could not succeed on his own; he needed to encounter real people other than his original User to be able to think contrary to his programming at all, and thus see the value in saving the Girlboss. Only together could that happen, and it was not at all a forced romance.

Should you see this film? Eventually. I wouldn't have seen it if my sister didn't get tickets, instead waiting to watch it after Captain Harlock delivered a copy to me or just string clips together when I get bored, as this is not Must See Cinema. It is not Oscar Bait. It is not a World-Historical Work. It is a Very Okay movie, a mediocre mess of media, that you should not buy unless it's dirt-cheap or used. There is no urgency here.

A Note On The Message: It's there, but muted; the Diverse ENCOM wins, embracing Shitlib Priors is the Winning Behavior, and (likely unintended on the production's part) using Frankenstein as the catalyst for our Hero's Heel-Face turn (coupled with Dillinger being Dillinger, i.e. a serious asshole that treats people like programs and programs like trash) feeds into the Shitlib Prior that Listening To Women Is How You Win and not is how you lose- and White Men are, at best, dangerous and reckless geniuses that overestimate their competency when not tard-wrangled. (Yes, including that book in this theme; remember who wrote it.)

This is still a Disney film. It is still going to be pozzed; it just isn't smearing your face in it- they dialed it back a lot, leaving only the villains to display Pozzed Priors so openly where it is part of why those characters lose (an implicit crticism of taking the mask off too soon). The result is a loud and flashy mediocrity that doesn't leave viewers wanting to buy copies when the Home Video releases drop.