Revolutionary for its time, “Tron” has aged in ways both good and bad.
“Tron” covers the story of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) as he is beamed into a video game world after trying to hack his former employer for plagiarizing games that Flynn made.
The overall story of “Tron” is hard to follow at some points, but it still makes for an enjoyable watch.
A lot of the movie relies on the audience to go with the flow of what is happening on screen, which is not always a good direction to lean toward. The story shows more than it tells, especially near the halfway point of the movie.
When Flynn, Tron (Bruce Boxleitner) and Yori (Cindy Morgan) are trying to reach the core of the digital world, a lot of the sequencing seems to happen without much explanation. The plot continues onward without giving much breathing room. However, the overall story is still unique and compelling.
The digital world itself has interesting elements, such as how some programs, which are inhabited by people who live in the digital world, believe in users, who are people from the real world. The relationship between programs and users is gripping, even if Flynn is the only user who really interacts with the programs.
Flynn makes for a great protagonist as he created some of the games that are played within the digital world. Tron despite the movie being named after him, could have been a larger part of the movie. While he is an interesting character, it felt as if Tron was underused. Yori is a good supporting character and makes for a good guide through the digital realm effectively. Despite Ram (Dan Shor) having a tragic ending, his screentime and relationship with Flynn were a great watch.
While the captivating characters and enjoyable story have aged well, the technical aspects of “Tron” can tell a different story.
The digital world itself is almost entirely made with CGI. At the time “Tron” was made, much of the technology used to create the CGI had to be developed from scratch. So for the 1980s, this was impressive.
Today, a different story could be said. The CGI in “Tron” has not aged well and resembles a beginner’s animation made in the computer program Blender.
The vaporwave aesthetic is still well-captured in “Tron,” despite its overtly CGI look. Even if the CGI did not age well, it still conveys the digital world well and is not overly distracting.
The society within the digital realm is what brings the world to life. The world feels lived in and is far from barren. A lot of the film relies on world-building to tell the story, and that is communicated quite well.
The programs within the digital world represent their real-life counterpart users, which is a neat homage to how much people put themselves out on the Internet today. The programs are represented with different colors based on their job within the digital world, which shows off their hierarchical differences in a unique way.
Despite its shortcomings with the CGI, “Tron” still has an interesting and cohesive story that holds up. The only thing missing now is a score composed by Daft Punk.
Rating: 3/5
Griffin May can be reached at 581-2812 or gsmay@eiu.edu.
