UK RELEASE DATE - 17th December 2010.

After watching first-time director Joseph Kosinski’s TRON continuation I went back to my review of Steven Lisberger’s 1982 original. What I said then basically stands for LEGACY now: don’t let the overly technical outline and confusing jargon put you off seeing a dazzling action adventure; special kudos must go to Jeff Bridges; despite a multi-levelled religious resonance and it feeling twee and hollow in certain aspects, it’s a must-see.

If I left it at that you’d catch my drift over what many view as one of Disney’s biggest ever gambles – a $200 million sequel to an epic flop that was considered a cheat for using computer enhancement. But the game has changed significantly since TRON wasn’t considered Oscar eligible on those grounds. Now, nearly three decades after first witnessing computer genius Kevin Flynn (Bridges) illegally entering a computer system to prove himself the rightful owner of several stolen game patents, we learn his rebellious son Sam (Garret Hedlund) is still haunted by his mysterious disappearance. Investigating a weird signal sent from the old Flynn arcade, Sam is pulled into The Grid digital universe where Kevin has been trapped for years, held hostage by his jealous avatar CLU (a wrinkle-free motion-capture Bridges), who plans to leap from his virtual world into reality with his army of programmes to make it run smoothly and virus free. Ultra-slick, super shiny and razzle-dazzle action-packed TRON: LEGACY may be, yet it’s seriously derailed by numerous bewildering plot issues. Not helped by Hedlund being the blankest lead in some time. With Disney’s high investment in this movie why on earth did they go for a fifth-rate Hayden Christensen clone? Especially as he engenders nil emotional connection in what’s supposed to be a touching father/son reconciliation where Sam learns his proper place in the scheme of things. It must also be said that Olivia Wilde as his ISO love interest Quorra is just as ineffective. Clearly terrified by his film being seen as a bloated CGI cartoon with little humanity in evidence, upcoming BLACK HOLE reboot man Kosinski overdoes the high angles and zooming yet still fails to make it anything less than a cold and remote experience. Having said all that Bridges scores in both real and motion-capture turns as aged hero and villain uttering such hilarious bio-digital jazz lines like ‘Stop messing with my Zen thing”. Michael Sheen scores too as the double-crossing ‘Ziggy Stardust’ style programme in charge of the End of the Line Club (BTW the scene in which you can glimpse Lisberger). His camp cameo livens up proceedings enormously as he seems to be auditioning for some space age Rocky Horror Show. Good to see Bruce Boxleitner back too, even if he is underused. But back in the bizarre netherworld of video game warfare, TRON: LEGACY is a turbo-driven visual feast with its thrilling lightcycle and lightjet races to the death and all manner of truly astonishing gizmos, gadgets and glorious epic arenas.

he design and look is cyber-fabulous too; the elegant orange/white neon on black colour scheme filtered through Stanley Kubrick and Fritz Lang sci-fi imagery to stunning effect. The icing on the fanboy cake? Daft Punk’s pounding techno score, a major bonus and easily one of the best soundtracks of the year.

Alan Jones.

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