Tron: The Original Classic / Tron: Legacy [Blu-ray]

I am a big fan of the original Tron. I really looked forward to the sequel. While there was a lot about the sequel that I liked, there were also a lot of things about it that disappointed.For the color scheme, the style changed a lot from the original to the sequel. We went from blue on white to blue on black. It still looks pretty neat, but I would have liked to see some transition. Maybe even some older programs still in service. It was not to be. In some ways I still preferred the older suits. The new ones were almost completely dark.In the first Tron, Kevin Flynn had "magic" powers due to being a User. I was kind of glad to see this subdued somewhat. Now, he uses his system knowledge instead.Also in the original, Kevin Flynn was good at the games because he was good at video games. But this doesn't work so well in the sequel. Sam Flynn is good at the games... why? Not because he has any experience with them. But only because he has become Generic Action Hero Guy! I don't know what to think about that.I liked how Kevin Flynn had aged. I also liked the awkward Father / Son relationship, which I could certainly relate to. I felt like the acting there was spot on. It was meant to be awkward, with two people who were worlds apart. With nothing to talk about really, but with still a deep love underneath. I got that, and I thought it was well done.Some criticize Garrett Hedlund's acting in this, but I thought he did a great job. I had no problem with Sam Flynn as a character. Olivia Wilde was good, too. And Jeff Bridges, as usual, really shined. He was awesome.I've read some criticism that somewhere between Tron and Tron: Legacy, Kevin Flynn became "The Dude" from The Big Lebowsky. I couldn't disagree more. They both have a beard, and they both say "man" a lot. But that's where the similarity ends. Flynn is philosophical. The Dude isn't - people just read philosophy into what he says, even when there is none. Flynn is an achiever. The Dude is a loser. Flynn cares about the future. The Dude just wants his rug back... So I don't think it's fair at all to say that Flynn is now the Dude. It doesn't make any sense to say that. Sure, the movie has plenty of things to criticize. But calling Flynn "the Dude" just because they look alike is a cheap shot that doesn't require any actual thinking.For me, the biggest problem with the movie was that the story wasn't so great. Mostly because it featured far too much exposition. And in a lot of cases, there were setups for some great fights - which were never shown. For example, toward the end, Sam goes into a room to fight. He says his one liner, and then the whole fight occurs off-screen. This is very ineffective and a bit of a let down. Maybe it was done this way on purpose to avoid a PG-13 rating, but I was disappointed.And all of the stuff with the ISO's... That's not a bad story, but all they did was tell us about it in flashbacks. That's not very effective storytelling. If they had made THAT the story rather than what we got, it might have been more interesting.Plus, I never bought into the whole "The ISO's will change everything" argument anyway. "Religion, science, medicine..." I'm sorry, but I don't get that. It seems an awful lot like hand-waving on a lazy writers' part, trying to make us think the ISO's are more significant than they are. I mean, the programs in this movie can already think and act independently which is not at all approximating reality to begin with. So how is finding another batch of programs that can do the same in any way significant? So they were randomly generated. So what? What does that have to do with "religion, science, and medicine"? Or "everything"?I've seen other reviewers here defend this plot point religiously. I think you guys are making something out of nothing. You WANT the story to make sense. You WANT the story to be great. But it isn't. Yet you still try to argue to convince people like me that it is.What we got wasn't all bad, however. I still really enjoyed the movie, and I would like to see another sequel. It had some neat effects. I liked the derezzing effect especially. Story-wise, the father / son angle was good.It also had some bad effects. Namely, the young CGI Jeff Bridges. Now I didn't mind this when used for Clu. Clu is a program, after all. So dead eyes and a creepy, frozen face are acceptable for him. But it's not acceptable for the younger Kevin Flynn. It's only one moment, but it seems apparent that the CGI technology is not quite there yet.The story was not very complicated. This was good and bad. Good in that it was simple and easy to understand. Bad in that there wasn't a lot of motivation besides "Clu is doing this because he is evil". But that's exactly the way the first movie was, so I can't complain.Tron is underused in the movie, which is a pity. But I didn't mind this too much. Even in the first movie, Tron himself is a pretty flat character. Just a crusading do-gooder. Still, I wish they had done more with him here, instead of turning him into a generic Darth Vader-type. But it was still good.Ram also shows up, by the way. Or at least, his programmer does ("Alan, can I have some of your popcorn?"). But this isn't in the movie itself - it's only on the special features. There's a whole section of deleted scenes with an entire subplot featuring the guy, called "Flynn Lives". I am sorry to see that none of that made it into the movie, but I can see why it was cut.It is also worth mentioning that same as the original movie, Tron Legacy really shines when it comes to the music. Instead of Wendy Carlos, we get Daft Punk. I credit this movie for turning me on to Daft Punk, a most excellent electronica duo. The music they do is great, both for this movie and in their own albums.Also, as a special feature, this movie includes Daft Punk's most excellent "Derezzed" video. This features two sci-fi jousting figures on a Tron-esque landscape. It has to be one of the coolest videos of all time! Certainly the coolest I've ever seen.As for the 3D... I am a 3D enthusiast, and own many 3D movies. I liked the 3D in this movie. It was nothing spectacular, all depth effects really. But it was very well done and I enjoyed watching it. I think the 3D adds to the experience here, and I can't say that about all 3D movies.This particular pack also comes with the original Tron, which I don't care to review other than to say I love it. It's not perfect either, but it's still great. And having it on Blu-Ray is NICE.The final verdict: Tron Legacy is a good movie. Not great, but good. It had a lot of potential, and - to be fair - a lot of hype to live up to. Perhaps there is no way it could have measured up to such expectations. It is hard for me to judge the movie without thinking I might be biased, or overly critical. I wanted the movie to be a lot better than it was. It let me down, but I'm still pretty happy with what we got. I'm still giving it 5 stars because I like it so much. I hope they make another.

Tron: Legacy has it’s flaws, I admit. But oddly I can’t seem to pinpoint them. There is something missing from the movie as a whole, but overall it’s an effective Sci Fi/Father-Son/Coming of age movie.For anyone who is a fan of the original (for all of it’s flaws) you should revel in the innovative production value that is a faithful effort to do what the 1984 version was trying to do; make something original. Tron: Legacy offers a beautiful rendition of a computer world that is obviously no longer just a 2.0 version but a fully realized world with life, good & evil, desperation, hope and evolution. The suspension of disbelief chasm is a bit large to imagine computer programs actually living and existing in any way close to our existence but if you can get past that, the reward is plenty.With a brief and informative intro that explains how Flynn re-invigorated the IT Company, Encom that he regained control of in the 1984 version, we are given a glimpse on his relationship with son Sam, which is obviously a strong one. He explains to him how he actually did get into the computer world and discovered how programs ‘live’ and conflict with each other from inside the system. Then Kevin disappears. Leaving him with the question of not only where did he go, but why did he go. Twenty years later, Sam has become a somewhat hostile and rebellious computer genius who still owns a majority share of the Encom company but doesn’t really want anything to do with it. On a request from Alan, the alias of Tron from the original movie, Sam goes to the old arcade and is pulled into the computer world via the same means his father was pulled in. Now the computer world has changed though. It’s deadlier, and CLU, the created servant/custodian created by Kevin to watch over the world when he wasn’t there, has tyrannically taken control and is trying to move into the outside world.The emotional aspects of the movie don’t come into play until much later in the movie, but needless to say, and this is a bit unfortunate, the movie doesn’t really work as well on the first viewing. After 2 or 3, I think it’s easier to see what the director was doing. And even though Tron: Legacy is not perfect, it’s a great piece of entertainment and a great long term sequel to the original. It’s beautiful to look at, the action sequences are incredible, the story is very good, if not great. And Jeff Bridges plays the character with the same loose ‘groovy’ attitude for the most part but now he knows there is a lot more at stake.If you watch this, try to watch it a second time at some point, and then make judgment.

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