Dear Friend,
Disney owes me. I want my $13.00 dollars and 125 minutes back for a movie that should have been entitled, Tron: Marathon. Little did I realize when I saw this 3-D picture, that I would be giving it a triple-D rating, as in Disappointing Disney Disaster. I cannot recall being so bored watching a motion picture. The special effects were “special” for the first fifteen minutes, about the average length of a fireworks display with the same inherent predictability and monotony. The inertia of this action picture was oppressive. Unfortunately, there were 110 more minutes to endure of endless explosions interspersed with occasional dialogue so deadly dull, a silent movie in the vein of the futuristic Metropolis (1927), would have been preferable. Had silent movie star Norma Desmond appeared in this picture she might have said, “We didn’t need dialogue then, we had special effects.”
Was this film written during a writers’ strike? You tell me. Here is the plot. A father disappears into a netherworld of video games. In an attempt to find his father, the son accidentally falls into a virtual rabbit hole only to find himself a gladiator in a coliseum in a frantic Frisbee fight. The son fights in one competition after the other until the film ends in (you’ll never guess) an explosion. He gets the female-unit and rides off on a motorcycle into the sunlight, which she has never seen. If you were to cast Bruce Lee in Alice in Wonderland Meets Spartacus in Space, you would have some idea as to the caliber of this picture. This is a macho movie for macho adolescent boys. My favorite lines (and there weren’t many): father to son, “You’re messin’ with my Zen thing.” And, “What happened? Bio-digital jazz Clu happened.” Yeah, there was plenty of heavy-osity in this movie.
Tron: Legacy is a sequel to the cult classic Tron (1982), written and directed by Steven Lisberger. This review echoes many of the criticisms of that movie with its negligible plot, shallow characters, and extravagant specials effects. However, the film did gross $33 million. (Why mess with success? This is show business, after all.) Tron: Legacy was directed by Joseph Kosinski and had six (count them six) writers, including Lisberger. Perhaps if they had six film editors, this movie would not have been such a test of audience endurance. This was clearly a case of too many cooks in the kitchen spoiling the broth or this case re-hash. The recipe for any story is quite basic: plot, characters, and dialogue for starters. The quality of your final product can only be as good as your ingredients. Costumes, sets, and computer graphics can add flavor but they can never be the substance of a viable theatrical production. In this movie the mise-en-scene completely overwhelmed whatever drama there might have been. This is the difference between theater and art museums.
This movie was a science fiction demolition derby with a story as compelling as a professional wrestling match. It didn’t need to be Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots (Marx, 1964). For heavens sake, we had characters in this movie who could speak to one another. That is the basis for a universe of ideas and situations. There have been science fiction movies with action and meaning. Forbidden Planet (1956) was based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1610-11). In The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), the alien Klaatu’s resurrection and unlimited power was a metaphor for Christ’s. There was an attempt in Tron: Legacy to portray Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) as “the Creator” (of the digital game) in Cecil B. DeMille majesty, but I found it superficial. There was also an Archangel Michael versus the devil struggle theme, but frankly I didn’t care. (It was a fight over software, anyway). All I knew was I had to wait for both of them to explode before the theater lights would be turned on. At the end, when I heard Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) yell, “It’s over!” I knew he was talking about the picture.
Here’s the trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi4134312217/
From the vault: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), directed by Robert Wise; staring Patricia Neal, Michael Rennie, and Sam Jaffe. Patricia Neal didn’t want to make this film because she was afraid it going to be a turkey. (You try saying, “Gort! Klaatu baranda nikto!” with a straight face.) Even Aunt Bee is in the picture so you know it has to be scary, “Oh, Andy!”
Best of luck in your movie selections. Your faithful friend,
Dwight Dekeyser
© 2011 Dwight Dekeyser, Esq. All rights reserved.
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