Tron Legacy

Kevin Flynn the CEO of ENCOM and master game developer disappears leaving behind his seven year old son. Now twenty years later, Sam Flynn the rebellious major stock holder of his father's company, sabotages a board meeting where Richard Mackey is trying to take over the company. Kevin's old friend Alan Bradley tells Sam he received a page from the phone in his father's old office at the arcade that's been disconnected for just as many years. He believes his father is trying to communicate with him from “the Grid”.

Sam (Garrett Hedlund) races his motorcycle on city streets, hacks security systems of ENCOM then jumps off building to parachute down. He's confident and fearless, but still has unresolved issues with his missing dad. After Bradley (Bruce Boxlieitner) directs him to the old Flynn arcade, Sam discovers his father's secret office behind a Tron video game machine. The desktop screen activates a special machine that digitizes him into “the Grid” the virtual world where Kevin has been trapped all these years. Sam realizes that the stories his father had told him as a child is true. He's picked up by helmeted military types, then transported with other hapless individuals who are Programs (represented as human figures that resemble their creators) to fight in gladiator types of events. Sam is outfitted by some cyber-babes into a skintight lighted tank suit. He battles other “programs” with Frisbee type rings on his back that slice and dice. When they discover he's a “user”, he's brought to the leader who looks just like Kevin Flynn when he was young. Sam at first thinks he's found his father, but it's really Clu, the program that Kevin had created to make a perfect world of the grid. Expect as everyone knows you can't leave such responsibility to a computer program because machines will eventually want to take over the world. Clu has Sam compete in the lightcycle races where if the program beings are destroyed they shatter like glass. Sam is rescued by Quorra (Olivia Wilde) who takes him to his real father who spend all this time Zen-ing out. Turns out that Clu had sent the page call knowing that Sam will open the gateway to the real world. It's up to Sam, his dad and Quorra to get to the portal, back to the world and seal off Clu's plan for world domination.

Director Joseph Kosinski who is also tackling another cheesy Disney scifi movie The Black Hole, could have used more help from the screenplay by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. Life in the grid is dark, better to show off the lighted suits and cycles no doubt but it's like sitting in a half lighted room. Makes you sleepy. The action scenes are the only exciting moments with today's technology put to good use. If you are unfamiliar with the original 1982 movie you will not get any help here. The gobbly gook explanation of how you transport people into cyberland, the creatures that were created there, and why programs look like people has to be accepted in good faith while waiting for the next FX wonder. Jeff Bridges playing himself at his normal age and as a computer generated young Jeff Bridges is fun. Pretty soon we won't be able to trust anything we see on screen. There are some fun moments to enjoy, the racing and battles scenes, but not feeling anything new and amazing. The 3D effects were also not impressive. It's worth seeing, but don't expect to be blown away.
(Review by reesa)