Tron: Legacy

Its actually quite nice to get a balance of good and painfully average/bad films when I'm reviewing, because all I seem to watch as of late (understandably) are the 'classics' (and comic book films) which are bound to get decent scores. You can probably see where this is going...

Tron: Legacy is set within the original Tron universe and whilst not a direct sequel its neither a complete remake either. This is certainly one of its downfalls, because it creates a back story far too complex for its own good. Whilst the premise is interesting Legacy's combination of downright terrible script, boring predictable characters and wooden acting meant I had no interest in understanding the overarching plot line.

Firstly the script is as if they literally borrowed from a book of Hollywood cliche lines with most being thoughtless and dumb. The lead role only adds to this facade and is completely uninteresting. We've seen this character so many times before! Tron barely even features in it, and in the end he has practically no use what so ever! Jeff Bridges is the only actor to at least put some spice into his characters.

Okay so maybe I'm being a little harsh. Legacy's main selling point is the visual impact it provides, and yes it is impressive now and again with a very stark, neon scheme, it does look cool. But unlike the recent Sucker Punch, there wasn't really enough variation in the action and I never felt as if it knew it was terrible, or trying to be ridiculous. Tron feels as if its trying to be serious and it just doesn't really work with such a cliched but overly complex story. Also nothing else about the film is cool or sexy, unlike Sucker Punch, and that's why that worked. At least it admitted it was ridiculous and gave action fans beautiful women and over the top visuals!

Okay, the soundtrack had its moments too, especially near the start of the film, although later on it often felt very out of place. Overall Tron: Legacy isn't awful. Its just awfully average! It does literally everything by the book and for me just ended up being completely boring and inane. Maybe die hard Tron fans or the shallow film goers will get something out of this but I cant say I enjoyed this much at all. [D]