Logansneo
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Posts: 106 | My loooooong delayed Tron Legacy review
on Thursday, January, 27, 2011 12:54 PM
I truly love the experience of watching a movie for the first time. Knowing and not knowing what to expect. Opening up my mind and putting myself in the shoes of these amazing, adventurous, despicable, endearing characters and living in that moment helps me to really feel what filmmakers are trying to convey. I love the game of watching a story develop and running the various paths it could take through my head, attempting to perceive where it might go and finally have it reveal whether I was right or see if they cleverly tricked me down the wrong path. I was only just starting to enjoy this experience when the first TRON came out and it had a remarkable effect on my views and expectations of films from that point on. Many might say that Star Wars of Star Trek were the first films to do this for them, but even with exposure to these and as well as other seminal films it was TRON that had the greatest affect on my imagination, probably because for all of it's impossibilities the realities of its setting were far more ominous and could more easily be applied to my life. With the original TRON we were given a glimpse inside of an impossible world of programs living within the structure and confines of a computer. With its fascinating visual effects and story it gave us something many films strive toward yet few ever achieve. Originality. It was the very first feature film to incorporate computer graphic imagery, and it's optical effects that help to create the "TRON-glow" look make it on of the most recognizable films in history.
So when Tron Legacy was announced a few years ago through it's ComicCon 'leaked' video footage of the teaser trailer it was like I was that 7 year old kid again. With it's sexy production design and the fact that Steven Lisberger, the original director and creative force behind TRON, was involved in the production and story development I was fairly confident that it would be a tremendous film. It quickly became clear that someone at Disney had taken the material extremely seriously when the online viral campaign kicked into full swing in '09 with the Flynn Lives and phony ENCOM sites, and all the various events that occurred to promote Tron Legacy. That just wet my appetite for what was to come. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just the tiniest bit apprehensive that it wouldn't or even couldn't live up to or surpass the hype, much less my expectations. Very thankfully it did much more than that!
Tron Legacy is a brilliant continuation of the spirit and originality that inspired TRON. It's an extremely personal film, which may seem odd for a big budget blockbuster. That's because it seems as if it was made not for the masses of moviegoers, not for the average joe per se, but as if it were essentially a love letter to the true TRON fanatics. Think about the likelihood of this production being made, I mean really. A niche, cult sci-fi film based on a film that was ridiculed upon it's debut 28 years ago with major actors and an enormous budget. Does that sound sensible or logical? But that didn't stop them from making it. As a matter of fact it's almost as if this fringe element of creative minds inside of Disney hatched this crazy plan to force the executives into committing to Tron Legacy by showing how incredibly viable the TRON franchise is to this day. And all their hard dedication and labor yielded an amazing result! Not only is Tron Legacy a dazzlingly beautiful piece of cinema with some of the most amazing visual effects and incredible yet simplistic set and costume designs of any recent film. But more importantly it has an ingredient that many filmmakers have a hard time grafting into their films. Heart! At it's core it is about the reconciliation of father and son, after years of estrangement because of an accident that left the father trapped far away from his son, and the son always wondering if his dad had just run away and abandoned him or if he truly was dead.
When the film opened I went with my family and friends to the local IMAX to see it in 3D. After the film finished my wife paid me a very loving complement when she said of Tron Legacy, "I was kind of confused at first. I was watching the film asking myself 'what's going on?' Then I stopped and tried to see the film how you see movies, I put myself into your mindset and all of a sudden I got it! I finally got what you were so excited about and was blown away by it!"
And that's how I feel about Tron Legacy. I LOVE this movie! But, you say, how could this possibly be as good as those "Oscar-worthy" films it released against this year? Well.....it's not opinion. It's love! You don't choose who you fall in love with. You can go and play the field, test the water and decide if you like it, hedge your bets, as it were, but in the end it's about your heart. And who or what you fall in love with doesn't have to be perfect to everyone. Just to you! I see Tron Legacy as the perfect continuation of the story of Kevin Flynn, quite convincingly capturing the feel of the original's core elements but breathing new life into it and taking it into amazing new directions. It followed the logical thought process of just what would Flynn do after returning from the computer world he'd visited in TRON. Would he just try and forget what happened, attributing his time in the computer world to some fantasy? Or would he spend years and years attempting to return to that world? Thankfully he does indeed keep trying to re-discover the computer world and with his knowledge of programming he ultimately works to create the "perfect" world-within-a-world where his visions could be fully realized. Flynn's position at ENCOM allowed him access to the tools he would need to explore that world more secretly, so that some day he would be able to present his discoveries to everyone. Especially to his beloved son Sam.
How the film opens is quite engaging at the same time being thoughtful taking time to show the closeness between Flynn and his son Sam. It was brief but poignant. Those that feel the use of CGI for the younger Flynn was terrible were either looking for it or just plain looking for anything to write Legacy off as another bomb. They unfortunately let themselves be distracted and in doing so missed out on a great film. During the film there are a few touchstones tying Legacy to the original such as when Sam sneaks into ENCOM by cracking the door code and saying "that's a big door". Some might say it was corny, but I feel it served as a lens we could use to see the inherent traits and similarities between Sam and Flynn. Both are extremely smart and ingenious. Both having a bit of a devious sense of humor. And why did Sam break into ENCOM? To try and set right what he had interpreted was his father's vision for the company that had lost the direction Flynn had set it on at the time of his disappearance. Sam is dealing with many struggles, using his technical knowledge and love for his father to lash out at those who would tarnish Flynn's reputation, or worse, bury Flynn's role in forging the foundations of the corporation with which the executives have now built their successes on.
The film is extremely dark, literally, using mostly night shots in the real world which echo's with the original TRON but also foreshadows the computer world of Legacy. Once we enter the digital world of the Grid that's when the film takes off and pushes our senses to their limits. With all the trailers and footage I had been exposed to regarding Tron Legacy I was shocked how completely overwhelming it eventually was. The sheer detail that went into the astounding effects is breathtaking! But more importantly it's not just amazing visuals that make it great. The performances are of each actor are excellent, with very likable, very human characters with which we can relate to. Legacy does an exceptional job of bridging the gap with the original, yet defines itself quite deftly, making it very clear that this is a new creation with it's inky palette and the sleekly designed world of the computer.
Back when Disney originally announced that Tron Legacy was in development, I also heard that they had decided to enlist the talent of a pair of musicians from the techno/house arena, known enigmatically as Daft Punk. I wasn't terribly familiar with their work so I began to collect their albums and found myself quite enjoying what I was hearing. But as much as I enjoyed the strange, repeating techno rhythms they weaved I began to wonder how these two very talented artists would make music for a film? Could they compete with Wendy Carlos' brilliant score for TRON? Well I'm here to tell you that Daft Punk's contribution to this film cannot be overstated enough! Their incredible music MAKES Tron Legacy what it is, just as much if not more than Wendy Carlos' score did for TRON. Their brilliance in crafting such emotionally stirring compositions is stunning! That said, Tron Legacy is not a film to be seen, or rather heard, in anything less than a theater-quality sound system. The power of this beautifully crafted piece of scoring reaches out and holds the audience in a way I haven't experienced in quite some time. It's haunting melodies and assaulting rhythms amplify the performances and action to an almost hypnotic level. My buddy Joe, who attended the IMAX screening with me put it best saying, "...it's like if Vangelis and Hans Zimmer had a love child, that child would be the score to Tron Legacy."
I can't thank the filmmakers enough for there stupendous work on Legacy. Through their vision and commitment they helped me achieve that state of awe and wonder i so rarely get to experience as an adult, and to share that experience with my friends and family has been a real treat. I can't wait for TRON 3!
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Murdock.dat
User
Posts: 80 | RE: My loooooong delayed Tron Legacy review
on Thursday, January, 27, 2011 1:17 PM
Well said sir, well said.
I totally agree with you on your whole review, especially the part where people ripping the cgi were LOOKING for any and all imperfections. Or to put it another way, they were looking for their definition of perfection much the same as CLU was looking at the grid with his definition of perfection. That's the lens through which they were looking, and that's too bad for them.
"On the other side of the screen, it all looks so easy."
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