Tron: Legacy

Starring: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, & Olivia Wilde

Director: Joseph Kosinski - Rating: PG - Score: 3 1/2 Stars

Do you have to completely understand a film to completely enjoy it? It is a question I had to ask myself after watching Tron: Legacy. Despite being released twenty-eight years after the first film, the sequel only offers a brief recap of the original film, and doesn't really provide enough information for those of us who haven't seen the first movie. That being said, what I gathered was that Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) created the most popular video game of it's time, which launched a billion dollar company, but it was more than just a game. There was also a virtual world where life and death battles took place and control of the real world was at stake. Somehow Flynn was trapped by his alter-ego, Clu, and stuck there, until his son, Sam (Garrett Hedlund), receives a message all these years later, and discovers his fathers secret world and also becomes trapped inside. Granted I don't really understand why this world was created in the first place, how "the bad guys" were created, or even who Tron actually is. Never the less, I still enjoyed the action the film has to offer, as well as the incredible special effects. The truth is that for a PG Disney movie, this was an incredibly complicated story, and the real appeal here was the special effects, which were revolutionary ten years ago. As for the cast, I really liked Garrett Hedlund, I thought he had a big future ahead of him, after Four Brothers, but for some reason he doesn't do many films like this and I don't run into him too often. Jeff Bridges on the other hand seemed very disinterested in reprising his role, almost as if he was doing it for a big pay day. Not to mention, the digitized younger alter-ego, Clu, was more than somewhat creepy. Overall, I really didn't get the point of the film, but it was entertaining enough and it killed a few hours, exactly what I was in the mood for at the time I watched it.