When I first heard about TRON: Legacy, I was both excited and... well, a bit trepidatious; I really liked the original movie, but from the preview, I could see that the look had changed so much that I feared I could be quite disappointed. You see, a lot has changed since the original TRON, both in the story as well as in the technology behind making movies. TRON had computer-generated imagery at a time when that was unheard of. In fact, according to one of the special features, supposedly the reason that TRON wasn't considered for an Oscar for special effects is because they used computers, which some considered "cheating." At any rate, the original TRON movie pushed the envelope, taking the viewer inside of a computer to find a world much like our own, but where the users are thought of as gods - either revered, despised or not to be "believed in." TRON depicted the world inside of the computer as a more simplistic version of our own world, but with a very futuristic look, where things have lines of pure energy tracing through them, causing them to have an otherworldly glow. This glow was the only source of light in TRON, as there was no sun... so everything had this internal glow. It was quite beautiful and unique.
Actually, for all of its groundbreaking special effects and its high-tech concepts, TRON didn't do very well at the box office. However, as time went by, it became a cult classic, even being referenced in a wide variety of shows, from South Park to Chuck and The Big Bang Theory.
The original TRON movie follows Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), a hacker and maverick programmer at ENCOM, who wrote some games that put ENCOM on the map, but his boss, Ed Dillenger (David Warner) stole the credit for the games and an artificially intelligent program named the Master Control Program, or MCP (voiced by David Warner) has shuffled any evidence of Kevin Flynn having written them off into out-of-the-way sectors. Flynn is determined to get his proof, so he enlists the assistance of another computer programmer, Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) and Lora (Cindy Morgan), their friend-with-benefits (a high-level security pass, to be specific), to get him onto a system where he can hack around the MCP to locate and retrieve the evidence he needs. When the MCP begins to feel threatened, however, it uses a high-powered laser that was directly behind the terminal Flynn was using and "scans" him into the computer world, putting him into the game grid to fight to the death. Flynn has other ideas and works together with Tron, a security program Alan Bradley had written, and another program named Ram, besting their opponents in the Light Cycle arena and then escaping through a damaged section of the game arena. As newfound friends, they determine that they have to take MCP out, once and for all, but first, they'll have to go through the program Sark (David Warner), the MCP's masochistic right-hand man.
TRON Legacy is a sequel to TRON, but takes place thirty years after the events in the original, with some of the events in between being touched on in other media, including some TRON videogames and an upcoming Disney XD animated show, TRON : Uprising. The changes in style are attributed to the simulation getting better over the years, much as computer technology has improved over the years. Everything in TRON Legacy has a seamless, slick look that seems inspired by things such as The Matrix, but it still retains the light traces that were such an integral part of the look of the original, just... updated a bit.
TRON Legacy starts with a montage that brings the viewer up to speed on some of the events that have occurred since we last saw our hero, Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges). After destroying MCP and getting the evidence to prove that he was the genius behind ENCOM's most profitable arcade games, Kevin had taken over control of ENCOM and had several good years. He would tuck his young son, Sam (Owen Best) in at night to tales of his adventures in the mysterious world inside of the computer and had been doing quite a bit of work in this computer world, feeling that he was on the brink of a world-changing discovery. It was at that point that Kevin disappeared, leaving Sam to grow up with his grandparents, wondering why his dad would leave him and not return. Amidst the turmoil, Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) stepped in as Interim CEO to keep the company running until Kevin returned.
Jumping thirty years later, we find Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) stuck in a rut, having dropped out of college, with no girlfriend and no job, as he simply lives off of the money he gets from ENCOM (as ENCOM's leading shareholder) and pulls off dangerous pranks.
One night, when Alan gets a mysterious page on his pager (yes, he still wears a pager) that originates from Kevin's office in his defunct arcade, Sam reluctantly goes to check it out and accidentally ends up in the computer world his father had discovered. He finds himself quickly captured and punished for not having his security disc (which, in this case, felt a bit synonymous with "papers"). He gets "processed", as his old clothes are cut off of him and a new, techno-organic suit without seams "grows" onto him. He is then given an identity disc (which serves to record everything you experience and also makes a handy weapon) and is dropped into a high-tech gladiator-styled arena to play TRON discs to the death. Sam gets the hang of it, luckily, but quickly decides that he's had enough and attempts to escape the arena. He finds himself up against the crowd's champion, Rinzler (Anis Cheurfa). He finds himself outmatched, and Rinzler is preparing to finish him off when he notices a drop of... blood? It's out - Sam isn't a program; he's a user. This gets him an audience with the man in charge... his father? After a strange exchange with what he thinks to be his father, he learns that it's not his father, but CLU 2.0 (a youngish CG Jeff Bridges), a program made by his father to assist him in perfecting the system, but who is now attempting to "create the perfect system," by eradicating the imperfect users in the system.
CLU decides to destroy Sam Flynn publicly by putting him in the games, having him play Light Cycles against some of his best players, including Rinzler, and Sam once again finds himself in a precarious situation, but is rescued by a female program, Quorra (Olivia Wilde), who is the companion and protege of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), who, in his reclusion, has gone beyond his hippy-like tendencies into a Zen-like state, where he has given up personal desires and hopes. Having been trapped here many years ago, he realizes his son is in the same situation and it will be a race against to get Sam back out before CLU uses the same window of opportunity to spill out into the real world and wreak his havok. Expect lots of explosive action, fight scenes and gorgeous CG as Quorra and Sam travel about the world hoping to right things before it's too late.
While TRON Legacy isn't what I would have expected as a sequel to TRON, it's also been quite some time since the original was released. What becomes readily apparent when watching the special features is that almost everyone who participated in the making of TRON Legacy was thrilled to be a part of the project. Michael Sheen, who gave a phenomenal supporting performance as Castor, the flamboyant owner/operator of the End of Line Club, tells in an interview that he was so excited about the project that he basically had nothing to bargain with. Not surprisingly, Daft Punk are also big fans of TRON. Not only did they perform the soundtrack for TRON Legacy, but they serve as DJs in the End of Line Club.
If you're a fan of TRON, whether it be the original classic or TRON Legacy, then this is definitely the version to get. You get the original TRON in an amazingly crisp Blu-ray version that simply pops, as well as TRON Legacy in just about any version you could hope for. Don't let the 3D version scare you away if you're not currently set up to watch Blu-ray 3D movies; you get it on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D, with a digital copy disc, as well, so you can put in on your laptop or mobile device. And, when you upgrade your hardware to a 3D capable system, you'll be ready.
Personally, however, I think the deal-maker is the sheer volume of special features. There are multiple galleries with concept art, including some that even show very early concept art from when Steven Lisberger was envisioning it as a purely animated film. It was really neat to see the degree to which the making of TRON: Legacy was fan driven, through the interviews with the actors who were obviously long-time fans of the original TRON, and the Disc Roars featurette, which shows that the cheering (and jeering) of the crowd in the Light Cycle Arena was actually recorded by Skywalker Sound on-site at Comic-Con; they actually recorded the sound of the crowd in attendance at the TRON: Legacy panel, directing them on what and how to say their parts. Possibly the most touching special feature shows Steven Lisberger's visit to the Disney archives to see the production photographs from the original TRON that had been locked away for so many years. Part of what made it so special is that he invited his son, Karl, to go with him. Mind you, his son grew up with TRON props in the house, and the popularity of TRON, but he had never seen the production photographs. He was taken aback at seeing the pictures of his father at such a young age, directing TRON. It was neat to watch as the two of them looked through the materials and shared insights and comments about the movie, actors and each other. At points, it seems that Karl is almost interviewing his father, so a lot of neat, personal observations about the making of TRON are brought to light in this feature. Also, for music fans, there's a music video for Daft Punk's Derezzed, as well as an alternate version of the original Light Cycles scene that featured music over it; the final version ended up being just voices and sound effects. There are so many special features that there's bound to be several things that appeal to any TRON fan. Highly recommended.
