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The matrix of pointlessness is reloaded in this mind-bendingly dull science fiction film, closer to a screensaver than an actual film. It's a threequel to the classic Tron film from the early 80s, a movie that was mould-breaking and courageously innovative for its day in a way that escapes this film and its forerunner Tron Legacy from 2010. The new Tron film almost awakens just once – when Evan Peters' character gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson's character playing his mum, in an traditional bit of real-world action. That's a bit of firm parenting you might feel like handing out to every producer engaged in this movie, and it's unfortunate to see the estimable Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so uninspired.

Plot Overview of Tron: Ares

The situation now is that an malicious artificial intelligence company with the obviously criminal name of Dillinger Corp has become a competitor to the virtual reality firm Encom, first established in the 1980s gaming period by genius trailblazer Kevin Flynn, portrayed by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (originally set up by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger, acted by David Warner) is led by the founder’s annoyingly geeky grandson Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a grand plan to design and create lucrative items such as indestructible soldiers and tanks in the VR world and then export them into the real world using a kind of 3D printer.

The problem is that no matter how intimidating, these creations disintegrate after twenty-nine minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim's character (Greta Lee) has uncovered the plot-driving “permanence code” which can maintain these entities permanently, and even stores it on her person on a very low-tech USB drive. So the ghastly Julian Dillinger deploys his enforcer on her: Ares, the humanoid uber-warrior which can exit the virtual realm for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the time-honoured way of robots, is beginning to show signs of disobeying what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith's performance plays Ares's stoic deputy Athena's role and unfortunate Bridges has a leaden legacy cameo in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton's setting.

Character and Performance Breakdown

And Ares himself – the protagonist of the film's name – is acted by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and faintly all-knowing smile, details that were perhaps designed by typing the words “incredibly irritating” into an AI human creation programme. No one who recalls the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life will always find it in their hearts to be completely harsh about Mr Leto, and I was incidentally quite amused by his broad (and critically misunderstood) comic turn in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Jared Leto is consistently, unrelentingly terrible here, although he isn't helped by a weak storyline which is supposed to allow him to show flashes of “compassion” for Eve Kim's role and delegate all the badass wickedness to Athena's character, thus rendering her slightly more engaging. It is supposed to be adorable when Ares the character says how he loves 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode band are better than Mozart.

Series Features and Overall Impact

And in keeping with the franchise identity of the series, there are motorbikes from the virtual underworld which speed around the environment in linear paths, conforming to the rectilinear design of classic video games (or even nightclubs); a single bike even emits a lethal beam which slices a police vehicle in half. But there is no drama or danger or emotional engagement anywhere. This franchise now looks about as urgently contemporary as an automobile CD system.