Tron Legacy

[danny_galaga]

Have just come back from seeing this. 3D doesn't do a hell of a lot for me, so I opted for the 2D version on a huge screen. Although I concede that the light cycle sequence would look great with 3D.

I only just revisited the original a few weeks ago, having not seen it since it was at the cinema.  Even so, having a mind like a sieve, I only caught one incidental reference to the old movie (a line that was used, obviously things like light cycles and that light beam train thingo are references too, but you know what I mean). I was also hoping to spot a pacman or mickey mouse easter egg, but didn't. Maybe Namco wanted good money for it this time, where as last time I bet they didn't get anything. Or of course, just like when I watched the first movie, I just didn't notice  

This time around, the story I think is more thought out. The original really was about 'hey, we can do some freaky computer effects no one has ever seen before. Oh, and we should put a story in there too'. Actually, the original idea for the story is quite profound really. Just that this time, they spent more time on the detail I think. So what do I think of the CGI this time around? Well, I'll start by saying that if I had rated it out of five back in the day, the whole of the original movie would have been a 5/5. It was that astounding. But watching it now, to me the CGI is still 5/5, but the rest a lot lower. This time around, with Tron Legacy, the CGI isn't as mind-blowing (how can it be?). But to pick a fault (in my eyes, others will feel differently) I would say that the original look of the CGI, with it's Giraud shading, perfectly felt to me then and now, how that world would be. This time there is more texture, and skin stuff (dunno the technical terms, sorry!). And tyre smoke! This just doesn't seem to me to be how this world would be. It didn't eat away at me though   Also slightly disappointed the tanks weren't featured. The original tanks looked amazing with their asymmetric turrets.  think I saw an aerial view of one but that was it.

Some VERY impressive CGI though is making TRON and CLU look like they would have in 1989. It was amazing to see a Jeff Bridges as if he'd just finished filming Tucker or summink. I bet he's wishing he could keep that look. But then probably not, he seems the sort of guy who is extremely comfortable with who he is and how he is aging.

A few scores here to compare methinks

Tron (if I had rated it in 1982)  5/5

Tron (after rewatching it recently) 3.5/5

Tron Legacy 4/5  (but I bet if I watch it 28 years from now, it'll still be 4/5)

my score for recent movies you may have seen:

  5/5 - Michael Clayton, In Bruges, Gran Torino, Mary and Max

4.5/5 - Taken, Iron Man, Reign Over Me, Watchmen, The girl with the dragon tattoo

  4/5 - Tron Legacy, Traitor, Bedtime Stories, Sunshine, pineapple express

3.5/5 - 300, Max Payne, You dont mess with the Zohan, Yes Man

  3/5 - That new Indiana Jones flick, Disturbia, That new TMNT flick,

2.5/5 - Angels and Demons

  2/5 - The Love Guru. Note: My 2 is probably someone elses 1. Just leaving room for worse!

[SNAAKE]

there is a tron legacy thread here..

BAD DANNY!


probably gonna check it out later tonight.

[danny_galaga]

there is a tron legacy thread here..

BAD DANNY!


probably gonna check it out later tonight.

There are a few. Were any of them a review of the movie? One was about an after party 

But anyway, go see it!

[jipp]

your review is spot on to what iv been reading from average joes on different forums.. they all said the 3d was lame..  nothing like avatar,  9 out of 10 used this to compare 3d ( guess this will be the standard to compare new 3d movies from some time?) is what they were all comparing it to, or what they all wanted it to be i guess.. i did see avatar in 3d and it was pretty good saw it in 2d too.. in 2d the colors were better, 3d you had objects being thrown at you..  ( anyone seen them 3d and 2d?  was the color better in 2s?  im wondering if this is the norm.. i do not go to see a lot of movies so i have no clue.. )  and they said the movie was a hit and miss.. not much middle ground.. you either loved it or hated it.  one of the forums im on is a iphone/device game forum.. so that forum is 90% teens.. and with them it was more 40/60 split.  guess just depend if they saw the first tron or not..  sad to say most of them did not and were saying this was a original movie Hollywood came up with something original. laughs..  at any rate, with what iv read i was originally gonna go see it.. but im gonna save my 30.00 and use it for my cab. maybe some led buttons to play around with. 
peace.

chris. 

[danny_galaga]

Well, I can't comment on the 3D. 3D in general doesn't impress me greatly, that's why I saw this in 2D...

[RayB]

Just saw it today. Pretty good if you like movies that are heavily dependant on "style". Say for example you liked "Ultraviolet", then you'll for sure like TL even more.

"Cora" makes it pleasant too ;-)

It was very light on any tech-speak which is fine I guess; it might have been cheesy to have an I/O Port instead of a "portal" huh?

I liked the soundtrack but was disappointed they didn't incorporate any of the signature melodies from the original movie.

[danny_galaga]

Just saw it today. Pretty good if you like movies that are heavily dependant on "style". Say for example you liked "Ultraviolet", then you'll for sure like TL even more.

"Cora" makes it pleasant too ;-)

It was very light on any tech-speak which is fine I guess; it might have been cheesy to have an I/O Port instead of a "portal" huh?

I liked the soundtrack but was disappointed they didn't incorporate any of the signature melodies from the original movie.

Cora could be my friend (",)

I liked that Daft Punk were in the 'nightclub'.

[drventure]

Just saw it last night. The movie was ok. Not great, but nothing to walk out on either.

The music killed me. 2 hours of "Tangerine Dream" esque synth. Not sayin' it was bad, and it actually "felt" very much like how I remember the original. Come to think of it, seems like the whole mood of Legacy duplicated the original to a t.

Not sure if that's good or bad, but there it is.

[Vigo]

Overall, it was a good movie, and I agree pretty much with Danny's assessment. I thought the story was pretty good for a 30 year after-the-fact sequel. They did a good job at making a reasonable plot. Even though I went into the movie wondering WTF Flynn would even end back up in the computer world, they did a good job making a plausible answer. The moive was pretty well balanced plot-wise, and had good action as well. They didn't go into the whole "iso" thing well enough to make that part worthwhile though. I also wish they spent a little time explaining why the 1982 computer world is so radically different from the 1989 world. I think I would have appreciated the artistic direction more if they did. Why do cars kick up dirt? Why are "tron suits" optional? I wish I knew why.

I also was a little irked that they made Kevin Flynn into this Zen master of the computer world, like Neo from the Matrix. Tron of all movies should not have to resort to directly snatching from the matrix. And really, hasn't Jeff Bridges played the aging hippy enough?

Overall, I give it a B+. It might have a more refined plot, but the computer world didn't have that computer space "feel" like the original did. The movie was good enough that I would like to see this become a Tron Trilogy. (Hopefully with more Boxleitner next time).

[BadMouth]

I liked it.  Saw the 2D version 'cause I'm blind in one eye. 

I thought they were very respectful to the original.  They could have really blasphemed and worked an internet/online multiplayer angle, etc.
Instead, they kept the arcade as a central piece of the story.  It could have easily gone horribly wrong trying to update it, but they did a good job.
I think it could have been a great movie had the ending been more spectacular or suprising.
As it is, it's a good movie. 

I will give them bonus points for rolling out Dillinger's son as an obvious villain, then doing nothing else with the character.
The plot wasn't completely unforseen, but at least they didn't go for the obvious rehash of the old movie.

I like the soundtrack by Daft Punk. 

[opt2not]

I liked it.  Saw the 2D version 'cause I'm blind in one eye. 

I thought they were very respectful to the original.  They could have really blasphemed and worked an internet/online multiplayer angle, etc.
Instead, they kept the arcade as a central piece of the story.  It could have easily gone horribly wrong trying to update it, but they did a good job.
I think it could have been a great movie had the ending been more spectacular or suprising.
As it is, it's a good movie. 

I will give them bonus points for rolling out Dillinger's son as an obvious villain, then doing nothing else with the character.
The plot wasn't completely unforseen, but at least they didn't go for the obvious rehash of the old movie.

I like the soundtrack by Daft Punk. 

I agree.  It was a good movie to me, not great, but it surpassed my expectations which were pretty low to begin with. I basically went into that theater expecting it to be at least as good as the original. Visually it was brilliant, but that's not too hard these days when you throw a big budget towards any art-house in the movie industry. There were a bunch of scenes with C.L.U that I felt were amazing, couldn't tell it was CG. Then there were the others that snapped me out of it and reminded me that it was a very CG face. Especially some of the C.L.U talking moments addressing the crowd near the end.

I too gave it points for possibly setting up another sequel with Dillinger's son, as well as Tron changing to good while in the water (and not dying).

Another nice thing was seeing all the shots of my home city of Vancouver (it's cool that we're being regarded as the "techie" city for a lot of sci-fi shows and movies to be shot in), though I was a bit disappointed in the last shots while they were driving along the Lion's Gate bridge when they showed the sky scene. Could they not have found a more sunny Vancouver day to show the sun?? I mean, it rains a lot here and there is a lot of overcast, but we do get some glorious clear sunny days now and again!

I saw it in IMAX 3D, and didn't think that the 3D was all that good really. There were a couple shots where it was the cliche "something flying toward your face", but all in all, this movie would probably have been better in standard 2D. It's especially hard to do quick cuts in 3D and have the audience's eyes keep up with what's going on, the action scenes seemed to suffer from it. I plan on seeing it again in 2D, and expect I'll be able to take in more during those sequences.

I too liked the Daft Punk soundtrack, as well as their cameos!

Admittedly, during the arcade scenes, I was too occupied trying to recognize all the machines they had in there.

I also was a little irked that they made Kevin Flynn into this Zen master of the computer world, like Neo from the Matrix. Tron of all movies should not have to resort to directly snatching from the matrix. And really, hasn't Jeff Bridges played the aging hippy enough?

Yeah, i felt that way too. I just chalked it up to his 20 years of meditating and studying code as the reason. But it really had a Matrix'y vibe to it, that felt a bit like a cop-out.

[BadMouth]

I also was a little irked that they made Kevin Flynn into this Zen master of the computer world, like Neo from the Matrix. Tron of all movies should not have to resort to directly snatching from the matrix. And really, hasn't Jeff Bridges played the aging hippy enough?

Yeah, i felt that way too. I just chalked it up to his 20 years of meditating and studying code as the reason. But it really had a Matrix'y vibe to it, that felt a bit like a cop-out.

I was thinking Obi-Wan, then he put on an Obi-Wan robe.    
I started making comparisons to star wars as soon as they showed the head bad guy...wearing a black helmet....with a processed voice...who is possibly the hero's father.
Luckily, no Yoda knock-offs showed up and it went back to being a Tron movie.  

[Vigo]

I also have to applaud Disney for allowing the whole opening part about sam hijacking the Encom software. It had a very anti-bloatware, pro open-software message to it. While Disney is not as involved in software as much as they are in movies, it's really rare to see a large studio film portray piracy not as the dark evil of the universe, but a more of effect from companies not meeting the needs of the consumers. I would think most studios would use a movie like this as a plug for their usual anti-piracy campaigns. It was nice to hear them say, "Yes, there are two sides to these kind of issues".

[Vigo]

I also was a little irked that they made Kevin Flynn into this Zen master of the computer world, like Neo from the Matrix. Tron of all movies should not have to resort to directly snatching from the matrix. And really, hasn't Jeff Bridges played the aging hippy enough?

Yeah, i felt that way too. I just chalked it up to his 20 years of meditating and studying code as the reason. But it really had a Matrix'y vibe to it, that felt a bit like a cop-out.

I was thinking Obi-Wan, then he put on an Obi-Wan robe.    
I started making comparisons to star wars as soon as they showed the head bad guy...wearing a black helmet....with a processed voice...who is possibly the hero's father.
Luckily, no Yoda knock-offs showed up and it went back to being a Tron movie.  

I know what you mean there. Although it seemed like everyone in that movie had a black helmet, it must have been the fashion trend. I actually wish they took the black helmet off of Tron at some point, since I had a hard time ever feeling that the "black ninja" was tron.

Another Star Wars bit was the sky fight. When they had Sam get on the gun turrets and take out the little sky fighters, I couldn't help but feel there was some throwback to the old millennium falcon dogfight scenes.

[Flake]

Just saw it last night in 3D and thought it was pretty good.

Things I liked:

1.  Storyline.  Though it has some holes, I thought it was pretty well thought - as well as it could be anyway.  I would have preferred more discussion of the "miracle/Iso's" and how he envisioned their integration into the real world.  I guess my concern was what happens to Cora (spelling?) once entered the real world?  Does she become flesh and blood?  I guess I just would have liked more detail on this.
2.  Soundtrack - LOVED IT!  It gave the movie an intensity I just couldnt let go of. 
3.  Grid action scenes. 
4.  Visual aspect/costumes/young Flynn/CLU face, etc.

Things I didnt like or at least thought could have been improved upon:

1.  Physics of the world.  How in God's name do you have an outlying rough, mountainous terrain in a computer based world?  Was this supposed to be the programmed vision of Flynn's?  The original Tron was all electronic/grid type environment.  I just didnt get that at all.
2.  Some of the ending scenes disappointed.  What was Tron's motivation for turning good all of a sudden?  What was this "power" Flynn displayed to suck back in CLU at the end?  Why didnt Flynn even try to escape to be with his son?  Seems it was 3 vs. 1 at the time they could have just straight up defeated him to all make their way to the portal?

I thought the 3D was OK, probably could have been better.  But I'm glad I saw it in 3D.  I cant understand why someone would prefer to see this in 2D over 3D?

[RayB]

I cant understand why someone would prefer to see this in 2D over 3D?

Brighter picture.

I wanted to see it in 2D but the cinema had showings all day in Imax 3D, RealD 3D, or 1 showing at 10:50pm in 2D.

[Flake]

I cant understand why someone would prefer to see this in 2D over 3D?

Brighter picture.

I guess.....I thought it was plenty bright but 

[opt2not]

I cant understand why someone would prefer to see this in 2D over 3D?

Brighter picture.

I guess.....I thought it was plenty bright but 

Most of the time, 3D is a cliche to get more ticket sale money. There have been only a few movies released since 3D became popular again that have really used the 3D aspect to better the film, rather than just feeling like it was tacked on at the end because of some businessman's opinion of marketing to the latest trends.
Avatar being one of the films that really pushed the 3D integration from the get-go. Up was another one that I felt they used 3D to enhance the experience, rather than just a few one-off "fly-in-your-face" moments.

Another reason is the action-sequences. I don't know about you guys, but I feel that action sequences in 3D -- if not done right -- can be really hard for the eye to keep up with. This comes down to mainly editing, but shot composition is also a big aspect of the 3D film-making theory that needs to be thought-of while in pre-production phases. I'm not entirely convinced that Directors and Editing crews are keeping 3D in mind at the beginning of production, as shown by many films that feels tacked-on, cheesy, or just a plain afterthought of production.

[RayB]

I cant understand why someone would prefer to see this in 2D over 3D?

Brighter picture.

I guess.....I thought it was plenty bright but 

I mentioned this in another thread. Not all theatres use the same standard of super-reflective screens that RealD recommends. I thought Tron was fine too except for outside shots, especially the end flying sequences, where there was lots of scenery I just couldnt make out. It was all black or near-black. Maybe it was meant to be like that, I dunno.

[Vigo]

I just though I'd share the little references references and easter eggs I caught when watching Tron Legacy:

The giant door to Encom - Sam hacks the giant door and says "Now that's a big door" It was pretty much the same thing Kevin did and said in the original

Sam's shed/apartment he lived in said DUMONT across the top of it, which is the old guardian program in the original.

The statues that were on Flynn's Mantle we shaped like Bit.

When sam is told about the identity disk when he is getting suited up, the speech is word for work what Sark had said in the original.

Tron has two identity disks. I don't know if it was intentional, but in the original animation of Tron, which was used as a commerical for a radio station, Tron had two disks.

[BadMouth]

Some more easter eggs:

http://io9.com/5715324/15-easter-eggs-to-watch-out-for-in-tron-legacy

[danny_galaga]

Another nice thing was seeing all the shots of my home city of Vancouver (it's cool that we're being regarded as the "techie" city for a lot of sci-fi shows and movies to be shot in), though I was a bit disappointed in the last shots while they were driving along the Lion's Gate bridge when they showed the sky scene. Could they not have found a more sunny Vancouver day to show the sun?? I mean, it rains a lot here and there is a lot of overcast, but we do get some glorious clear sunny days now and again!

Damn, I hadn't even realised! I walked across that bridge quite a few times when I lived there. And once I came home from Vancouver, for several years after, I would recognise bits of the city in tv shows and movies. hell, even the the production studio Lions Gate gets its name from that bridge!

I just though I'd share the little references references and easter eggs I caught when watching Tron Legacy:

The giant door to Encom - Sam hacks the giant door and says "Now that's a big door" It was pretty much the same thing Kevin did and said in the original

The door is the only thing I picked up on. And having only revisited the original movie a month or so ago, it seemed like it was THE door from the original!

[Xiaou2]

I thought the movie was ok.  Much better than I expected it to be.

 However, it really does not compare to the original.  I rewatched the original at my friends house on his HD projector just last night.  The original world of Tron is much more colorful and detailed than the remake.  The remake is pretty much all black with some glowing lines. Very disappointing, and not very creative.
Also, there is much more warmth and personality in the original characters.

 I can rewatch Tron over and over again, and still Love it.  However, I dont think I could enjoy Legacy over and over.  I was cringing at the poor, emotionless, & "flat" (boring) acting of the main character.  The girl was pretty hot... but there was very little connection made with her.  Bridges was great as always.. but it was hard to believe that he was behind the plot (he was smarter than that, Imop), and that he acted so very different from his original role.

The original Flynn was fun, charismatic, having that Peter-Pan like spirit in him. If he were to build up the World of Tron, Imop... it would have been a LOT more colorful and fun.

 The 3D was pathetic!!!  There were very few scenes where I could see depth in the picture.  It was almost as if they intentionally made the depth effect very shallow.. to pretty much non-existent.  A real Rip-Off for us 3d fans.

 I have a feeling that they were not sure how well Tron Legacy would do... and decided not to invest in the expensive 3d conversion process for most of the film.

 CGI : I really didnt like how they altered CLU to have a jawline that matched the main actors jawline.  While it may have been more realistic in the sense of genetics... it rubs me all sorts of wrong with my connection to how young Flynn / Bridges looked... and how drastic the alteration was.

 Tron : I didnt like how he maintained the Helmet at all times.


 One a scale of 100, Id probably rate the original a 78.   
 Legacy.. Probably more like a 66.

[ErikRuud]

Another Star Wars bit was the sky fight. When they had Sam get on the gun turrets and take out the little sky fighters, I couldn't help but feel there was some throwback to the old millennium falcon dogfight scenes.

My first thought on that scene was actually "Tailgunner!", but then as the scene progressed I was waiting for some sort of Star Wars reference in the dialogue but they didn't do it.

[BobA]

I liked it for mainly nostalgia reasons.  Nice to see the references and development of Encom.  Going to Flynn's was a total trip back in time.   Too bad most arcades are long gone and will never be back.  The whole movie had an old tron look to it and it felt good.  No super graphics but they were better than the original and the plot seemed to hold together.  I did not think that the 3 D added to the movie but we will probably see alot more of it in the future.  Give it 7 light cycles out of 10.

[jipp]

just saw the preview to true grit.. man that looks good. laughs jeff is having quite the year...  good for him.. iv been a fan since the first movie i saw him in the nascar movie cant think of the name o fit.. but the one he use to run booze in his family's hot rod then switch's to racing..  good movie!! think thats the plot anyhow, dang been decades since iv seen that movie.

chris,

[danny_galaga]

Well, finally saw the bonus disk of the original Tron movie. Bloody awesome! My only disappointment was not seeing a detailed expplanation of how they transferred each digital image to film. That would have been really interesting to see. All I know is that each cell took ten minutes for the computer to draw. 24 frames per second means 240 minutes (4 hours) to draw one second of animation! I did also learn that there are six co ordinates to plot an on=bjects movement, and to calculate that, the guy in charge of that would work out a beginning, middle and end and then punch those co ordinates into a computer to interpolate the rest of the numbers. Then he had to hand type those numbers into the main computer! Typing in 600 numbers would give you co ordinates for about 4 seconds of animation. Phew...

I also learnt that Moebius had a lot to do with initial design of costumes and characters, although I don't really see that in the final design.

There's a couple of hours of stuff more or less- more than the movie itself! Worth the watch.

I might rewatch Tron again before I give it back to my workmate. Who, incidentally, has never watched the bonus disk, even though she has a background in commercial art! She also doesn't know who Moebius is. I will lend her one of my cherished Epic magazines or something else with his artwork in it...

[Vigo]

Yeah, that was an excellent bonus disk. It was interesting to hear that none of the cast members had a clue what the movie was really about, or why they were doing what they were doing. They were just in a black room and told where to look, what to say, and what emotion to show. It wasn't until later that Steve Lisberger sat down with the actors to explain what was happening in the movie.

Lisberger hadn't really directed a live movie before, so I guess he was a little out of his element when keeping the actors on board. He did throw up a bunch of arcade machines in around the studio for actors to use when not needed, gotta give him points for that.

It was also cool to hear that John Lasseter had been at Disney during Tron's production, and after seeing early footage of the lightcycle scenes, he decided to pursue working with computer animation and went on to pioneer CGI animation. He flat out said that he would not have ever made Toy Story if not for being inspired by Tron.

[Vigo]

Yep. We could have also skipped having to hear you complain about the movies as well.

[Vigo]

Yep. We could have also skipped having to hear you complain about the movies as well.

I'd just complain about something else.

  I can't argue that.

[Mikezilla]

Something is seriously broken in your head if you dont like the Toy Story movies. Every one of them is superb. Thats not a matter of opinion, its fact. 

[ChadTower]

I cant understand why someone would prefer to see this in 2D over 3D?

I took my kids to see it yesterday (after we spent the morning watching the first Tron).  We had gift passes and they still charged us $4.50 per person for the "3D Service Fee". 

There was nothing in the 3D worth an extra $13.50.

[RayB]

What a rip. I too had passes and the 3D fee was $3. Was your viewing IMAX??

[ChadTower]

What a rip. I too had passes and the 3D fee was $3. Was your viewing IMAX??

Nope.   

[Vigo]

I had passes, and the theater wouldn't take them. The lady couldn't figure out how to ring up the coupon and so she told me the tickets were fraud. 

After the fact, I called the service number and sure enough the passes were good. The corporate said they were going to call the theater for training. $10 says that next time I try the passes, the theater still won't know how to ring them up.

Maybe in retrospect, it is good to know that they separate the "3D fee" from the actual ticket so I can spend my passes more wisely.

[Mikezilla]

That sucks Vigo.

So, do I need to see the first Tron in order to see the new one?! My GF and I are going to the movies tonight with free passes (ill shine the 3d, thanks guys!) and Tron might be one of the choices.

[Vigo]

That sucks Vigo.

So, do I need to see the first Tron in order to see the new one?! My GF and I are going to the movies tonight with free passes (ill shine the 3d, thanks guys!) and Tron might be one of the choices.

Well, Tron is a necessary movie to watch for any classic video game fan, IMHO. 

As far as needing to watch it before watching the new one, you both should be fine. There are a number of references to the original movie that can only be caught by the original movie, but the plot is fully understandable on its own. Watching the new one before the original will give away quite a bit of what happened in the original though.

Anyway, if you go see Tron tonight, enjoy!

[dre-w]

Saw it

2x

2D > 3D

Tron lives!

[Mikezilla]

That sucks Vigo.

So, do I need to see the first Tron in order to see the new one?! My GF and I are going to the movies tonight with free passes (ill shine the 3d, thanks guys!) and Tron might be one of the choices.

Well, Tron is a necessary movie to watch for any classic video game fan, IMHO. 

As far as needing to watch it before watching the new one, you both should be fine. There are a number of references to the original movie that can only be caught by the original movie, but the plot is fully understandable on its own. Watching the new one before the original will give away quite a bit of what happened in the original though.

Anyway, if you go see Tron tonight, enjoy!

Thank you good sir for your input! I know I know, I havent seen Tron, I have been wanting to see it, but always forget about when Im at Blockbuster/Netflix thinking what I should watch. We might see the fighter instead, so Ill have time to watch the original Tron before the new one. 

[ark_ader]

I could not figure out the ending.

What was around the kids neck at the end?

Did the girl use Flynn's organic matter for the transfer, that is why Flynn is still stuck in the PC.

Where was Dillinger?