They’ve been in no rush with follow-ups.  We had a 28-year gap between Tron (1982) and Tron: Legacy (2010) and now a 15-year gap for the third instalment, Tron: Ares.  For those new to the material, the franchise has been centred on human characters who “travel” inside computers and are immersed in a crazy, colourful ecosphere… where not everyone is friendly.  It’s like something out of a video game.

Tron: Ares makes the odd creative choice to spend most of its time in the “regular” world.  Eve Kim (Lee) and Julian Dillinger (Peters) are the highly competitive CEOs of two rival computing companies.  They are each trying to get their hands on something called “permanence” – a magic formula which brings computer-generated folk to life (for longer than 29 minutes).  Eve wants to use the technology for good while Julian’s reasons are, well, not so good.

Oscar winner Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club) has the title role of Ares, an intelligent, powerful soldier brought into the human world by way of a cool, 3D printer-like device.  He should be following the directions of his villainous master, Julian, but he’s developed a quasi-conscience that leaves him questioning those commands.  To whom do his allegiances lie?

It’s obvious from the opening scenes that Tron: Ares will provide a full-throttle mix of music, sound and visuals.  Norwegian director Joachim Rønning (Kon-Tiki) goes hard in that regard.  A few style elements are overused (e.g. countdown clocks, TV news reports) and the editing is clunky (e.g. the transitions between heavy VFX scenes and normal scenes) but I can appreciate the crew’s efforts in creating an immersive, big-screen experience.

The screenplay is a disappointment, however.  I realise it’s science-fiction nonsense, but the first two movies had a semblance of believability given they took place inside a computer.  The chase sequences here are bright and flashy but the weird “orange rays” which emanate from the black motorcycles make no sense.  Julian lacks nuance as a one-dimensional bad guy, a subplot involving Eve’s sister is undercooked, and cameos from Gillian Anderson and Jeff Bridges add nothing.  The dialogue is also very heavy-handed.  Was the script always this bad or did something go wrong in production?

Tron: Ares is an unfortunate letdown.