Tron

            Their have been a lot of films over the years that have been iconic in the media long after their peak.  One that is commonly referenced to and parodied is the 1982 film Tron.  As I'm sure you all know, its sequel, Tron: Legacy came out late last year but I missed seeing it in theaters, partly because I wanted to re-watch the original Tron as I hadn't seen it in nearly ten years.  Unfortunately, I found this very difficult as the movie is nearly impossible to find on DVD and is not available on Netflix for some reason or another.  Having finally gotten around to seeing it, I decided to give my thoughts on it.

            The plot of the film revolves around Flynn, played by then young Jeff Bridges who is sucked into the digital world were the Master Control Program brutally rules, while trying to prove that Ed Dillinger, one of the Vice Presidents of the corporation ENCOM and creator of the Master Control Program, stole his ideas and programming for video games.  In the digital world, Flynn tries to help other programs defeat the Master Control Program and his minions while trying to survive the Master Control Program’s deadly games, (I now think I know where Digimon got some its inspiration).

            On the positive side, the whole concept was great.  The whole idea of programs having their own personalities and battling against other programs was really unique and was pretty well executed.  The games that the Master Control Program put the other programs through was entertaining, though I wished there were a few more.  Dillinger was a good corporate villain but it was The Master Control Program that stole the show.  He was more diabolical then HAL 9000 from Space Odyssey but not quite as over the top as Skynet from the Terminator series and was at just the right level for me. 

            On the negative side, the acting and dialog was bad, the special effects were horribly outdated, I didn't feel attached to any of the characters and the movie was just terribly outdated.  Then there were the little things that put me off.  For example, it threw me off how quickly Flynn accepted that he had been sucked into the digital world and how quickly he adapted.  I also found it odd the way his friends Alan and Lora just believed him when he said Dillinger stole his video game ideas.  Finally there was the ending.  It wasn’t bad, just mediocre.  It wasn't conclusive, nor did it leave you hanging but left you wanting more.

            I usually don't say this, but the movie begged for a remake but instead we got the sequel, Tron: Legacy, but I'll get into that another day.  In the end you have a great concept that was well executed but poorly written, poorly acted and terribly outdated.  It wasn't horrible and I can see why it was still referenced even before Tron: Legacy was released but it wasn't great either.

All Around

7/10