Yesterday Paul and I went to see Disney's latest sci-fi adventure film. And, in keeping with the unwritten code of blogging, I am now compelled to write a review.
Which is fine with me, even though I don't have much to say.
Before I begin, an explanation of the premise for the film might be in order. In the original Tron film from '82, it was established that there is a kind of laser gun that can break down and digitize any object, including people, and transform them into, basically, computer programs. This is what happens to Kevin Flynn in the original Tron film. Inside of the computer-world, all programs appear as humans, and they are to a certain extent aware of the 'users' who created and run them. However, the programs are capable of independent thought, decision, and action. Flynn, because he is a 'user' though he has been digitized, is capable of influencing his surroudings, and manipulating objects to a certain extent. Maybe I'll write a review of the older Tron someday...
Anyway, now for the review.
I'll start with a plot rundown.
Kevin Flynn, CEO of the computer company ENCOM, has disappeared without a trace. His son, Sam, is the major stockholder of Encom, but has had no interest in running the company, and has let it revert to the hands of unprincipled executives. Alan Brady, one of Kevin's closest friends, is still on the board, but has no influence. Sam is shown to something of a computer whiz, just like his father. Sam is 27, and his father has been missing for over ten years. Alan comes to Sam's apartment, and tells him that he recieved a page from Sam's father's old arcade, which has been empty for years. Sam reluctantly goes to the arcade, and finds a secret room, which was apparently Kevin's lab and office. Sam activates the computer, and repeats his father's last command. He is immediately transported to what appears to be another room exactly like the one he was in, but things are obviously not the same. Sam rushes outside to find himself in the middle of a giant city, evidently on 'the grid', as the computer world is called. Sam is captured by soldiers and given an identity disk, and then forced to fight in the games in the arena. He wins several disc battles, and is then discovered not to be a normal program. The leader of all the evil guards programs (who all have orange lights on their suits, as opposed to the bluish-white of the good-guy suits) calls for Sam to be brought, and reveals himself to be CLU, a master program that Kevin created to help him make the Grid a utopia world where "all programs would be free". CLU was instructed to create the perfect system, and become too zealous in carrying out his programming, and is now a dicatator. Sam and four other programs are then pitted against CLU and four henchmen in a lightcycle battle. They battle, until only Sam and CLU are left alive, and just as CLU is about to kill Sam, a large vehicle drives onto the gaming grid, and the mysterious driver tells Sam to get in. They blast through a wall, and they go racing for the rocky terrain outside the city. The driver of the buggy introduces herself as Quorra, and takes Sam to a hidden dwelling, where he is reuined with his father, who has been trapped on the Grid all this time. The only way out of the Grid is through the Portal, but Kevin is afraid to make a run for it, because his identity disk (a data storage device which contains all information about a program, or user, in this case) holds information that could let CLU escape into the real world with his renegade armies, if CLU got ahold of it. Kevin recommends doing nothing, and waiting for CLU to make a move, but Sam is determined to act immediately, and get back through the portal so he can terminate CLU from the outside. He must do it from the outside, because if Kevin tries to disable CLU while in the computer, the reintegration would kill him. However the portal, which was opened by Sam's arrival, will only stay open for eight hours. Quorra, torn between her loyalty for Kevin, and almost childlike curiosity about Sam, finally gives Sam the directions to reach a man who she says can help him get across the intervening ground to the Portal. Sam follows the directions, and ends up at the End of Line Club, a sort of disco-club presided over by a eccentric host. This man turns out to be the contact, and promises to help Sam. Meanwhile, Kevin Flynn, discovering his son's absense, has decided to take action once again, and he and Quorra set out for the End of Line Club. When they arrive, they must fight to get out alive. Quorra is a skilled fighter, and she and Kevin open a way to one of the exits. However, she gets her arm de-rezzed and goes unconscious. Kevin loses his identity disc in the fight, and finally he and Sam, who is carrying Quorra, escape, and set out for a transport terminal where they can catch a 'train' going towards the Portal. Kevin performs some complicated editing of the coding on Quorra's identity disc, and removes the damaged piece of code, allowing her arm to grow back. It is revealed at this point that Quorra is the last of the I.S.Os (Isomorphic Algorythms), a race of programs that came into being at one point in the Grid's history. The I.S.Os are a completely revolutionary kind of program, and could hold the key to a revolution in science. However, when CLU turned evil and took over the Grid, he saw the I.S.Os as imperfect, and destroyed all but Quorra, who Kevin managed to save.
The three arrive at the train terminal, and catch a transport going their way. En route, Sam and his father talk about their lives, and when Kevin goes to meditate, Sam talks with Quorra. She asks him what his world looks like, and expresses a wish to see a sunrise.
Eventually, their transport runs into a new terminal built on the route to the Portal. Kevin does not know what its purpose is, but it's obviously an equipping station for an army. This equipping post is where CLU has taken Kevin's identity disk, and CLU is preparing an army to invade the real world through the portal. Quorra provides a diversion so Kevin and Sam can get Kevin's disk back, but she is captured. Kevin heads off to find a ship, and Sam fights his way to Kevin's disk. He gets it back, frees Quorra, and they escape with Kevin in the ship that he commandeered. They are chased by CLU and some other henchmen on fighter-like ships. Among these is Tron, a program that was a central character in the original Tron film. Tron is the most skilled figher in the system, but he has been taken over by CLU and reprogrammed to be evil. Quorra pilots their ship towards the portal, while Sam uses the turret to shoot down some of the attacking fighters. Finally only CLU and Tron are left, and though it's not clear why, Tron has a sudden change of heart and attack CLU long enough for the three others to get away. They land at the Portal, and encounter CLU (who apparently defeated Tron) waiting on the bridge to the In/Out tower. He asks Kevin why he is not pleased with CLU's work, when he himself programmed CLU to create the perfect system. Kevin replies that he was wrong to want a perfect system, and apologizes to CLU for his mistake. CLU attacks the three, but they fend him off. Sam and Quorra get on the Portal side of the bridge, while Kevin is on the other. CLU is about to go after them, when Kevin reminds of what he came for. CLU grabs Kevin's identity disk, only to find that it was switched with Quorra's. Sam and Quorra enter the teleportation beam, and begin to (dematerialize? translate? transport? vaporize?), while CLU runs after them. Kevin uses his user abilities to terminate CLU, but at the cost of destroying both of them. This apparently ends the problem of the renegade programs, and Sam is no longer required to influence the Grid from the ouside. He has gotten Quorra, with all her secrets of advanced programming, to the real world, which was his father's wish.
Back in the real world, Sam decides to take control of Encom, and names Alan as chairman. Sam and Quorra go riding into the city, (presumably to Sam's new job) and Quorra sees a sunrise.
First off, I was very surprised at how - for lack of a better word - clean the film was. Quite a few people got 'de-rezzed', but it was simply like watching a glass statue, or a tower of Legos get broken. No blood, not really distasteful. The only blood is at one point where Sam gets a cut during a disk battle, and a drop of blood falls to the floor, subsequently alerting the evil soldiers to the fact that he is a 'user'. There was almost no romance, either. Not even one kiss, which is pretty good for Disney. It is hinted that there is a mutual attraction between Sam and Quorra, and at the end, they apparently stay together, as Sam is the only familiar thing for her about the exterior world. CLU was not the usual kind of unnervingly slimy, evil, disgusting villain that most films these days seem to have. He was villainous, of course, and came across more menacing than, for example, Basil Rathbone, but this was mostly because of the lighting and mood of the film, more than character qualities.
Kevin Flynn has apparently adoped some sort of spiritualistic life, highly suggestive of forms of eastern mysticism, but it wasn't a problem for me. He's a very nice old man, and Sam is remeniscent of Kevin as portrayed in the first Tron film, slightly brash, a little overconfident (until he gets digitized), but at heart a nice person. Quorra is sort of childlike, curious and innocent; but at the same time fierce and skilled in a fight. Her personality is not at all sexy or enticing, despite the skin-tight jumpsuit, and how the movie poster portrays her. That's another win for Disney. (the character, not the poster)
As for other characters.....well, there aren't really any.
Overall, it was a little overwhelming visually, with all the lights and strange-looking environments, but altogether it was a feel-good movie. Even though Kevin dies, he saved the entire world, and the fact that he is a hero makes up for it.
Technically, though, the film is amazing. The cinematography is stunning, the CGI is absolutely photo-real, and the use of special effects (like super slow-motion shots of cool moves, and other cliche film techiniques) was kept to a tasteful minimum. The acting was excellent (of course, it's a professional film), and the story line was amazing.
I'd give it 4 out of 5 stars overall.
Excellent movie. Good diversion and entertainment. Go see it.
