“TRON: Ares” - A visual feast but lacking depth

Eve Kim and Ares characters in the movie.

Released in 1982, “TRON” is considered a pioneer in the use of cinematography and CGI technology. This is also one of the first films to explore the topic of the virtual world and AI. In 2010, Disney rebooted the brand with part 2 “TRON: Legacy”, continuing the unfinished story. 15 years later, part 3 “TRON: Ares” was released with a new look, new content, suitable for today’s reality, when AI technology is popular.

The first film tells the story of Kevin Flynn - a genius computer engineer - who was caught inside a computer system called The Grid, where programs look like humans. He fought the AI that was dominating The Grid to return to the real world. Part 2, Kevin Flynn returned to the Grid to research, but this time was betrayed and imprisoned by the person he created. His son, Sam Flynn, entered the virtual world to save his father. In the end, Kevin sacrificed himself to destroy the villain so that Sam and an entity in The Grid could escape to the real world.

The story of part 3 does not continue the first 2 parts but is relatively independent. The ENCOM Group founded by Kevin Flynn is now run by female CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee). She inherited Kevin Flynn's legacy, finding an eternal code that can realize digital programs in real life. Therefore, she was kidnapped by Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), CEO of the Dillinger Group, to seize the eternal code. Because his group researched new technology to bring AI entities in human form from the virtual world to the real world. However, these AIs only exist for 29 minutes before disintegrating. The code Eve Kim is holding can help fix the 29-minute error of this technology. When Eve Kim is captured, things get out of control when Ares (Jared Leto) - the leader of the AI team - goes against Julian Dillinger's orders and takes her on the run. The two team up to fight the Dillinger Corporation's AI army to protect their ideals…

If in the previous 2 parts the main character had to enter the virtual world, now the virtual world steps into the real world, even causing war with humans. The film raises the question: humans are always proud of creating and controlling AI, forcing AI to serve in all aspects, but when AI has human form, intelligence and emotions, is not content and rebels, what will be the consequences?

The audiovisual part of the film makes the audience satisfied with the graphic effects, lighting, character movements, chase action scenes, virtual world backgrounds… designed smoothly and beautifully. The sound and soundtrack with rhythms sometimes intense, sometimes gentle… contribute to increasing the emotions of the viewers.

Unfortunately, the film focuses too much on the chases and battles between the two sides without paying much attention to exploring the characters' psychology. The fact that Ares is influenced by a machine and changes his thinking and mindset to rebel happens too quickly and is not convincing. The reason why he wants to live and become a normal person is also not made clear. The characters are easy to predict, the conflicts are not too complicated, the solutions are somewhat safe... are the reasons why the film has not created a breakthrough.

The ending of the film left many questions unanswered: Ares traveled to the outside world to find the whereabouts of Kevin Flynn's son, Julian Dillinger escaped into the virtual world, making the audience predict that the film might have a sequel.

Cat Dang

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/-tron-ares-bua-tiec-thi-giac-nhung-thieu-chieu-sau-a192468.html