Tron: Ares is too little, too late for fans

After over 15 years, “Tron” returns with the third film in the sci-fi franchise: Tron: Ares. The original “Tron” movie hit theaters on July 9, 1982 and became a cultural phenomenon throughout the 80s. Starring Jeff Bridges, the film’s futuristic look into video games and virtual reality was one of the most unique science fiction films of that decade its time.

Tron was a major success, spawning 10 distinct video games and a sequel in 2010, titled Tron: Legacy, which became a major box office hit for Disney. All signs pointed to even more “Tron” content, but the only thing that fans could hold onto was a kids animated show on Disney XD, Tron: Uprising, which ran for just one season.

So, when Disney announced their newest project, Tron: Ares, in February of 2024, fans rejoiced in excitement. While not as large of a gap between the first movie and its sequel (28 years), the time between “Legacy” and “Ares” was still a whopping 15 years. 

Is there enough hype surrounding the 43-year-old franchise or is Tron: Ares simply lacking an audience? The resulting film might be too little, too late for “Tron” superfans, and Jared Leto is not helping the cause either.

Easily the best part of Tron: Ares was the score. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who also composed Luca Guadagnino’s 2024 film Challengers, did the score for Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers last year, took over from the former French duo Daft Punk who composed did the score for Tron: Legacy. Reznor and Ross have had a ton of success in recent years with their film scores, but Tron: Ares marks the first time that a major film score has been released under their band, Nine Inch Nails. The score brought both an edge and a sense of harmony that elevated a convoluted plot.

The side characters were also a highlight of the film. Despite not having a ton of screentime, Seth Flores (Arturo Castro) and Ajay Singh (Hasan Minhaj) brought some of the movie’s only comedic moments. 

Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters) remained a highlight throughout the course of “Ares.” Julian is the grandson of the original villain, Ed Dillinger, and took over as the CEO of Ed’s company, Dillinger Systems. Peters is no stranger to playing antagonistic characters with massive ego problems, but the American Horror Story actor held a level of gravitas that stole every scene he’s in. If there is somehow a sequel coming after “Ares” (probably not with these box office numbers), Julian remains in a fantastic place to move the story forward.

The first third of the film focused on Eve Kim (Greta Lee) and the plot seemingly centered around the dynamic between Eve and Julian. There was a fantastic debate presented (using AI for good versus bad), yet the narrative pivoted from that interesting topic to focusing purely on Leto’s character. 

If you have not watched the previous two “Tron” movies in the past couple of months, there is a strong likelihood that you will get lost almost immediately. One of the weakest points in the “Tron” series is how convoluted it becomes at certain points. Even I, a massive “Tron” fan, found myself slightly confused throughout the entirety of the almost two-hour runtime. Luckily, I watched a few recap videos before heading into the theater, so I was at least aware of the overarching conflict. But I shouldn’t have to watch an explainer in order to grasp it.

I’ll just say it: Jared Leto should not be the star of this movie. Even while acting as AI brought into real life, Leto somehow makes his character seem remarkably bland and overly robotic. There were several moments where Leto obviously made a joke, but there was not an ounce of laughter in my packed theater. 

That leads into the worst part of Tron: Ares – the writing. There were some atrocious lines of dialogue that sound like AI helped write the screenplay.

While I remain an interesting mixture of a “Tron” fan and Jared Leto hater, this movie had the potential to be great, and just wasn’t. As much as I would want more “Tron” content, I just cannot suggest that anyone spend money on this movie.